Nina Hartley

Warm, articulate and utterly unhurried, Nina Hartley dominates like a teacher who already knows how the lesson ends. Decades of sex education work show in the way she explains, instructs and then enforces.

She made her first film in 1984 after starting as a dancer, went on to direct, launched her own instructional video line, co-wrote a guide that includes BDSM, appeared in Boogie Nights and spent years campaigning for performers' rights and free speech. Both AVN and XRCO have inducted her into their Halls of Fame. On BDSM Mansion she takes charge in a run of Femdom Empire scenes: strap-on correction, a job interview turned power exchange, a male secretary put in his place, and bound playthings.