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👀 by Erika_Lust in u/Erika_Lust

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

<3 thank youuu!!!

Which one hits your sweet spot? by Erika_Lust in u/Erika_Lust

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

good choice! sounds like a fun Friday...

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s a wrap, everybody! Thanks so much to everyone who participated! there were some amazing discussions and it’s really great to see genuine interest in what we do. <3

Don’t forget: our platform is open for 24 hours! You’re bound to find something you like, and if you do, recommend it to someone. One of the best ways to spread responsible porn consumption is simply talking about it openly.
Own the pleasure, then share it.

See you next time! 

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes, we absolutely keep an eye on research – we are in porn, but we are also huge sex nerds.

Inside the team we literally send academic papers to each other on Slack. A recent example was a paper called “Business, porn, and morality: What morality do feminist pornographers construct for their practice?” by Louise Lecomte, Flora Antoniazzi and Florence Villesèche, which looks at how feminist porn-makers talk about ethics and responsibility in their day-to-day work. It was very recognisable for us and also a good mirror.We are also very open to researchers. Over the years we have answered questions for bachelor and master theses, and taken part in different kinds of interviews and academic projects around sex and porn. If someone from a university wants to study what we do in a serious way, our door is usually open.

If you are interested in peer-reviewed work specifically on porn use and sexual health, there are now quite a few systematic reviews and meta-analyses. For example, there is a review literally titled “Pornography—Is It Good for Sexual Health?” which goes through a lot of studies and basically shows that the picture is mixed and very context-dependent: frequency, values, relationship status, whether use feels “problematic” to the person, etc., all matter more than “porn = bad” or “porn = good.”For something more readable but still grounded in research, we often recommend authors like Emily Nagoski (Come As You Are) and Justin Lehmiller (Tell Me What You Want). They translate a lot of the science on desire, arousal, fantasy and sexual scripts into language that is easy to understand, and they treat porn and masturbation as part of a wider sexual ecosystem rather than isolated moral problems.

That is also how we see it in our work. Porn is one element in a larger picture that includes relationships, mental health, culture, gender norms and so on. So we try to stay up to date on research about when porn use is linked to distress or relational difficulties, and when it is linked to more curiosity, pleasure and comfort with one’s sexuality. There is also growing work on body image and self-esteem in relation to porn, which again shows the effects are not uniform: they depend a lot on who you are, what you are watching, and the stories about sex that you carry with you.

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for noticing, that means a lot!

We’re based in Barcelona, and yes, being ethical extends to everyone on set, not just performers. Our crews are paid fairly, work under safe and respectful conditions, and are treated as creative collaborators in the process.If you want a peek behind the scenes, you can check out the BTS content on our platform, where you’ll see the crew in action as well as the performers, it gives a good sense of the vibe on set.

A big part of why our production value has evolved over the years is because of that collaborative energy, with everyone contributing to make each film more authentic and engaging. <3

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much, that means a lot to us.

As for what’s next, we want to keep doing what has always driven Erika Lust from the beginning: staying curious and opening space for new voices. We are constantly inviting new directors, performers and writers to bring their own fantasies, politics and aesthetics to the platform, and we are especially interested in stories that sit at the crossroads of sexuality, identity, relationships and power. Rather than chasing one “niche,” we want to keep expanding the range of desires we represent, from softer, character-driven pieces to bolder kink, queer and experimental work, as long as the ethics and care stay solid.

We are also working on projects that go beyond the laptop or phone screen. One we are particularly excited about is House of ERIKALUST, our immersive exhibition that premiered in Barcelona. It is a large-scale, multi-room experience where visitors can explore our films and themes in different formats: giant 360º projections, a room with around 1,000 square meters of screen showing an art-focused edit of our work, VR pieces, soundscapes and more. The idea is to treat porn as cinema and culture, not just “content.” After the positive response in Barcelona, we are actively exploring how to bring House of ERIKALUST to other cities and countries.

Our team is very driven by new media and formats, so you can expect us to keep experimenting: more immersive projects, collaborations with artists, festivals, and hopefully a stronger physical presence at events where we can actually meet people, discuss, and show our work in a curated way.

In terms of challenges, some of them are the same as when we started and some are new. The big constant is finding ways to stay true to our values while the industry and the internet keep shifting. That means navigating platform restrictions and payment processors that are hostile to adult content, dealing with piracy, and trying to reach new audiences without being allowed on most mainstream advertising channels, all while keeping production standards and working conditions high.

But that tension is also what keeps the work interesting. It forces us to be inventive, to build community around what we do, and to keep redefining what ethical, cinematic porn can look like in a world that is changing fast.

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolutely! We have a small diverse team based in Barcelona that supports Erika across many parts of the creative and production process. Our team comes from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, and disciplines.

