UW-La Crosse had ex-porn star Hartley on campus to lecture
If you want to stimulate discussion about an uncomfortable but important topic and illustrate why free speech is a good thing on a college campus, invite a former porn actress to be a guest speaker.
That’s what University of Wisconsin La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow said he had in mind when he paid $5,000 from his office fund — not state tax dollars — to hire Nina Hartley.
Hartley, 59, gave a strictly optional lecture on campus last week entitled: “Fantasy vs. Reality: A critical view of adult media.”
In addition to being a former adult film actress, she has directed porn films and is a sex educator, a sex-positive feminist and an author.
Hartley couldn’t come to campus during “Free Speech Week” the last week of October as part of the original plan to highlight a new UW System policy that reinforces free speech protections.
That policy says: “It is not the proper role of the UW System to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they, or others, find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.”
“This was a real value for $5,000, and a rare perspective we don’t hear every day,” Gow told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday.
“It’s essential, and gets to the heart of free expression. Sexuality is a basic human experience, and we are really skittish about talking about it. There are many problems around sexuality, and the only way to address them is to talk about them.”
Gow said he talked with students in a human sexuality class in advance of the lecture about what they thought Hartley should discuss.
Students noted online pornography is viewed by many college students.
In fact, three of the Top 10 websites are adult content websites. Two adult content websites are more popular than Twitter, eBay and Wikipedia, Gow said.
“This is something that’s quite a phenomenon, so students said she should talk about that.”
About 70 students attended the 90minute talk.
Among the things students learned: Porn stars are tested every two weeks for sexually transmitted diseases through a talent testing service.
“She said her industry is far safer than if you met someone in a bar,” Gow said.
Hartley also talked about safe sex and informed sex.
She told students one should never mix alcohol or other drugs with sexuality. And she told them pornography is a poor source of information about sexuality because it’s almost entirely fantasy.
“If you’re looking for instruction, looking to pornography is a big mistake,” Gow said Hartley told students.
One of the best takeaways, the chancellor said, would apply to many things in life, including careers:
“Fantasy is what we want, and reality is what we negotiate.”
Students asked Hartley tough questions, such as whether pornography promotes rape or leads to human trafficking.
“She doesn’t think so,” Gow said. “Rape is a crime of power and people who are not psychologically well are doing it . ... She said nobody in professional pornography is trafficked into pornography simply because there’s no shortage of people eager to get into that industry. They don’t need to force someone to do it.”
The speaker’s fee came from a discretionary fund in the chancellor’s office drawn from interest earned on auxiliary funds. Those funds are raised by selfsustaining campus operations such as dining services, parking fees and residence halls.