Dirty Diaries
Encyclopedia
Dirty Diaries is a 2009 collection of thirteen pornographic
short films made by Swedish feminists
and produced by Mia Engberg. The individual films are highly diverse in content, although many of them feature humour and different forms of queer
sex. The creative decisions were based on a manifesto with the aim to create pornography that is non-commercial and follows feminist ideals.
The film sparked controversy before and after its release because of sexually provocative content and the fact that it was mainly financed through public funds. Film critics were split in their reception; some found the film amusingly provocative while others thought it was dull.
. It was a short film where each participants filmed themselves with mobile phone cameras while masturbating
. Come Together received a large amount of negative commentary, primarily from men, who complained about the actor-photographers being unattractive. To Engberg, this was proof that pornographic films demanded that their female participants should be seen as pleasing to its primarily male audience. Engberg had previously made another feminist pornographic short called Selma and Sofie which enjoyed some success. This and Engberg's record of other successful cultural ventures motivated the Swedish Film Institute to supply an initial 350,000 Swedish kronor
, later supplemented with an additional 150,000.
1. Beautiful the way we are
To hell with the sick beauty ideals! Deep self-hatred keeps a lot of women's energy and creativity sapped. The energy that could be focused into exploring
our own sexuality and power is being drained off into diets and cosmetics. Don't let the commercial powers control your needs and desires.
2. Fight for your right to be horny
Male sexuality is seen as a force of nature that has to be satisfied at all costs while women's sexuality is accepted only if it adapts to men's needs. Be
horny on your own terms.
3. A good girl is a bad girl
We are fed up with the cultural cliché that sexually active and independent women are either crazy or lesbian and therefore crazy. We want to see and make
movies where Betty Blue, Ophelia and Thelma & Louise don't have to die in the end.
4. Smash capitalism and patriarchy
The porn industry is sexist because we live in a patriarchal capitalist society. It makes profit out of people’s needs for sex and erotica and women get
exploited in the process. To fight sexist porn you have to smash capitalism and patriarchy.
5. As nasty as we wanna be
Enjoy, take charge or let go. Say NO when you want, to be able to say YES when YOU want.
6. Legal and free abortion is a human right!
Everyone has the right to control their own body. Millions of women suffer from unwanted pregnancies and die from illegal abortions every year. Fuck the
moral right for preaching against birth control and sex information.
7. Fight the real enemy!
Censorship cannot liberate sexuality. It is impossible to change the image of women's sexuality if sexual images in themselves are taboo. Don't attack women
for displaying sex. Attack sexism for trying to control our sexuality.
8. Stay Queer
A lot of opposition to erotica is homophobic and even more transphobic. We don't believe in the fight between the sexes but in the fight against sexes.
Identify as any gender you want and make love to whoever you want. Sexuality is diverse.
9. Use Protection
"I'm not saying go out an' do it, but if you do, strap it up before you smack it up." (Missy Elliot)
10. Do it yourself
Erotica is good and we need it. We truly believe that it is possible to create an alternative to the mainstream porn industry by making sexy films we like.
in Stockholm
on September 3 and released on DVD the same day. There were further screenings on the weekend of September 5-6, which drew large crowds. Though public interest was intense, and all screenings were sold out, no further shows in Stockholm were scheduled. The reason stated by Bio Rio and Engberg was that the cinema screenings were intended to be limited, and that the films were intended to be enjoyed on DVD.
The film also saw limited theatrical distribution in Finland.
(SFI), which receives most of its funding directly from the Swedish government, sparked controversy in Sweden. Using tax money to finance pornography was considered offensive by some. Beatrice Fredriksson, member of the Moderate Party youth organization and author of the Anti-Feminist Initiative Blog, labelled the use of public funds as hypocrisy, since mainstream pornography would never receive the same financial support. Marit Östberg, one of the film's directors, defended the public financing of the project by stressing that the values behind Dirty Diaries are radically different from that of mainstream pornography. Dirty Diaries also received criticism from feminists critical against pornography in general. Prolific Swedish director and feminist Suzanne Osten voiced scepticism, referring to her belief that pornography is inherently objectifying and that feminist pornography would therefore constitute an oxymoron.
Due to the debate over the use of tax money for financing a pornographic feature, the director of the SFI Cissi Elwin Frenkel considered it necessary to write a letter to Swedish Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth
, and explain exactly why it received the financing. Elwin Frenkel repeatedly maintained that SFI does not support pornography, and that Dirty Diaries received financing because it aimed to try a new approach to depicting female sexuality.
