Erika Lust (born 1977) is a Swedish pornographic film director, screenwriter and producer whose work is associated with the feminist pornography movement. Her work has emphasized women's perspectives in pornography and greater participation by women as directors and producers.

Lust began directing with the short film The Good Girl in 2004. In 2013, she launched XConfessions, an online project in which films are based on anonymously submitted sexual fantasies. She was included in the BBC 100 Women list in 2019. In addition to directing and producing films, she has written several books.

Background Lust was born Erika Hallqvist in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1977. She developed an interest in film and theatre.

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

Career Lust made her first film, the explicit short The Good Girl, in 2004. Released free online under a Creative Commons licence, it was downloaded widely online. The film was shown at the Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival the next year and won a Ninfa Award.

In 2005, she founded her video production company Lust Films. 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, the Venus Berlin Fair's 2007 Eroticline Award for Best Adult Film for Women, and the 2008 Feminist Porn Award for Movie of the Year. Her work has continued to appear on the adult cinema festival circuit, and in 2020 one of her films received a conventional cinema release.

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. She has described pornography as the "most important discourse on gender and sexuality".

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. In 2013, she launched the crowd-sourced project XConfessions. It later became a major part of her work.

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

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

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

In 2017, in consultation with sex educators, Lust and her husband Pablo Dobner 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Reception

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.

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". 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.

Personal life Lust married businessman Pablo Dobner, who is the co-founder and CEO of Lust film. The couple resides in Barcelona, Spain with their two daughters.

Books

2009: X: a Woman's Guide to Good Porn (alternate title: Good Porn: A Woman's Guide). OCLC: 466334632 (First published 2008 in Spanish as Porno para mujeres -Porn for Women OCLC:733753226) 2010: Erotic Bible to Europe. OCLC: 1414735060 2011: Shooting Sex: How to Make an Outstanding Sex Movie with Your Partner (ebook also available in Polish) ISBN 10: 9490822108, ISBN 13: 9789490822101 2011: Six Female Voices with Antia Pagant. ISBN-10: 9490822175, ISBN-13: 978-9490822170 2013: La Canción de Nora (Nora's Song). OCLC: 828768654 2013: Let's Make a Porno. 2024 – ERIKALUST Archives: 2004–2024. ISBN 978-84-09-59734-5 2025 – La abundancia del deseo: Una conversación entre Erika Lust y Sara Torres. OCLC: 1569539456 2026 – Lust: Pleasure, Performance, Power. Bonnier Books UK (Reino Unido).OCLC: 1619444458

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 2007 Barcelona Intl Erotic Film Festival Ninfa Award Best Spanish Screenplay Five Hot Stories for Her Venus Fair Berlin Eroticline Award Best Adult Film for Women Won 2008 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year CineKink New York CineKink Award Best Short Something about Nadia Honorable Mention Venus Fair Berlin Eroticline Award Best Erotic Documentary Barcelona Sex Project 2009 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Honorable Mention 2010 CineKink New York CineKink Award Best Experimental Short Film Handcuffs Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Sexiest Short Film 2011 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Life Love Lust CineKink New York CineKink Award Best Short Room 33 Honorable Mention Orgazmik Zürich Orgazmik Award Best Film (Couples) Cabaret Desire 2012 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year CineKink New York CineKink Audience Choice Award Best Narrative Feature Cupido Norway Cupido Filmpris Handcuffs 2014 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Hottest Straight Vignette Series XConfessions vol. 1 Fetisch Film Festival Germany Fetisch Award Best Feature-Length 2015 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award The Art of Spanking Hottest Straight Vignette XConfessions vol. 2 Website xconfessions.com Honorable Mention2016CineKink New YorkCineKink AwardBest Narrative ShortAn Appointment with my Master2017Fish&Chips Film Festival, TurinBest Short Movie XXXPouring PleasureWon2018Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara, MexicoMaguey Over the Rainbow AwardMaguey awardErika LustFestival Internacional de Cine de Puerto VallartaErika LustToronto International Porn Festival Feminist Porn AwardMost Tantalizing Trans ShortWe Are The Fucking WorldaccessToronto International Porn FestivalSexiest Sci-FiTouch CrimesToronto International Porn FestivalDazzling: Docu-PornTie Me Up! A Shibari DocumentaryToronto International Porn FestivalMoistWonToronto International Porn FestivalBest Kink ShortDirty Feet2019Peephole Film Festival, MexicoBest Erotic Short FilmDon't Call Me a Dick (XConfessions)2020CineKink New YorkAudience Choice AwardBest Narrative FeatureVolunteers WantedWonCineKink New YorkBest Dramatic ShortThe MILF Next DoorWonLa Fête du Slip - Lausanne, SwitzerlandSlip d'Or Short FilmSwitch (XConfessions)XBiz Awards (Europe)Best ActingLena Anderson, "The Intern" (Lust Cinema)XBiz Awards (Europe)Best Sex Scene-LesbianEstella Bathory, Luna Corazon & Natassia Dreams, "Super Femmes" (XConfessions)2025XMA Europa AwardsVanguard Award

References

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