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Swedish-born, now Barcelona-based Erika Lust is the co-founder of Lust Films, an "adult entertainment production company with a modern, feminine and feminist approach." In 2004 she produced "THE GOOD GIRL," an explicit short story for women, which is now part of the film "FIVE HOT STORIES FOR HER" released in April 2007. Her latest work is "BARCELONA SEX PROJECT" (2008), an adult documentary which discloses the private sex lives of six people. Check out her blog here. But first see how she answers these 10 "day in the life" questions:

1. What's an average day at work for a feminist adult filmmaker?
It's not very glamorous, it's mainly office work, promoting, selling, sending our movies abroad to stores. We only write scripts and shoot movies once or twice a year.

2. What makes your work feminist? [Ed note: it's a long answer, but well worth reading. The rest are short, promise.]
The first time I ever saw a porno film, I had the same reaction that I reckon most women have and it was most definitely not love at first sight. Obviously I was aroused by some of the images but there was so much in it that bothered me. I didn't identify with any of it: nothing of my lifestyle, my values or even my sexuality was represented in any way. There was no sign of the women enjoying themselves, and it was as if they were there simply to please the men. The sexual situations just seemed ridiculous and were all based on sexist male fantasies: girl walks into room, discovers boyfriend with her best friend and instead of getting pissed off, she joins them!

And anyway, for my generation, that grew up watching MTV, the audiovisual quality of adult film is totally unacceptable: tacky sets, horrible styling and make-up, non-music, crap acting and even worse dubbing, amateur photography... in general, a product leaving much to be desired on many levels.

Also, the female character stereotypes that men in the industry have perpetuated for the last 20 years are just plain offensive. I'm sick of slutty Sharons, horny teens, sex maniac nannies, desperate housewives, hot nurses, nymphomaniac hookers and gangbang heroines (these women are men's ideal sex partners--their sex heroines). And the guys in the movies are almost always mafia guys, pimps, drug dealers, multi-millionaires or Afro-American mega sized sex machines (these guys are their sex heroes). Just by avoiding these clichés, I myself and other directors are already taking a feminist approach to porn.
 
Feminist porn is porn showing real female sexuality, pleasure and desire. It's porn created by people aware of the world we are living in, aware of the differences in possibilities and conditions that women and men still have in our society. Someone wanting to change the representation of women in porn. I want to see women in charge of their representation on film...

3. What are the best job perks?

At dinner parties with friends, when people are introduced to each other, my profession becomes the center of attention. I get even more attention than airplane pilots!

4. What are the worst job drawbacks?
Some narrow minded puritan people who still think working with sex is evil and dirty.

5. What has your job taught you about sex?
I've learned more actually having sex than making films about it. However it's liberating to see people being so comfortable with their bodies and their sexuality as most of the actors and actresses I work with are.

6. What do your parents think of what you do?
They love what we do. We have a funky business and a trendy company. LUST PRODUCTIONS is not only about porn: we do magazines, books, websites, TV programs, everything related to sex, and all we do is classy, smart and chic. I feel very proud of the company and our work.

7. What's  your best (i.e. funniest or outrageous or horrifying) on-the-set story?
It's horrible when guys cannot perform. When they can't turn their sex hard, it's embarrassing not only for them, but for everyone in the cast and crew. You do not know where to look or what to do! This is why we mainly work with professional actors, because it is a lot harder to have sex in front of cameras than people might think.

8. What's the best way to pick you up?
Food, wine and conversation.

9. What's the worst?
Racist, chauvinist and homophobic statements.

10. When's the last time you had sex, and how was it?
I had a baby girl 14 months ago, so my sex life has become less active lately. Not because I don't feel like having sex, but because of the schedule. But the good thing is that when there's time, it's even better than before!


3 Comments

Great interview! Lust is one of my favorite women in adult and I always love reading more about her.

Petra said:

A month ago I got Five Hot Stories For Her for my birthday and I just loved it! Great stuff! Now I will definitely check out Barcelona Sex Project. What a pity her movies are not available in the USA yet, however I saw that you can get them from her own site.

Em & Lo, thanks for writing about Porn for Women, I think we are many who want to watch porn, but like Erika are frustrated with what the mainstream porn has to offer.

Meg said:

Thank you! The reasons that I've always objected to pornography are the ones mentioned here. Hopefully these ideas will seep into the major markets, and we can get some stimulating material! The "soundtracks" alone are enough to drive any sane person entirely bonkers.

Appreciate your work, Em & Lo. And Lust, of course. ;)

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