For Nina Hartley, condoms make on-set sex uncomfortable and, she argues, more dangerous. But off-set it's a different story.
"I would say it's different in a civilian population," said Hartley, a performer of 27 years with a degree in nursing. "But public health is not served by forcing a small group of professionals to use condoms instead of being tested."
To those who say pornography without condoms promotes unsafe sex, Hartley has strong words.
"It's not the job of adult entertainers to be educating people about safe sex practices," she said, adding that the "ignorance-based abstinence-only model of sexual education" does little to promote safe sex either.
"People say cartoons promote bad behavior, and Hollywood movies promote unsafe driving. But this is pure entertainment," said Hartley. "We don't ask other entertainers in our culture to slip in the vegetables of education."