We almost made it through lunch without mentioning the turkey basters full of cum, which would have been a shame. But just as attorney Karen Tynan takes a bite of coleslaw, I ask about The 1,000 Load Fuck, the gay gangbang opus she defended against charges of workplace safety violations, and which featured a man getting a gallon of semen pumped up his ass—hence, the turkey basters.
“That was the first time I’d ever watched a whole gay porn movie,” Tynan says in her soft Southern drawl. “I start out strong, don’t I?”
Orgy chitchat is rare in Healdsburg, a drowsy hamlet in California’s wine country, about 70 miles north of San Francisco. But for Tynan it’s an occupational hazard. Since 2009, she has been porn’s go-to labor lawyer, defending studios against regulatory complaints and investigations from Cal/OSHA, the state’s workplace safety watchdog. Now, she’s leading the industry’s fight against Prop. 60, the hotly debated ballot measure known for requiring performers to wear condoms during filming.
“She’s like the Erin Brockovich of porn,” says Matt Mason, general manager of Treasure Island Media, a San Francisco studio that specializes in hardcore bareback films, including The 1,000 Load Fuck, which was cited for allegedly putting condomless performers at risk (the company was only issued a $685 fine). “Karen is a legal dom,” adds Mike Stabile, a porn industry spokesman. Indeed, Tynan’s profile picture on Twitter portrays her as a dominatrix brandishing a riding crop in what appears to be a sex dungeon.
Tynan, who is 51, has the folksy cheer of a Walmart greeter, cut with a barmaid’s raunchy wit. A friend describes her as a “party girl” who’s also “got a bit of a mouth, because she’s a shark.” She’s a genteel shark, though. “Isn’t there some rule that you don’t eat barbecue in front of a reporter?” she asks during lunch, studying the splatter of meat on her plate. “Or order one of these?” She gestures to her 24-ounce Corona.
This particular party girl never expected to hobnob with porn stars or attend company Christmas parties at Kink.com. Tynan began her career representing “vanilla” clients such as wineries and construction companies. But circa 2009, an L.A.-based nonprofit called the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which provides HIV prevention and healthcare services, began targeting the adult film industry in California, and Tynan became porn’s unlikely legal champion.
