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 books on recurring themes and conventions in mainstream pornography. In 2024, Lust's projects began operating under the brand ERIKALUST, with erikalust.com as the main website for her content. In November 2025, Lust received the Vanguard Award at the Euro XMAs.
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.
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".
Lust in 2013
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.
From 2016, Lust began funding productions by other filmmakers through XConfessions, with a focus on first-time directors who were women, trans or queer, combining financial support with mentorship. Directors who made films through the project include Paulita Pappel, Bruce LaBruce, and Popo Fan. 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.
The Porn Conversation
In 2017, in consultation with sex educators, Lust and her husband Pablo Dobner created the website The Porn Conversation, intended as a resource for
In 2017, Lust and her husband Pablo Dobner founded The Porn Conversation, a non-profit project that provides free materials for parents and educators on discussing pornography with young people. The non-profit initiative was created to provide families and educators with resources to support conversations about pornography, sexuality, and media literacy with children and adolescents.
House of ERIKALUST
In October 2024, Lust opened House of ERIKALUST in Barcelona, an exhibition that uses extended reality, interactive installations and erotic art, produced with the studio Layers of Reality. It was held again in Barcelona in 2025. In December 2025, it was announced that it would be shown at the DIVE venue in Antwerp, Belgium.
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.
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
2013 interview about Lust's books
2009: X: a Woman's Guide to Good Porn (alternate title: Good Porn: A Woman's Guide). OCLC466334632 (First published 2008 in Spanish as Porno para mujeres -Porn for WomenOCLC733753226)
↑Taormino, Tristan; Shimizu, Celine Parreñas; Penley, Constance; Miller-Young, Mireille, eds. (2013). The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York. ISBN978-1-55861-819-0.
↑Lust, Erika (2010). Good Porn: A Woman's Guide. Berkeley, Calif.: Seal Press. ISBN978-1-58005-306-8.
↑Liberman, Rachael (2015). "'It's a really great tool': feminist pornography and the promotion of sexual subjectivity". Porn Studies. 2 (2–3): 174–191. doi:10.1080/23268743.2015.1051913. ISSN2326-8743.
↑Meier, Anika (2015). "'Pornography into Bright Daylight': a review of the Berlin Porn Film Festival, 23–27 October 2013". Porn Studies. 2 (2–3): 290–292. doi:10.1080/23268743.2015.1056458. ISSN2326-8743.
↑Norman N., Avital (4 November 2014). "An interview with Erika Lust, erotic filmmaker and mother". www.sheknows.com. Retrieved 28 June 2026. Erika teams up with her husband, Pablo, in both her work life at Lust Films (link NSFW) and at home, where the couple are parents to two daughters.
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