Why Are We Having Less Sex? Ask a Pornographer.

Pornography gets the blame for a lot of societal problems, including the so-called “sex recession.” Can porn ever really be ethical? Erika Lust thinks so. The adult filmmaker sees porn as an art form. She’s a self-described feminist who centers women’s desires and fantasies in her work. But how different is the product she’s making? Lust sits down with Julia Yost, senior editor at “First Things,” to make the case for porn. Together, they discuss the adult film industry, stigmas around sex and translating fantasy into reality. Note: As we work on relaunching “Interesting Times,” the show will feature a series of guest hosts in the coming months. 00:00 - Intro01:22 - How Erika Became a Pornographer03:51 - Behind the Scenes of an Adult Film08:07 - The Relationship With Performers08:55 - Porn vs. “Euphoria”10:16 - Ethical Porn13:00 - Accurately Depicting Female Pleasure14:22 - Making Porn as a Feminist16:03 - Andrea Dworkin and the Anti-Porn Feminist Movement19:06 - “The Golden Era of Porn”20:55 - Fantasizing Under The Patriarchy24:01 - Sexuality In Ancient Rome26:15 - The Cornell Seven and Sexual Risk34:30 - Why We Need Stigmas40:55 - Is Porn Causing the Sex Recession?42:23 - “The Most Vanilla People Have the Hottest Sex Lives”43:23 - Porn Addiction and Compulsive Behavior46:44 - Religious Conservatives Aren’t Ashamed of Sex(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.