"Don't stay unhappy, wherever you are," said adult film star Nina Hartley during a two-hour lecture on April 24 in the Rosa Parks conference room.

From the enthusiastic bouts of laughter from the audience, unhappiness wasn't an immediate concern. Hartley, an SF State alumna and sex educator, entertained the audience with her lighthearted and topical humor that laced her informative talk.

Hartley introduced herself as a former nursing student at SF State and was very open about her lifestyle choices.

"I'm way out of the norm. I only look normal," Hartley said, also referring to herself as "queer to the bone" and "polymorphous perverse."

The bulk of Hartley's talk came directly from audience questions. Hartley dished out advice on a wide variety of topics.

In response to one student question, Hartley discussed her choice to work in adult films and cautioned young students who may be considering a similar choice not to make it lightly.

"Pictures never go away," she said. "I knew I was a lifer when I started. I knew I wasn't going to have children when I started."

Hartley was 24 before starting her career as an adult entertainer. Now married to her second husband for five years, she stressed throughout her lecture the importance of getting to know yourself first before getting into a relationship. She pointed out that her first marriage, one of 20 years, was an unhappy one.

"You cannot be in a relationship if you don't have a good sense of yourself," Hartley said. She also made a point of saying that she "totally gets wanting to be with hot people," but it's not a person's looks that matter in the end.

"You fall in love with the person and the soul, not the sack of bones that carries it around," Hartley said, quoting a friend.

When it comes to sex, she talked multiple times about the importance of educating oneself.

Along with her own books, Hartley recommended the Center of Sex and Culture on Market Street in San Francisco as a good source of information as well as SF State's own Education and Referring Organization on Sexuality.

The laughter and questions kept coming and only ceased when Hartley was reminded of the time.

Her lecture ended with raucous applause and students went away feeling it was two hours well spent.

"It's good to hear everything all in one place," said SF State student Jessica Sanchez.

"You take classes about history; you take classes about sociology, but you don't usually get them all together and she was able to bring everything together and make it make sense."

Sanchez is a psychology major and volunteers at EROS.

"It was interesting--really informative," said SF State freshman Brian Lim as he waited in line for an autograph. Lim is majoring in communication studies.

The EROS will carry Hartley's books and DVDs next semester, Sanchez said.