Getting off has never been more empowering
By Jessica Berget, Staff Writer
Oohh, oh yeah, you like that? Porn that isn’t based on the sexual violence and dominance of women? Damn right, I like that.
Let’s face it: a lot of people of all genders watch porn. However, the sad fact is that pornography objectifies women. All the straight pornography I have seen (which is a lot) presents women as mere objects of men’s desire or sexual pleasure, rather than human beings with their own thoughts, feelings, and sexual desires of their own. There is also the underlying issue of fetishizing young women and marginalized groups, as well as the normalization of rape culture that comes with adult films, but that’s an article for another day.
Women are often abused, humiliated, and insulted in porn, which is all presented as normal, or even sexy. The fact that this dehumanization of women is supposed to arouse people is scary, and the fact that it does arouse some people is terrifying. There’s nothing wrong with having kinks, but when the majority of porn has these themes, there’s a large problem. It seems there was no way for a lot of us to watch pornography without feeling uncomfortable, even a little sick, until now. Enter Erika Lust.
Erika Lust is a feminist indie porn director from Sweden. She decided to become an adult film director as she grew tired of the same tacky, chauvinistic pornography that was being produced, and she took the industry by storm with her first film The Good Girl in 2004. Since then, her films have received critical acclaim and dozens of awards for their cinematography, production, and narratives.
Scratch beneath the surface and her philosophy for adult filmmaking is also impressive: First and foremost, women’s pleasure matters. Second, adult cinema can have cinematic principles. Third, different body types, ages, and races should be represented. And finally, the film production process has to be ethical. Lust’s films are a breath of fresh air compared to other pornographies, or even most films in mainstream media. Her films are empowering, and break all the barriers in how we perceive sex, gender, and the porn industry itself.
Watching Erika Lust’s films is like watching an art installation about sex. With the use of natural lighting and intimate close-ups, her movies are visually beautiful and invoke both emotion and excitement in the viewer. Her films have a production value near that of a Wes Anderson film, which makes them easy on the eyes and even more aesthetically pleasing.
What is enjoyable about Lust’s films is that they’re believable—as believable as a porno can be, that is. The actors express intimacy and affection for their partners, and even have some really cute moments, which makes the experience much more immersive and enjoyable. She also uses real, consenting adults in her films and encourages her actors to wear condoms (which you think would be the porn norm, but alas).
Though the acting may be realistic, some of the plots are anything but. Not necessarily in a bad sense; on the contrary, they’re brave, exciting, and unusual. For instance, in one scene brazenly titled Can Vampires Smell My Period?, a vampire appears in a woman’s home to eat her out while she is having her period. As comical as this sounds, the acting between the two participants made the scene more realistic than any of the orgasms I have seen in regular porn and 10 times more enjoyable. Lust also uses a balance of soft music and natural sex sounds to arouse the viewer instead of the awful forced moaning that dominates other forms of pornography and the result is, well, erotic.
Pornography plays a significant role in sexual culture, and there is something especially shameful in watching regular porn, which is why feminist porn is the way to go.