Erika Lust: The Feminist Pornographer.
- Kate Neilson
- Jul 29, 2015
- 3 min read
Erika on set. Image: erikalust.com
Adult film-maker, Erika Lust is working on revolutionising the way we look at porn. Lust wants to be a force for sex-positive thinking and encourage women to have confidence in their sexuality. Her aim is to add more realistic, fun sex to erotic film making, taking porn away from the dark, seedy corners of the internet and showcasing a shared experience for both men and women. How does she plan on doing this? By getting more women into porn, of course.
Alongside her award winning book, ‘Let’s make a porno’, Erika has made her mark in the world of pornography with her creative short films, her feature length shows such as ‘Cabaret Desire’ and now with her most recent crowd sourced project, Xconfessions.
In her recent TEDtalk, ‘It’s time for porn to change’, Erika says, “I don’t want to get women out of porn, I want to get women into porn!” Porn itself isn’t the problem. The problem is that for too long now, men have ruled the pornography industry, casting women aside to play, as Erika puts it, “the horny house wives and fuck bunnies.”
“I don’t want to get women out of porn, I want to get women into porn.”
Last month, through an e-mail exchange, Erika shared a little about her background. Having grown up in Sweden, a country in which Feminism is engrained within the social conscience, she valued the experience of the female from a young age. She studied at the University of Lund, which is where her and her then boyfriend at the time watched their first porno together. This is what sparked her initial interest in the erotic film industry.
Xconfessions vol. 5 set. Image: erikalust.com
“The book Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the Frenzy of the Visible by Linda Williams really opened my eyes to seeing porn as a discourse about sexuality, and it hugely influenced me and deepened my interest in porn as a genre and a tool for sexual liberation,” she said.
Lust describes herself as a sex positive feminist and says that while she knows there are people out there who believe that pornography is abusive and chauvinistic, she believes that when it’s created in the right way, it can be a wonderful tool for sexual exploration and education.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion... I work with an almost entire team of women who are hard-working, professional and creative in their approach to sex and portraying it through film. That way every film has sexual liberation and equality at it's roots...,” she said.
While Lust encourages women to get into the pornography industry, this isn’t to say that she has an issue with the male perspective, she doesn’t. She works with men on her set and incorporates their experience into her films too. It’s not about creating porn that only caters to female desires, it’s about producing erotica that can bring pleasure to both men and women.
“When I started making erotic films a decade ago, female voices were pretty much nonexistent in porn. Luckily that has changed, but women are still vastly under-represented when it comes to our fantasies, pleasures and desires in erotic films. That's why female driven erotica is important: our narratives need to have a voice as well. We need more diversity, more real pleasure,” Lust said.
The making of vol. 5 Image: erikalust.com
Lust’s latest project, xconfessions, invites her viewers to submit their deepest, darkest sexual fantasies to the site, with Lust and her team hand picking the best of the best to be created into a short, cinematic film experience.
“All the fantasies are completely crowdsourced, written by real people from all over the world – it's a really inclusive project! This is miles away from just showing one type of sex on a loop, like a lot of "regular" porn does. The entries at XConfessions are so sexy, dirty, saucy and imaginative! XConfessions. Vol.5 is just about to come out and it's hotter than ever,” Lust said.
By creating projects such as xconfessions Lust is hoping to wash away the stigma that still surrounds adult films and be a part of a progressive and positive industry that showcases real experiences for real people.
Want more? Check out Erika's TED talk here.
Erika Lust's TEDtalk. 'It's time for porn to change'.
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