Rasmus Malm in Göteborgsposten summarized the controversial potential of Dirty Diaries as "a Kinder Egg
from hell, specially designed to provoke Christian Democrat
columnists. Three nightmares in one: porn and gay sex paid for with tax money".
The unusual circumstance of government-sponsored pornography also led to the topic being the butt of a parody by US talk show host Conan O'Brien
.
praised the shorts as "amusing, provoking and exciting", especially the opening short Skin". Lars Böhlin of Västerbottens Folkblad
described it as "dull, ugly and rather artistic" and criticized its being filmed with mobile phone cameras in an age of large television screens. Böhlin also noted his negative reactions to the portrayal of a man being lured into having sex in front of a camera in Body contact and expressed sympathies for the people exposed to the advances of Johanna Rytel in Flasher girl on tour. Some of the films, like Dildoman and Skin, were considered to be of good quality, but Böhlin was doubtful whether they should be considered to be pornographic at all. Camilla Carnmo, writing for Smålandsposten was more positive, commenting that it was "good-looking and professional" despite being filmed only with phone cameras, but also added that it was "more art than porn", even if it fulfilled the technical criteria for traditional pornography. Unlike Böhlin, Carnmo praised Flasher Girl on tour for "combining humor, sex and politics in a liberating way". The soundtrack provided by Fever Ray
was described as appropriate, though repetitive.
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
short films made by Swedish feminists
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and produced by Mia Engberg. The individual films are highly diverse in content, although many of them feature humour and different forms of queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
sex. The creative decisions were based on a manifesto with the aim to create pornography that is non-commercial and follows feminist ideals.
The film sparked controversy before and after its release because of sexually provocative content and the fact that it was mainly financed through public funds. Film critics were split in their reception; some found the film amusingly provocative while others thought it was dull.
Plot
The thirteen short films that make up the entire collection vary considerably in length and style.- Skin features two figures, one male and one female, clad in full-body nylon stockings caressing and kissing each other intimately. After a while, the two figures begin to cut open the nylon with a pair of scissors to reveal the naked skin underneath, and engage in oral and penetrative sex. There is no dialogue and only soft background music. Directed by Elin Magnusson.
- Fruitcake is a mix of close-up shots of various objects and human anusAnusThe anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
es being licked, dripped with saliva, fingered or penetrated with sex toySex toyA sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure. The most popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals and may be vibrating or non-vibrating...
s. The images are accompanied by a monologue. Directed by Sara Kaaman and Ester Martin Bergsmark. - Night Time shows a woman kissing a man passionately while filming herself. They both proceed to perform oral sex on each other while the woman later uses a vibrator to reach orgasm. Directed by Nelli Roselli.
- Dildoman is the only animated film in the collection. It shows images of a men's club where masturbating adult or middle-aged men watch two women having sex on a pool table. One of the men is then suddenly grabbed by one of the women, who now dwarfs him. The woman proceeds to insert the man into her vagina. When she reaches climax, the man inside her goes limp. The film ends with a shot of the front of the men's club. Directed by Åsa Sandzén.
- Body Contact portrays two women, one filming the other, searching for a man to have sex with on the Swedish dating site Body Contact. A man with a Scanian dialect shows his penis to the women through a webcam. Later the man pays them a visit, but is unnerved by the presence of the camera. The two women convince him to have sex. Directed by Pella Kågerman.
- Red Like Cherry is a series of quick, blurred clips of unidentifiable people swimming in the surf of a beach and then having sex in a room. Directed by Tora Mårtens.
- On Your Back Woman! is a series of clips of nude or semi-nude women wrestling each other. Directed by Wolfe Madam.
- Phone Fuck features a newly separated lesbian couple who talk over the telephone and eventually engage in phone sexPhone sexPhone sex is a type of virtual sex that refers to sexually explicit conversation between or other persons via telephone, especially when at least one of the participants masturbates or engages in sexual fantasy...
