Erika Lust: feminist, mother of two daughters, political science and gender studies major, and… pornographer. Since her first production, “The Good Girl,” in 2004, the Swedish-born, Barcelona-based director and producer has put out hundreds of award-winning films that focus on female pleasure and diverse sexualities, placing her at the forefront of the alternative porn scene.
Lust will be in town for two open-air events put on by Berlin Film Society at hedonistic wonderland Sisyphos (July 12 and 14 – Friday sold out!), featuring performances, Q&A-accompanied screenings from her crowd-sourced erotic film series, XConfessions – including “Refugees Welcome”, a short shot in Berlin by cult filmmaker Bruce LaBruce – and free penis-shaped popsicles.
How did you get involved in the porn industry?
I never liked porn – I felt very frustrated when I watched it. I felt like the porn I was seeing had so little to do with me – with my life, my sexuality. It was so focused on men, and women were only used as a vehicle for male pleasure. I started to realize that the problem with porn stemmed from the people who were making it, which was a small group: white, heterosexual, middle-aged men. They were the ones creating our image of pornography. So I thought, there must be another way of doing it.
You consider your porn to be feminist – what classifies an erotic film as “feminist”?
Well, first of all, I consider myself to be a feminist. I am the main creator of my films, and I work with largely feminist crews, so that’s one of the most important ingredients. Additionally, when we talk about feminist porn, we need to consider what we see on the screen – how we display female desire and pleasure, and how people are interacting. I think you can see a difference between my movies and mainstream porn in that sense. If you go online to any of the free porn channels, you almost always find a woman having an orgasm from just penetration. When you talk to most women, though, they’ll tell you they need some kind of additional stimulation. By including details like that in my films, I show women taking charge of their own pleasure and their own bodies – not only giving, but also receiving pleasure.
So talking about women and what they really want sexually – is that one reason you wanted to do a crowd-sourced production like Xconfessions, where you’re producing films based on real, anonymous submissions?
Absolutely. I want a diverse group of people involved in my films, not just middle-aged white men, and I want women to take part in the process, sharing their sexual experiences. When I look at the stories that people are sending to me, I’m reminded that people are so much more than what the mainstream porn industry is showing us. Mainstream porn divides people into categories – the teens and the MILFs and the big-breasted and the small Asians. Mainstream porn should stop trying to fetishize different groups, and instead just let people have sex the way they want to have sex.
How do you choose which confessions to make into movies?
EL: There are a lot of factors that influence which stories I choose. I think about logistics and the artistic value of the stories. Basically, though, it’s about following my gut. It’s about finding stories that I think are funny or erotic or intriguing. So it’s a very subjective process. That has been one of the best parts of this project: it’s created a film laboratory of sorts for me, and it’s given me the opportunity to play around and experiment with new techniques.
Alexa Vachon
One of the films you’re screening at Sisyphos was directed by guest director Bruce Labruce and tells the story of a refugee’s sexual awakening. It’s also your first gay porn film. What prompted you to produce it?
XConfessions is supposed to incorporate different kinds of sexualities, so I thought it was time to make a film where men actually have sex. The film Bruce proposed was so incredible that we felt like we needed to do it. I just love the premise – the idea of presenting a refugee as an intricate, sexual person with desires, instead of the usual refugee narrative that’s popularised in the media. I think that was my and Bruce’s main goal here: to open people’s minds to the humanity of refugees. And the feedback has been really, really great. I’ve had some typical heterosexual men contact me, saying that they had never watched “that kind of film” but that they were impressed with how much they liked it.
So would you say you’re trying to connect people through porn?
Exactly. And open people’s eyes – make them see that they don’t have to be uncomfortable with or afraid of sexuality. You know, porn is one-third of the traffic on the internet. And I think people ignore the impact that it can have. They think it’s “just porn.” But really, it’s much more than that – it’s a mass media presentation of how people relate sexually. The whole porn industry really needs to start thinking more about the ethical aspects of their production processes. I mean, we’re all aware of ethically produced food – food produced in a manner that’s respectful to animals. I always say that we all must be responsible consumers of pornography. When you watch good porn, it can help you realize that different kinds of sexuality exist, and it can help you explore your own sexuality. In that way, porn can be really wonderful.
