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Erika Lust (born 1977) is a Swedish pornographic film director, screenwriter and producer. Since the release of her first erotic film The Good Girl in 2004, Lust has been described as part of the feminist pornography movement.[2][3] She has said that an ethical production process distinguishes her company from mainstream pornography sites.

Lust has said that she has no objection to describing her films as pornography, because she expects viewers to be sexually aroused.[4] In addition to directing and producing films, she has written several books.[5]

Background

Lust was born Erika Hallqvist in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1977.[6] She developed an interest in film and theatre.[7]

She attended Lund University, where she studied political science.[8][9] While there, she read Linda Williams‘ 1989 book Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the “Frenzy of the Visible”, which later influenced her filmmaking.[9] She graduated with a BA in 1999, with a specialization in human rights and feminism.[10] After graduation she moved to Barcelona in 2000 and began studying filmmaking.[8][9]

Career

Lust made her first film, the explicit short The Good Girl, in 2004.[11] Released online for free under a Creative Commons license, it was downloaded widely online.[12][13] The film was shown at the Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival the next year and won a Ninfa Award.[14]

In 2005, she founded her video production company Lust Films.[8] The company has since produced erotic short films and compilations. Five Hot Stories For Her, an anthology of five vignettes including The Good Girl, won the Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival‘s 2007 Best Spanish Screenplay award,[15] the Venus Berlin Fair‘s 2007 Eroticline Award for Best Adult Film for Women,[16] and the 2008 Feminist Porn Award for Movie of the Year.[17] Her work has continued to appear on the adult cinema festival circuit, and in 2020 one of her films received a conventional cinema release.[18]

Development

Lust’s films have been noted for their casting and production values in adult film. She has said that explicit film can be both pleasurable and educational, and that it can contribute to discussion of sexuality and gender roles.[19] She has described pornography as the “most important discourse on gender and sexuality”.[8]

In 2010, Lust launched an online erotic cinema called Lust Cinema, which exhibits her own films and those of other directors working in explicit film.[8] In 2013, she launched the crowd-sourced project XConfessions.[8] It later became a major part of her work.[20]

In 2017, Glamour included Lust Cinema in a list of feminist porn sites.[21] In 2019, Lust was named as one of the BBC’s 100 Women of 2019.[22]

Other projects

Lust has written several books on eroticism and sexuality;[23] her first book, Good Porn, was published in 2009 by Seal Press.[24] The book discusses recurring themes and conventions in mainstream heterosexual pornography.[25]

Lust runs an online store that sells her books and films, as well as sex toys and other products.[26] In February 2016, her company had about 15 employees.[20]

In 2017, in consultation with sex educators, Lust created the website “The Porn Conversation”, intended as a resource for parents. The site links to research and offers advice on discussing the unrealistic aspects of mainstream pornography with children.[27]

Films

Her film Cabaret Desire (2011) won the Feminist Porn Award for Movie of the Year in 2012 and the CineKink Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature. It was later cited as an example of the range of work shown at the 2013 Berlin Porn Film Festival.[28]

In 2020, her film The Intern received three nominations at the XBIZ Europa Awards, including Feature Movie of the Year, Best Acting, and Best Sex Scene in a Feature Movie. Her film Super Femmes was also nominated for Best Lesbian Sex Scene. Erika Lust Films was nominated for Global Studio Brand of the Year, and her online streaming platform XConfessions was nominated for Erotic Site of the Year.[29]

XConfessions

In 2014, Lust and other directors began producing short pornographic films based on crowd-sourced stories.[30] Viewers can leave anonymous confessions on the project’s website. Each month, Lust selects two stories and adapts them into short films.[31] XConfessions was screened at the Berlin Porn Festival in 2014.[32][33] The first two compilations in the series won Feminist Porn Awards for Hottest Straight Vignette in 2014 and 2015.[20]

In 2015, a theatrical cut of XConfessions was screened at Chicago International Film Festival[4] and at Raindance Film Festival in London.[34]

Lust held two screenings of the XConfessions Theatrical Cut at Kino Babylon in Berlin in February 2016,[35][20] and the short film An Appointment with My Master later won the Best Narrative Short CineKink Award.[36]

Criticism

Lust was one of the filmmakers featured in “Women on Top”, the first episode of the Netflix documentary series Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On, which follows filmmakers Erika Lust and Holly Randall.[37] Sociologist Gail Dines criticized Lust’s participation in the episode, arguing in an opinion piece that the production was presented as empowering while still reproducing conventional pornographic dynamics, including pressure on an inexperienced performer to continue filming despite discomfort.[38]