. Directed by Ingrid Ryberg. - Brown Cock shows the naked pelvis of a Caucasian woman. Her vagina is penetrated by a brown dildoDildoA dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for bodily penetration during masturbation or sex with partners.- Description and uses :...
held by a mulatto woman, who then goes on to fistFistingFisting is a sexual activity that involves inserting a hand into the vagina or rectum. Once insertion is complete, the fingers either naturally clench into a fist or remain straight. In more vigorous forms of fisting, such as "punching", a fully clenched fist may be inserted and withdrawn slowly...
her. The two women engage in sex-related dialogue throughout the scene, commenting the sex act. Directed by Universal Pussy. - Flasher Girl on tour is a semi-documentary manifesto of Swedish artist Joanna Rytel and her alter ego Flasher Girl, a woman flasherFlasherFlasher has multiple meanings:*A person who displays his or her body in a form of indecent exposure *Another name for a vehicle's turn signal, see automotive lighting#Turn signals...
. In the film she travels to ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where she exposes herself to men and expands on her motives for doing so. Directed by Joanna Rytel. - Authority starts with a lightly clad woman breaking into abandoned lot in BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and spraying graffiti. She is caught in the act by a female police officer who chases her into an empty building, but is eventually overpowered and bound. The two then engage in rough sexual activities, including spitting, slapping and anal sex. Directed by Marit Östberg. - For the Liberation of Men is an abstract mix of clips of a man clad in women's clothing masturbating and close-ups of an old woman's face. Directed by Jennifer Rainsford.
- Come Together, the short that Engberg and others did before the twelve actual Dirty Diaries shorts, is included last in the collection. It consists of Engberg and several others filming themselves with mobile phone while masturbating and eventually reaching orgasm. Directed by Mia Engberg.
Production
The idea for creating Dirty Diaries emerged after Engberg and some of her friends had made Come Together for the Stockholm International Film FestivalStockholm International Film Festival
The Stockholm International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year in the second half of November...
. It was a short film where each participants filmed themselves with mobile phone cameras while masturbating
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
. Come Together received a large amount of negative commentary, primarily from men, who complained about the actor-photographers being unattractive. To Engberg, this was proof that pornographic films demanded that their female participants should be seen as pleasing to its primarily male audience. Engberg had previously made another feminist pornographic short called Selma and Sofie which enjoyed some success. This and Engberg's record of other successful cultural ventures motivated the Swedish Film Institute to supply an initial 350,000 Swedish kronor
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
, later supplemented with an additional 150,000.
Dirty Diaries Manifesto
The film was based around a ten-point manifesto made available on the official website:1. Beautiful the way we are
To hell with the sick beauty ideals! Deep self-hatred keeps a lot of women's energy and creativity sapped. The energy that could be focused into exploring
our own sexuality and power is being drained off into diets and cosmetics. Don't let the commercial powers control your needs and desires.
2. Fight for your right to be horny
Male sexuality is seen as a force of nature that has to be satisfied at all costs while women's sexuality is accepted only if it adapts to men's needs. Be
horny on your own terms.
3. A good girl is a bad girl
We are fed up with the cultural cliché that sexually active and independent women are either crazy or lesbian and therefore crazy. We want to see and make
movies where Betty Blue, Ophelia and Thelma & Louise don't have to die in the end.
4. Smash capitalism and patriarchy
The porn industry is sexist because we live in a patriarchal capitalist society. It makes profit out of people’s needs for sex and erotica and women get
exploited in the process. To fight sexist porn you have to smash capitalism and patriarchy.
5. As nasty as we wanna be
Enjoy, take charge or let go. Say NO when you want, to be able to say YES when YOU want.
6. Legal and free abortion is a human right!
Everyone has the right to control their own body. Millions of women suffer from unwanted pregnancies and die from illegal abortions every year. Fuck the
moral right for preaching against birth control and sex information.
7. Fight the real enemy!
Censorship cannot liberate sexuality. It is impossible to change the image of women's sexuality if sexual images in themselves are taboo. Don't attack women
for displaying sex. Attack sexism for trying to control our sexuality.
8. Stay Queer
A lot of opposition to erotica is homophobic and even more transphobic. We don't believe in the fight between the sexes but in the fight against sexes.
Identify as any gender you want and make love to whoever you want. Sexuality is diverse.
9. Use Protection
"I'm not saying go out an' do it, but if you do, strap it up before you smack it up." (Missy Elliot)
10. Do it yourself
Erotica is good and we need it. We truly believe that it is possible to create an alternative to the mainstream porn industry by making sexy films we like.
