Barbara Nitke: The Queen of Sex

So you think people got into porn for different reasons back then?
I think it was a mix. At the very beginning, in the 70s, some of them were trained actors who, post-sexual revolution, decided to move into the porn business. Then in the 80s things changed and there was more of a “lost soul” vibe. Not everyone–a lot of the people I worked with were sexually free, were exhibitionists, and had they been born ten years later would have been more in charge of their careers. It’s just that the culture around them hadn’t caught up to them yet. But there were also a lot of people who were drugs addicts or who were generally just down in life, and that was difficult for me because I would think, “Am I supporting someone’s downfall by being here?” Especially as a woman. And then AIDS came along, and no one was using condoms in the beginning, so then I was going, “Am I standing here watching people who are going to die?” I had a lot of emotional ups and downs in the 80s.

But since we live in a culture that doesn’t honor or celebrate sexuality, there is always going to be an element of shame that one working in the sex industry has to overcome.

Very true.
But going back to intelligent feminists, we can’t forget to mention people like Candida Royalle, Nina Hartley, and Annie Sprinkle, who were early porn stars who were totally in control, and who helped to ignite that shift that we’re talking about.

How so?
Well, Rick had fallen in love with a woman who was a member of The Eulenspiegel Society. He wanted me to meet her, so he took me down to my first meeting. When we got there there was this big, really domineering black woman at the front desk, and she looked at me and said, “Oh, I’m so glad you could come!” It made me feel so special that she was so happy to see me. It took me ten years to find out she said that everybody who came for the first time.

What were the Eulenspiegel meetings like?
They were very big on safety, so every meeting would start with a presentation–like demonstrating how to safely do a suspension scene, or whipping, caning, how to use hot wax, that type of thing. And then the second half would be circle where everyone would just talk, like any support group.

Some of the work is so intimate, photographing people having sex in their homes. Did you ever end up joining in?
I never did. My friends were always shocked that I didn’t, like, “What is your problem girl!?” I wanted to take pictures in people’s bedrooms, and be like a fly on the wall. But that could never really work because my being there would always inevitably change things, so the energy of it often turned out to be more like a threesome.

So they were still sexual experiences for you?
Yes, there was always a sexual charge. One of the things that scared me along the way, especially when I was getting deeper into the S/M scene, was that I was pushing my own sex drive and into the photos so much that it was taking the place of having an actual sex life. Then I became almost superstitious, like if I got a boyfriend and was having regular sex that my artwork would go down the tubes. I didn’t really want to mix the two though–I didn’t want to compromise my role as the photographer by becoming a participant. However I think the reason why my work was ever any good was because I always felt that charge.

Yeah, I’ve actually seen a Domme whipping someone with one hand and texting with the other.
Ha, yes exactly. I was hanging out at Pandora’s Box dungeon once. I’ll never forget it–all the girls were hanging out in the back reading magazines and watching soap operas, and the manager came in and said to one of the Dommes, “So-and-So is here to see you,” and she was like, “Oh god, no!” and trudged over to her locker, yanked on all of this leather paraphernalia, and then trudged out the door. I thought, this has to be my next photo essay! I love that the customer is buying into this fantasy of a woman who sits around all day thinking about nothing but dominating him, when really it’s the last thing on her mind. That appeals to my grand sense of irony.

Sex is endless, basically.
It’s true! But my goal was never to titillate. My goal is to make people think about sex and the people who are having these various types of sex in a more human way. Because really they are just people–it’s your neighbor, your lawyer, it’s you, it’s me. For me sex is an art form, and that means all the variations of it: sex work, vanilla sex, private sex, public sex, S/M, whatever. Everyone I’ve photographed has taught me something new about the nature of sexual desire, humanity, and the fact that no matter how we’re wired to express love, freedom is having the courage to be who we are.