Erika Lust's Blog, page 6

A new episode on feminist porn

As you know these last 10 days I've been shooting my new movie, and today is the last day!

I still have plenty of little details to take care of, so today I'll leave you with a few pictures of the shooting and also a link to Liandra Dahl's website. This Australian woman who lives in Amsterdam kindly accepted to fly over to Barcelona to play in my new film and I have to say I was really happy since the scene was great! And I would like you to know her better. She's really natural, fun and pretty. She manages her own website and she's a feminist. Maybe some of you remember her from the time she worked on Abby Winters. So have a look at her website and her introduction video.

Thank you for your support!

(Thanks to Dani for his pictures)

A Rabbit's piece of advice

Today I found great videos on Rabbit Write, Rachel White's blog on sexuality which you may remember from Lady Porn Day.

Some of her readers sent her questions and doubts about their sexuality, from orgasms to contraception and relationships, and I really like the way Rachel answered these questions – with personal insights and encourageing people to take some time getting to know their sexuality.

photo by petimaj

Here are a few examples of videos she posted, you can see all of them on her blog.

Girl Power – Are we there yet?

During a break at the film shooting today (which is going great by the way!) I've discovered this great video thanks to the Toronto SlutWalk Facebook page.

This amazing girl, Amber, talks in a video about girl power and about how we receive false messages saying that we're already there, that we already are in an equal situation with men, but the thing is these messages are empty since they're not backed by solid actions to make the female social status actually evolve.Yes things are better than 50 years ago, but there are still lots of things to do before women, and women's sexuality, stop being stereotyped and diminished.

I advise you have a look at this video and at Amber's youtube channel, NineteenPercent, and you can also follow her on Twitter.

I love her sarcasm and her natural pragmatism: she says what she sees everyday and welcomes other people's reactions.

What do you think?

Sneak Peek into the shooting of my new movie!

Hey everyone!

For the past weeks I've been in "production mood", meaning with my team we've been preparing the shooting of my next movie which will start this Sunday May 22nd! The cast, the props, the sets… for a new atmosphere and a new perspective on sex!

The film will be out in October, but I've decided to give you a little sneak peek into this new work!

Well we've been working with the Poetry Brothel! This "unique and immersive poetry experience, which takes poetry outside classrooms and lecture halls and places it in the lush interiors of a bordello. The Poetry Brothel presents poets as high courtesans who impart their work in public readings, spontaneous eruptions of poetry, and most distinctly, as purveyors of private poetry readings on couches, chaise lounges and in private rooms."

In a few words, a new burlesque experience! Besides, two "whores" from the Brothel in NY, Rachel and Nick, have come directly from the US to narrate the stories! They've already been working on it and it sounds great! We'll also shoot a few scene at the Poetry Brothel of Barcelona of course!

About the cast, I can reveal a little bit of info. The gorgeous Luizo Vega will act in the movie. Luizo is an actor, dancer, acrobat, model for photographers and plastic artists… He recently played in the "Roman Trilogy", the new multimedia edition of La Fura dels Baus, to be premiered soon in Rome. We're very happy he could join us for this new production.

The rest of the cast will come from every corner of the world: Canada, Russia, the Netherlands…

We also prepared nice props! For example the beautiful fetish Absolute Boots by Ainsley-T from Milan! By the way, you can follow the boots via the hashtag #AbsoluteBoots on Twitter or Ainsley-T. I can also tell that there will be latex…

So that's it, I'm ready for this new adventure! 10 days of craziness for the good of female sexuality! I'll keep you posted about the shooting on Twitter and Facebook. Thank you for your support!

Today is the International Day against Homophobia

Today represents the fight that is still going on for the rights of the LGBTQ community.

This is a unifying moment during which a great number of activities are taking place. It also represents an opportunity to organize educational and awareness activities. Citizens from all walks of life are invited to reflect on homophobia and its devastating effects.

May 17th is symbolic due to its significance in the improvement of the status of gays and lesbians. Idaho proposed this date for annually holding a day set aside to fight homophobia. In removing homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses on a May 17, the World Health Organisation put an end to over a century of homophobia in the medical field.

The Day Against Homophobia is organised by the Émergence organization from Québec.

So today, and every day of the year, spread the word and make the world a better place!

Same Sex Couple: A Story of Love

Xanadu, an X-Rated Family

Last April 30th, the Franco-German TV channel Arte premiered its new French tv show: Xanadu. During 8 episodes, Xanadu shows us a portrait of a family who manages a porn empire.

Short synopsis:The Valadines are like any other family, with their conflicts and secrets and they need to manage a porn empire that's emotionnally haunted by their first star: Elise Jess, wife of Alex Valadine and mother of their children. Besides, the Valadines will have to confront the fact that porn has changed and will need to adapt for their business to survive.

I think it's really great to produce a tv show about porn but especially about all the porn backstage that people can only imagine from the covers of gonzo movies. Hopefully it will demystify all the clichés about this sector and will actually show what it is like, at a time of change in the way of consuming porn, what the life of the actors are like, what ethical and social questions it may rise when working in this environment. From the trailer video, it doesn't seem to be judgemental about porn, but more realistic about its issues.

