Lust for Life

From an unassuming headquarters in the heart of El Born, Erika Lust and her team are hard at work to redefine pornography for the 21st century. Under the ethos that "it's time for porn to change,” Lust’s innovative approach to filmmaking aims to disrupt the outdated styles and production practices that have dominated the industry until now. And with an impressive collections of films, books, TED talks and philanthropic ventures under its belt, Erika Lust Films is rapidly making that vision a reality.

Barcelona Metropolitan caught up with Erika Lust between projects to find out how she and her team are helping to create a safer, more inclusive and sexier industry.

You've built up quite the reputation internationally while being based here in Barcelona. What has this city given you that you couldn’t have found elsewhere?

After I finished my graduate degree in Sweden, I moved to Barcelona at 23 to study filmmaking, and I immediately felt that the city was much more receptive to my vision. My ideas and values on sex began to take shape growing up and studying in Sweden, but it was in Barcelona that I started working as an adult filmmaker and created Erika Lust Films. When I first moved here I felt so liberated, I felt like I could be or do whatever I wanted. I had no eyes on me and I was away from the high standards in Sweden that required me to be more polished. Barcelona gave me the creative freedom to start making adult films. My friends were of all different sexualities and genders, and on the whole the people here are very open minded and sex positive. Sexuality is something to embrace and celebrate, and the people are creative, inspiring and sexy. I will always be Swedish but Barcelona has my heart.

Much has changed in the time that you’ve been creating, yet movements like #MeToo and #Cuéntalo highlight there is work to be done. How can we continue making gains?

So much has changed but these movements have shown there is a long way still to go and that power abuse is everywhere — it's systemic. #MeToo uncovered a system that has perpetuated this abuse by protecting powerful men and stopping women from coming forward: payoffs, bystanders, a culture that doesn't believe that a woman can be telling the truth. Much has changed since I started creating adult cinema but we need to keep pushing for more. Look at Brett Kavanaugh, that situation showed just how little big institutions and even the government have been touched by the cultural shift taking place in other parts of society. Similarly Louis C.K. — and other disgraced celebrities like Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose — have slipped back into their normal lives. The severity of the crisis clearly has not sunk in.

We need to turn the momentum built from #MeToo and other movements into action. We need people to intervene and get involved. We need to reach out to local and national organizations that are fighting for equality for women and volunteer or donate money if we can. We need to be doing more than social media activism to really make a change. And this goes for men, too. They need to get involved and fight for the cause if we're really going to make a difference. We need society to believe survivors when they come forward. If we want real lasting cultural impact we need to penetrate every patriarchal structure in society, and we need to fight for women everywhere.

What can the adult entertainment industry do to better protect its performers?

We need to have ethical production practices in place on all shootings. At Erika Lust Films, an ethical production process goes from small things such as feeding everyone on set, to performers being able to stop shooting anytime they feel uncomfortable. Of course shooting an adult film is challenging and we do our best to make sure performers are looked after and feel comfortable throughout, but sometimes mistakes happen. Now that I have the guest directors program there are more people than ever before making films for our XConfessions series, some of whom have never directed an adult film before. So to ensure that my ethical production values are maintained across the board, we recently developed two documents — “Performer's Bill of Rights” and “Guidelines for Guest Directors to Shoot for Erika Lust” — which are mandatory reading for anyone making films for XConfessions.

We also have an on-set talent manager who looks after the performers on the day of shooting to make sure they have everything they need. And from my position as a director, I think that I have created a safe environment on set and shown performers that an XConfessions film is a collaborative project and their opinions are completely respected, heard and valid on my set. Together with my talent manager, it is our responsibility to help performers feel comfortable speaking up and ensuring their boundaries are respected for their full comfort and consent.

Plus, directors, producers and fellow performers can explain to newcomers to the industry that they actually no longer need studios or directors to produce content. There are several platforms where they can create their own pornography, be their own boss and control their career. Once they have started making their own content, if they decide they want to work with directors or studios they can start slowly by looking at the people in the industry who have a good reputation and work according to ethical practices.

Organizations such as Red Umbrella Fund and Amnesty International are helping protect performers by supporting and protecting their rights as workers and campaigning to destigmatize and decriminalize the profession. Performers would not be at such a high risk of violence if they were respected as workers and could seek help without fear of being stigmatized or abused. We are monthly donors of Amnesty International and Red Umbrella fund, and want to continue supporting the vital work that they do for sex workers.

How do you think sex education for young people plays a role in what we're seeing today and how do you hope to change it through film?

Educational reform is not my place at the moment — I'm a filmmaker first and foremost and would like to stay as such. I will take responsibility for the messages I send out in my films and sex education is something I am very interested in. It's the reason that my husband Pablo and I created the non-profit site ThePornConversation.org. It's designed to help parents and teachers speak to their children about porn, and there are different packs for each age group.

Porn is unavoidable in this digital age, so we need to be equipping teenagers with the tools they need to navigate porn and discern fantasy from reality. This means compulsory and comprehensive sex education programs in school to help teens make smart decisions regarding pornography. But we need more than sex education in school, we also need parents to speak to their children and have the porn conversation at home. Teach them that sex is more than what they may see online, and most crucially listen to them and encourage them to speak to you about porn.

How do you hope to reach new audiences who you feel would benefit from your message?

This is something we’re really trying to work on at the moment. We know that we need to reach younger 18+ audiences whose first experience of porn will probably be after typing something like "sex" into Google and stumbling across a Pornhub video with harmful categorization, racial othering, lack of female pleasure, coercion, or just a completely unrealistic depiction of sex. To combat this we need a more comprehensive sex education by schools and parents that teaches porn literacy and tells them about other sources of erotica aside from the free tube sites. I'm not suggesting that schools give students a list of porn sites to visit but I think they should be taught about the free tube piracy business model and how to deconstruct what they see on these sites. Then, hopefully they will start to look for alternative depictions of sex from companies where they know who is making the films and how they're being made.

We also need to collectively spread the message that everyone must pay for their porn. This level of consumer consciousness has already spread to other parts of life, such as organic food, but there is still a lot of shame attached to porn and people don't speak to their friends about it. This means that people don't share sources of porn that they love and it also means that people might feel abnormal for paying for their porn, as if it means that they like it too much. If we can spread this message that it's healthy, normal, and ethical to pay for your porn, then when these young people are old enough and start paying for their own Netflix and Spotify subscriptions, hopefully they will start paying for their own porn subscription too.

What does 2019 have in store for Lust Films, and the entertainment industry more broadly?

I can't wait to see what 2019 has in store for Erika Lust Films! I recently shot two films which I'm so excited about — a sex doc addressing the stigma of having sex whilst pregnant and a beautiful slow sex film with two mature performers! Plus I will be releasing my first 360° virtual reality film, get ready for some very immersive and very hot group sex! Plus, we'll be continuing to work on our new XConfessions App — more updates, more cards and the ability to connect to multiple partners for all of my poly lovers. Following the successful tours in the USA and Japan, I'll be doing more international travel to spread the word of Lust! It's going to be another busy year!

For the entertainment industry more broadly I hope to see more female directed films, more women in positions of power behind the camera, safer working environments, inclusion riders, pay equity, gender parity, more films passing the Bechdel test... it's time for change. Change will bring more voices into the industry, more talent and better stories.

Any final words for Barcelona Metropolitan?

Stay sexy!