Release
Dirty Diaries was first shown at a gala premier at the small neighbourhood cinema Bio Rio near HornstullHornstull
Hornstull is an area in western Södermalm, Stockholm. Hornstull is actually the name of where the streets Hornsgatan and Långholmsgatan intersect...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
on September 3 and released on DVD the same day. There were further screenings on the weekend of September 5-6, which drew large crowds. Though public interest was intense, and all screenings were sold out, no further shows in Stockholm were scheduled. The reason stated by Bio Rio and Engberg was that the cinema screenings were intended to be limited, and that the films were intended to be enjoyed on DVD.
The film also saw limited theatrical distribution in Finland.
Political reactions
The funding from the Swedish Film InstituteSwedish Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the Filmhuset building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm...
(SFI), which receives most of its funding directly from the Swedish government, sparked controversy in Sweden. Using tax money to finance pornography was considered offensive by some. Beatrice Fredriksson, member of the Moderate Party youth organization and author of the Anti-Feminist Initiative Blog, labelled the use of public funds as hypocrisy, since mainstream pornography would never receive the same financial support. Marit Östberg, one of the film's directors, defended the public financing of the project by stressing that the values behind Dirty Diaries are radically different from that of mainstream pornography. Dirty Diaries also received criticism from feminists critical against pornography in general. Prolific Swedish director and feminist Suzanne Osten voiced scepticism, referring to her belief that pornography is inherently objectifying and that feminist pornography would therefore constitute an oxymoron.
Due to the debate over the use of tax money for financing a pornographic feature, the director of the SFI Cissi Elwin Frenkel considered it necessary to write a letter to Swedish Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth
Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth
Lena Elisabeth Adelsohn Liljeroth is a Swedish Moderate Party politician, Member of the Riksdag and Swedish Minister for Culture in the Cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt since 24 October 2006. Adelsohn Liljeroth is a journalist, a Swedish Moderate Party politician, and has been a member of the Riksdag...
, and explain exactly why it received the financing. Elwin Frenkel repeatedly maintained that SFI does not support pornography, and that Dirty Diaries received financing because it aimed to try a new approach to depicting female sexuality.
Rasmus Malm in Göteborgsposten summarized the controversial potential of Dirty Diaries as "a Kinder Egg
Kinder Surprise
Kinder Surprise, also known as a Kinder Egg or, in the original Italian, Kinder Sorpresa, is a confection manufactured by Italian company Ferrero. Originally intended for children, it has the form of a chocolate egg containing a small toy, often requiring assembly.-Overview:Kinder Surprise...
from hell, specially designed to provoke Christian Democrat
Christian Democrats (Sweden)
The Christian Democrats ) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on the Christian Democrats' own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3, 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf...
columnists. Three nightmares in one: porn and gay sex paid for with tax money".
The unusual circumstance of government-sponsored pornography also led to the topic being the butt of a parody by US talk show host Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
.
Critical response
Critical reception of the films themselves were mixed. Hynek Pallas of Stockholm-based Svenska DagbladetSvenska Dagbladet
Svenska Dagbladet is a daily newspaper in Sweden. The first issue appeared on 18 December 1884. Svenska Dagbladet is published in Stockholm and provides coverage of national and international news as well as local coverage of the Greater Stockholm region...
praised the shorts as "amusing, provoking and exciting", especially the opening short Skin". Lars Böhlin of Västerbottens Folkblad
Västerbottens Folkblad
-External links:*...
described it as "dull, ugly and rather artistic" and criticized its being filmed with mobile phone cameras in an age of large television screens. Böhlin also noted his negative reactions to the portrayal of a man being lured into having sex in front of a camera in Body contact and expressed sympathies for the people exposed to the advances of Johanna Rytel in Flasher girl on tour. Some of the films, like Dildoman and Skin, were considered to be of good quality, but Böhlin was doubtful whether they should be considered to be pornographic at all. Camilla Carnmo, writing for Smålandsposten was more positive, commenting that it was "good-looking and professional" despite being filmed only with phone cameras, but also added that it was "more art than porn", even if it fulfilled the technical criteria for traditional pornography. Unlike Böhlin, Carnmo praised Flasher Girl on tour for "combining humor, sex and politics in a liberating way". The soundtrack provided by Fever Ray
Karin Dreijer Andersson
Karin Elisabeth Dreijer Andersson , commonly known by her stage name Fever Ray, is the lead vocalist of the electronic duo The Knife, formed with her brother Olof Dreijer. Andersson was previously the vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Honey Is Cool...
was described as appropriate, though repetitive.