Sex Blogger of the Month: The Ersties Podcast

Podcasts are awesome! Sex podcasts are awesome! But ... we don't have a great way to feature them on the site ... at least not just yet. So, we sometimes include super-cool sex podcasts in our Sex Blogger of the Month series. We've featured podcasts before but it's been a while, so we were super excited when the Ersties Podcast reached out to be featured. We hadn't heard of this relatively new podcast, but we gave it a listen and liked what we heard. The Ersties Podcast isn't just about sex, it's a sex podcast that leans heavily toward the porn industry, including topics like censorship, camming, ethical porn and more. Its guests are often performers, and they provide some really interesting insights into topics that even porn enthusiasts may not know much about. There are some great conversations here about sex, porn, the sex industry and all kinds of topics around it. You should go give it a listen. But, in the meantime, check out our interview with the people over at the Ersties Podcast.

Kinkly: Give us three words that describe your podcast.

Ersties: Sex positive, kinky, lolz

Kinkly: What inspired you to start the podcast?

Ersties: As a group of friends, all of us (Paulita Pappel, Lina Bembe, Pandora Passmore and Olivia Rose) have very different backgrounds, we're from all over the world and we represent a mix of industry professionals and total newbies. It makes for some diverse discussions. Also, the way we talk so openly about sex is not something everybody has in their lives, or in our culture more generally. We wanted to share that, to give other people the same permission to talk and think about sex. Listening to podcasts can, after all, be like hanging out with a group of people that feels like your friends and we want to connect with people on sexy topics through that.

Kinkly: What’s behind the name?

Ersties: Behind the name is Ersties, the feminist pornography website made by women. We love pleasure and the way that can be shared through pornography and we hope to do the same thing with our podcast.

Kinkly: Who’s your target listener?

Ersties: Anybody and everybody who wants to know about sex and relationships in their personal lives and in our society. That could be somebody with little experience of kink or a BDSM dominatrix; both can relate to Paulita’s stories about breathplay in I Kink Therefore I Am and be like, oh yeah, been there.

Kinkly: What’s unique about your podcast?

Ersties: It’s totally, shamefully, unashamed. Plus we have rad artwork by Millie Moonhouse.

Kinkly: What is the topic you find yourself covering most often and why?

Ersties: Probably somewhere between all the different ways we can have relationships and live out our sexualities, whether it’s a polyamorous relationship or the perils of dating apps. That doesn’t really answer your question but basically we’re perverts living in the sex central city of Berlin and we talk about all of it and love it all equally. We can’t help ourselves.

Kinkly: What was your most popular show ever? Why do you think it drew so many listeners?

Ersties: Our special two-parter Censorship Episode #6. We went to the London Porn Festival to learn about the new censorship laws in the U.K. that will mean you have to input your private data to watch pornography (?!). We interviewed a whole host of industry professionals, journalists, filmmakers and lawyers to get to the heart of what losing sexual freedoms through censorship can cost other freedoms, how it is linked to shutting down borders and losing our privacy. We also learned about how Victorian our current attitudes to sex and porn really are and the people suffering from that are especially women, sex workers, the queer community and other marginalized groups. Since this new law is supposed to protect "the children" we want a world where all children and all adults have the right to explore and express their sexualities freely.

The popularity of this episode probably came down to the amazing voices you get to experience, from Holly Randall, to obscenity lawyer Myles Jackman and pornographic filmmakers, Erika Lust’s partner, Pablo, Vex Ashley, Pandora Blake and more from the festival. We really wanted to offer a more expansive version of what sex and pornography could be beyond this idea that it’s morally shameful. But you’ll have to listen to find out more!

Kinkly: What’s the best thing about hosting a sex podcast?

Ersties: Having the opportunity to keep learning about sex and exploring new things ourselves and being attention whores for people that listen to us. One guy listens to our podcast with his partner and tells us how much it’s helped them to open their relationship and be more experimental. We love that.

Kinkly: What’s the worst thing about it?

Ersties: You have to be OK with the fact that people who listen to it basically know all the sordid details of your sex life. But if you hang out with any one of us we would probably know yours in a matter of minutes too.

Kinkly: OK, now for the good stuff: Give us your best tip for great sex.

Ersties: Be connected with yourself and your partner. Using breath, words and embracing the moans (sorry neighbors) can really help you stay in tune with each other and make for GREAT sex.