Dr. Laura Méritt has been an important voice of sex-positive feminism in German-speaking countries for decades. With the Freudenfluss network, she is committed to sexual education, feminist pornography and education beyond patriarchal norms. On the occasion of the PorYes Award 2025, she talks to us about feminism, resistance in regressive times and the joy of diversity in sexuality and art.
Porn doesn’t exist outside of capitalism, patriarchy, or power. It isn’t a lawless playground that invented misogyny, nor is it a utopian space of sexual liberation. Porn is labor. And like all labor under capitalism, it’s shaped by structures of inequality, such as class, gender, race, and desire.
Sexuality is a topic that is discussed in our society with a high degree of moral intensity. This becomes especially clear when looking at political discourses surrounding gender, sex education, and pornography. One party in particular stands out in Germany: the AfD.
The Porn Film Festival Vienna has just ended, and the Porn Film Festival Brussels is just around the corner – a good opportunity to reflect on what porn film festivals actually are and how they can shape our view of porn.