Episode 284: Sex On Screen – How Erotic Cinema Is Made
April 16, 2024 by Justin Lehmiller
What goes on behind the scenes when porn is filmed? In today’s show, I’m going to be speaking with a director who has decades of experience creating adult films. We’re going to explore how she got into the business, her approach to making erotic cinema, and what she does to ensure the comfort and safety of performers. She is a pioneer in creating ethical and feminist porn, so we’re also going to talk about how her work has changed the landscape for adult films.
My guest is Erika Lust, an award-winning indie erotic filmmaker who creates sex-positive adult cinema by portraying relatable characters and realistic hot sex. Over the past 20 years, Erika has directed 6 feature films and series and over 130 short films. In 2015, Erika gave a popular TEDx talk titled ‘It’s Time for Porn to Change‘.
Some of the topics we discuss include:
- What do both Hollywood and porn get wrong when to comes to depicting sex on screen?
- How is Erika’s approach to making adult films different from what people might be used to seeing in porn?
- What kind of reaction has ethical and feminist porn received from the broader male-dominated porn industry?
- What has changed in the world of porn in the last two decades?
You can check out Erika’s films here, and use the code “SEXANDPSYCH” for a 30% discount on the site’s content.
Got a sex question? Send me a podcast voicemail to have it answered on a future episode at speakpipe.com/sexandpsychology.
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Credits: Precision Podcasting (Podcast editing) and Shutterstock/Florian (Music). Image created with Canva; photos used with permission of guest.
Dr. Justin Lehmiller
Founder & Owner of Sex and PsychologyDr. Justin Lehmiller is a social psychologist and Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute. He runs the Sex and Psychology blog and podcast and is author of the popular book Tell Me What You Want. Dr. Lehmiller is an award-winning educator, and a prolific researcher who has published more than 50 academic works.
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