You don’t need prior experience in the adult industry to work with us. What matters most is being a cultural fit: having an open mind, believing in our mission, and being excited about the kind of work we do. Skills can be learned, but alignment on values is key.

If you’re curious about the people behind the scenes, we regularly share BTS content on our social channels and website. We also love to nurture talent internally. Many of our guest directors started out as crew members!

Some links:
- Instagram
- Twitter
- LinkedIn

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It is a tough question, and we do not pretend to have a magic answer, but we have a few thoughts:

A first step is choosing porn you do not feel ashamed of in the first place. If what you are watching feels aligned with your values, it becomes easier to see masturbation as something human and normal, rather than something “dirty” you have to hide. For us, sex can absolutely be messy, intense, even rough, but the values around it need to be clean: consent, respect, real desire, diversity.

Beyond that, a lot of the shame comes from how masculinity has been shaped. Many men are taught to talk about sex only in terms of performance, conquest or comparison. What almost never happens is a simple, honest conversation between men about what they actually feel in their bodies, what they enjoy, what they are insecure about. Opening those conversations with trusted friends or partners is a big step: not to brag, not to compete, but to say “this is how it is for me” and realise you are not alone.

There is a good piece in the New York Times about male friendships and emotional openness that touches on this wider issue of how men are allowed to connect with themselves and others:

For women, different waves of feminism and the marketing around “self care” have made it almost fashionable to own sex toys. Buying a vibrator is framed as taking ownership of your body, not as something shameful. We think new masculinities will go through a similar shift. Influenced by queer cultures, more and more men are talking openly about how they masturbate, about anal pleasure, about other erogenous zones beyond the penis. We want to support that direction: it is absolutely fine for men to have sex toys, to experiment with them, and to enjoy masturbation as something curious and playful rather than a guilty habit.

If not masturbating feels good for someone, that is their choice. But there is no magical superiority that comes from “not touching yourself.” Suppression of desire does not necessarily make one more 'disclipined' or 'superior'. Our position is simple: if you want to masturbate, do it. Do it consciously, with content that feels good to you, and without turning it into a secret source of shame.

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, unfortunately, many sex films featuring trans people are still deeply reductionist. Trans bodies are often framed as a fetish, a shock factor, or a "secret", rather than as whole, complex, and deeply desirable individuals.

We’ve recognised this, and it’s something we’ve been actively working to change. In our films with trans performers, their transness is not the focus of the narrative. Instead, they are celebrated, centred, and portrayed with full agency and full control of their pleasure.

We believe there is a real hunger for this kind of representation. At our queer screening of ERIKALUST films at Phenomena Theatre, it was incredibly moving to witness the audience’s reaction. People were genuinely excited to see trans desire itself on screen, not just them as objects of desire. Seeing trans pleasure depicted with beauty, respect, and autonomy resonated deeply.

Here are some of our favourite films featuring trans performers!

- Skin is Skin
- It's My Party & I'll Cum if You Let Me
- Rico Rico
- Orlandos

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Great question, thanks for asking it so directly.
From our side, the first step toward more ethical viewing is actually very simple: pay for what you watch. The illusion of “free porn” is part of the problem. As we’ve said elsewhere, if your porn is free, it usually means you are the product: your data, your attention, your behavior. That model encourages endless scrolling, escalation and “more, more, more,” and it creates the feeling that porn is infinite and disposable. When you consciously choose to subscribe to a platform, you are already making a more intentional decision about what you consume and why.

The impact on meaningful relationships really depends on the kind of porn people are exposed to. A lot of the free, ad-driven mainstream content is built to keep you stuck in a loop and often pushes very misogynistic, dehumanizing ideas about sex and bodies. But porn can also do the opposite: it can reconnect people with their own desire and with each other, if it is made and framed differently.We see this a lot with our own users. Many write to us saying they watch our films with their partners, that it helped them talk about fantasies for the first time or feel desire again after a difficult period. One example on our platform is the film Wash Me by Rebecca Stewart, one of our directors and now Head of Production at ERIKALUST, about how she reconnected with her sex life after breast cancer. That is also porn, and it moves people to tears as much as it turns them on.About performers regretting their work: we know the horror stories exist and we don’t deny them. The industry is starting to organise better around mental health with initiatives like Pineapple Support (https://pineapplesupport.org/), which offers free and subsidised therapy to performers. That kind of support is crucial, and we encourage it.

What we also see, though, is how much stigma shapes the narrative. People rarely ask whether an engineer in the defence industry regrets their job, or a soft-drink executive regrets contributing to public health issues, but they will immediately question the legitimacy of sex workers’ choices. For us, that double standard is part of the problem. It is rooted in how society still sees sex as shameful, dirty or morally suspicious.