Film scholar Álvaro Martín Sanz has described Lust as part of a feminist turn in pornography that rejects the heteronormativity of traditional pornographic cinema, while also arguing that her work remains limited by its emphasis on beauty and fantasy rather than more realistic portrayals of sex.[39]

Lust has argued that no sexual acts, including temporary and consensual self-objectification, BDSM, risk-aware violence, or extreme fantasy, should be labeled “non-feminist”.[40] Philosopher Richard Kimberly Heck defended Lust against criticism by Hans Maes, who had argued that Lust’s film The Good Girl differed little from mainstream pornography because of the female protagonist’s passivity and the inclusion of a facial in the final scene. Heck argued instead that the character’s behavior was more realistic than stereotypical pornographic representations and that consensual sexual practices commonly viewed as degrading may still be compatible with feminist pornography.[41]

Books

2013 interview about Lust’s books
  • 2009: X: a Woman’s Guide to Good Porn (alternate title: Good Porn: A Woman’s Guide)
    • First published 2008 in Spanish as Porno para mujeres (Porn for Women)[42]
  • 2010: Erotic Bible to Europe
  • 2010: Love Me Like You Hate Me with Venus O’Hara
  • 2011: Shooting Sex: How to Make an Outstanding Sex Movie with Your Partner (ebook also available in Polish)[43]
  • 2011: Six Female Voices with Antia Pagant
  • 2013: La Canción de Nora (Nora’s Song)
  • 2013: Let’s Make a Porno

Honours and awards

Year Sponsoring Organisation Award Category Entry Result
2005 Barcelona Intl Erotic Film Festival Ninfa Award First Prize for Short X-Films The Good Girl Won[44]
2007 Barcelona Intl Erotic Film Festival Ninfa Award Best Spanish Screenplay Five Hot Stories for Her Won[45]
Venus Fair Berlin Eroticline Award Best Adult Film for Women Won[citation needed]
2008 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Won[46]
Cinekink New York Cinekink Award Best Short Something about Nadia Honorable Mention[47]
Venus Fair Berlin Eroticline Award Best Erotic Documentary Barcelona Sex Project Won[48]
2009 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Honorable Mention[citation needed]
2010 Cinekink New York Cinekink Award Best Experimental Short Film Handcuffs Won[47]
Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Sexiest Short Film Won[49]
2011 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Life Love Lust Won[50]
Cinekink New York Cinekink Award Best Short Room 33 Honorable Mention[citation needed]
Orgazmik Zürich Orgazmik Award Best Film (Couples) Cabaret Desire Won[51]
2012 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Won[52]
Cinekink New York Cinekink Audience Choice Award Best Narrative Feature Won[47]
Cupido Norway Cupido Filmpris Handcuffs Won[53]
2014 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Hottest Straight Vignette Series XConfessions vol. 1 Won[54]
Fetisch Film Festival Germany Fetisch Award Best Feature-Length Won[55]
2015 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award The Art of Spanking Nominated[56]
Hottest Straight Vignette XConfessions vol. 2 Won[57]
Website xconfessions.com Honorable Mention[58]
2016 Cinekink New York Cinekink Award Best Narrative Short An Appointment with my Master Won[47]
2017 Fish&Chips Film Festival, Turin Best Short Movie XXX Pouring Pleasure Won[citation needed]
2018 Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara, Mexico Maguey Over the Rainbow Award Maguey award Erika Lust Won[citation needed]
Festival Internacional de Cine de Puerto Vallarta Erika Lust Won[59]
Toronto International Porn Festival Feminist Porn Award Most Tantalizing Trans Short We Are The Fucking Worldaccess Won[60]
Toronto International Porn Festival Sexiest Sci-Fi Touch Crimes Won[60]
Toronto International Porn Festival Dazzling: Docu-Porn Tie Me Up! A Shibari Documentary Won[60]
Toronto International Porn Festival Moist Won[citation needed]
Toronto International Porn Festival Best Kink Short Dirty Feet Won[60]
2019 Peephole Film Festival, Mexico Best Erotic Short Film Don’t Call Me a Dick (XConfessions) Won[61]
2020 Cinekink New York Audience Choice Award Best Narrative Feature Volunteers Wanted Won[citation needed]
Cinekink New York Best Dramatic Short The MILF Next Door Won[citation needed]
La Fête du Slip – Lausanne, Switzerland Slip d’Or Short Film Switch (XConfessions) Won[62]
XBiz Awards (Europe) Best Acting Lena Anderson, “The Intern” (Lust Cinema) Won[29]
XBiz Awards (Europe) Best Sex Scene-Lesbian Estella Bathory, Luna Corazon & Natassia Dreams, “Super Femmes” (XConfessions) Won[29]
2025 XMA Europa Awards Vanguard Award[63] Won

References

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