You can watch the resume of the episodes on Arte's website, and if you live in France remember the show will be on every Saturday at 10.25 p.m. until May 21st.

A billion wicked thoughts

"A Billion Wicked Thoughts" was written by two young neuroscientists who decided to explore the human sexuality from a scientific point of view, by observing the sexual habits of more than a hundred million people. Yes, that's a lot. They actually observed and analysed the habits of anonymous people watching porn on the Internet, their searching keywords, the frequency, the material, the websites and videos… These insights and statistics enabled them to draw conclusions about today's sexuality.

The researcher Kinsey (if you still haven't watched the movie "Kinsey", I advise yo do asap) was the first person to study sexual behaviour by interviewing 18.000 people in the 50's. Now Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam combined Internet insights and neuroscience to understand better the sexual behaviour of men and women.

On their official website, they say they discovered that: "Men prefer overweight women to underweight women. Women enjoy reading about two heterosexual men having sex. Men often seek erotic videos featuring women in their 50s and 60s. Other than preferring males, gay men have almost identical sexual desires as straight men."

I personally don't really think it's important not to generalise. I'm sure these results are true, but the most important are not the results themselves but the acknowledgement of different ways of experiencing sexuality between men and women. Mainstream porn is not the representation of everybody's fantasies and it is a good thing to have a look at what real people like you and I actually like.

They also go further by describing the differences between female and male sexuality: "Just like the hard-wired taste cues on your tongue–sweet, sour, salty, savory, and bitter–humans have hard-wired sexual cues. But though men and women share the same taste cues, their sexual cues are very different. And they work differently: a single cue triggers arousal in the male brain, but women's brains require multiple cues to become aroused.  Men's brains form their sexual interests during adolescence and rarely change, while women's sexual interests are dynamic and change frequently throughout their lives. In men, physical arousal and psychological arousal are united, while in women, psychological arousal is separated from physical arousal."

If you're interested in this study, you can already read the first chapter of the book online or buy it.

What is your definition of feminist porn?

There are different definitions for the words feminist, porn, and "feminist porn", which are often biased on social, cultural or scientific grounds.

I mean, what makes a porno feminist, what are the criteria?

According to Alison Lee, manager of Good for Her in Toronto, "a woman must have been involved in the production, writing, or direction of the work; or the work must convey genuine female pleasure; or the piece must expand the boundaries of sexual representation and challenge mainstream porn stereotypes".

I think it's important that women are involved in the making of indie porn, because feminist porn is not only about the content, it is also about the emancipation of women and about them being able to give life to their ideas and fantasies as sexual beings like all of us, without feeling shame or prejudice. The porn industry needs women to get out there and show the world a new way of experiencing sex.

Chanelle Galant, organizer of the Feminist Porn Awards, says it "makes women and couples feel good about themselves and about sex." And I totally agree with her. If we had to sum up feminist porn in one sentence, I think that would be it. Being able to watch and enjoy a type of porn that makes you feel good, that makes want to explore your sexuality and your partner's.

I personally think it's important for the characters to be real. Sex is not only technical, biological, it's a connection, whether it's a one night stand or committed relationship. There needs to be emotions, intensity, laughters… All these little things that make sex unforgettable.

So, what would be YOUR definition of feminist porn? Why do YOU watch it?

via HomePageDaily

The Smurfette Principle

This is a great video from the Feminist Frequency by Anita Sarkeesian who analyses the Smurfette Principle or Token Minority phenomenon.

The Smurfette Principle was named two decades ago by Katha Pollitt, when she noticed that there were a disproportionate amount of male characters in programming aimed at young people. Even in adult programming, when women do appear in the primary cast of a television show or movie, they are usually alone in a group of men. Sadly, this trope has made its way into the 21st century.

Prelude to Gonzo Smurf Scene

"Girls exist only in relation to boys", said Katha Pollitt. They are constantly stereotyped and stuck in the female cliché: they're automatically defined as the sexy sidekick. "Men are represented as the default, and women are seen as sexy decorations", adds Anita Sarkeesian in the video.

Inception, Star Wars, the Muppet Show, Transformers…

So in the future, when you watch a movie, try to ask yourself about the role of the female characters. You'll be amazed this Smurfette Principle can sadly be applied to A LOT of productions, even now, in the 21st century.

Girls watch porn

Not a big surprise. If you read this blog, you already know that women watch porn.

This video (posted by Yera on my facebook page) reminds us that women have a great sexuality and can get frustrated with what the mainstream porn industry offers us. Porn for women is essential to diversify the content. But WHAT is Porn for Women?

29/04/2011: *this video was deleted for Copyrights reasons…*

It's not only one style of porn. It's not red wine and sweet sex in front of the fireplace.

I don't want porn for women to be reduced to a stereotype. Porn for women can be many things. It can be Candida Royalle's porn, Tristan Taormino's…,  it can be gay, rough, multiple, vulgar, strange, romantic, modern, or all at once, as long as it is done with a female perspective.

It's not a trend, not a hobby, not an excuse to criticize mainstream porn. It's a need that sadly is still often ridiculed.

So girls, tell the world you watch porn, and also specify what turns you on, because every woman is different!