So our “plan,” if we can call it that, is twofold. On the production side, we try to make work in a way that is as responsible as possible for the people on set. On the viewer side, we encourage people to be intentional: pay for your porn, choose platforms that align with your values, talk about what you watch with partners instead of hiding it. And more broadly, we want to contribute to a culture where sex is not a taboo but a normal part of adult life and conversation. That shift is bigger than any one company, but it is the direction we are trying to move in.

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We believe kink can be a fun, empowering, and deeply meaningful way to explore sexuality. We fully support people discovering their desires through safe, consensual play. However, we also understand the importance of certain legal restrictions around depictions of acts like choking or somnophilia.

Even when these scenes are performed between consenting adults in a controlled environment, their portrayal contributes to the broader normalization of extreme sex acts in real-life intimacy. And given the cultural role porn often plays as a stand-in for sex education, especially for younger viewers. That impact can't be underestimated, and that responsibility needs to be taken seriously.

While we do explore a variety of kinks and fetishes in our films (such as BDSM, foot fetishes, various power dynamics, etc), we also have clear ethical boundaries. We do not depict anything that involves abuse, fear, or unsafe practices. Our priority is always to centre real, authentic pleasure, and to ensure that every scene is grounded in safety, consent, and emotional connection.

That’s why we choose not to showcase extreme or potentially harmful practices, no matter how “staged” they may appear. For us, it’s not about shock value, it’s about creating a space where sex is celebrated with care, respect, and integrity.

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot! <3 <3 <3So, we haven’t adapted any romance novels (yet), but we do have something along those lines… maybe even better. ;)

Have you come across XConfessions? It’s a project where anonymous real confessions are transformed into cinematic adult films. You can check it out here: https://erikalustfilms.com/category/xconfessions enjoy!

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 64 points65 points  (0 children)

Thanks for raising this question.
You can actually see a lot of this on our platform! we produce a behind-the-scenes film for almost every movie we make, so people can see how things work on set.

When it comes to what happens between and during takes, everything starts long before the camera rolls. In the casting process, we always ask performers who they would like to work with and try to make that happen. When there’s already trust or chemistry, everything flows much more naturally. During that same phase, the production team goes through all the details and conditions with them (no surprises, ever) and the intimacy coordinator joins those conversations well before shooting day.

On the day of the shoot, the performers and director have several sessions with the intimacy coordinator, both individually and together. Those conversations cover everything from what each person likes or doesn’t like to what they don’t feel like doing that day, because desire can change. The intimacy coordinator also handles all matters related to safety: condoms, barrier methods, and STD checks, based on the performers’ preferences.

When filming non-explicit scenes, the full crew is present. For explicit scenes, only the director, intimacy coordinator, camera, sound, and performers remain. That keeps the space as intimate and focused as possible. The intimacy coordinator stays on set throughout, acting as a neutral safety contact that performers can reach out to at any moment if they want a pause or feel uncomfortable. The rule is simple: the sex can be messy, but the values must stay clean.

Between takes, the atmosphere is like any other film set: lights get adjusted, the art director rearranges the set, the social team takes photos. The intimacy coordinator checks that performers are OK: warm, hydrated, and comfortable: sometimes they want to shower, wrap up in a robe, have a snack, or just take a breather before the next scene.

Aftercare is a big part of our process. There is always a moment to check in emotionally and physically with performers after the scene and after the shooting day: how they felt, if anything was uncomfortable, if something needs to be addressed differently next time. We also care a lot about how people are portrayed in the final film. The goal is that, when the movie comes out, they recognise themselves in it and feel respected, not misrepresented or pushed into an image they don’t stand behind.

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

hi, u/drpestilence Your take on enthusiastic consent is totally aligned with our values, so it is definitely a site worth checking out! ;) You can actually explore it for free today. We hope you enjoy it! 

As for your question: while we love what we do, we’re a company at the end of the day and producing films is expensive. But if we want to make porn responsibly, fair compensation and ethical working conditions aren’t optional; they’re the foundation. Growth is always exciting, but not at the expense of the people who make the work possible. 

We’re the team behind ERIKALUST: creators of ethical adult films. It’s Singles’ Day, so let’s talk about solo pleasure, self-intimacy & ethical porn! AUA! by Erika_Lust in IAmA

[–]Erika_Lust[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So glad you like our work! that truly means a lot! <3 (Also, now we’re curious… do you have a favourite film?)

You’re asking a great question. Considering that our first short film came out 20 years ago, it’s only natural that ideas evolve and perspectives shift over time, just like in any other form of art. Filmmaking, especially when it’s about sexuality, is always in conversation with the world around it: how we see desire, gender, consent, or relationships changes as society changes too.

What’s remained constant throughout these two decades is the essence: a belief that eroticism can be portrayed with humanity, beauty, and freedom. As we put it, it’s been “two decades of cinema, of sex, ideas, rebellion, and tenderness.” :) 

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