Review: The Ersties Podcast

Podcasts are one of the fastest growing content mediums these days, and in our ever busy lives it is easy to understand why. They offer an opportunity to entertain and educate us during our long commutes, boring work routines, and even manage to make household chores more interesting. Plus, in 2018 we are especially spoilt for choice when it comes to finding a podcast to listen to, it seems like there is one for everything! I’ve got to admit though that personally I don’t listen to that many podcasts. My days tend to be made up of managing social media accounts and writing from home, which is generally too involved to be able to listen to podcasts regularly. But whenever I’m doing an absent-minded task such as cleaning or painting, one of my favourite things to do alongside it is to put on a good podcast. My favourite topic is sex (obviously), so I was really excited when The Ersties Podcast contacted me recently about reviewing their show. Being able to listen to a podcast for work is probably one of the best things ever, plus it made doing the spring cleaning this year a lot more fun!

The Ersties Podcast launched last year in 2017, and are based in sex-positivity central Berlin, Germany. They release a new episode every first Friday of the month, and they talk about everything sex related, from dating, to sex work, the industry, toys, and even sexting! The hosts are four cis women who all have different backgrounds in regards to their work and where they are from, and they are essentially the group of girlfriends that you’ve always wanted. They are all extremely open individuals, and are incredibly sex-positive, being able to discuss a range of topics without any judgement. Of course on a sex-positive podcast you would expect that, but in formats like podcasts I find it is easy to slip up occasionally, so I’m happy to be able to say I haven’t disagreed with anything they’ve spoken about in all the episodes I’ve listened to. While the girls have prompts and other pieces of information they’ve researched for the episodes, I find listening to it to feel extremely refreshing and unscripted. It doesn’t sound like I’m listening to a “show”, but rather that I am simply eavesdropping on a conversation between friends. The hosts said that their inspiration for the show was that they were all friends and having these conversations anyway, so they decided to record it, and this really comes across.

The podcast’s sponsor and main website, Ersties.com, is a feminist porn site that has been running since 2010. The site and porn are made entirely by women, and videos feature “100% real girls experiencing 100% real intimate moments”. They have a range of great categories, from ‘girls with their best friends’ to ‘girls with their boys’, and it all looks very genuine and sexy. You might even see some of the hosts of the podcasts on there! Membership is pretty reasonably priced, and I’d definitely recommend the site if you are looking for authentic and ethical porn with no scripting.

Paulita Pappel is the main host, and introduces every episode of the podcast. Born in Madrid, she is a feminist pornographer, and works as a producer, performer, and director, often for Ersties.com. She also founded Lustery.com and is the co-curator / co-organiser of the Berlin Porn Film Festival. Lina Bembe is originally from Mexico, and now works in Berlin as a performer and model, often working on feminist films both explicit and non-explicit. She is also part of the Sex School Hub team and an occasional writer. Olivia Rose is from the UK and works as a pornography editor for Lustery.com and Ersties.com. She is also a writer, and creates articles about her erotic fantasies, as well as her real life experiences. Finally there is Pandora, whose website bio describes her as a “napper, wine drinker, and all round sassy lady”. She grew up in an Asian household and is originally from Australia. I really love the variety of backgrounds the girls have. It gives them each a unique perspective, and means they all have different experiences, particularly in regards to how they grew up, which they can draw upon during group discussions. Plus, since they each have a different accent it makes identifying who is speaking super easy!

The Ersties Podcast currently has two formats. There is the regular episodes which are around an hour in length and feature a discussion on one main topic alongside a few smaller discussions, and occasionally a special guest or interview. Then there is a newer special interview style episode called ‘The Ersties Podcast Meets…’, and these are about 30 minutes in length. There is only 9 regular episodes (8 if you don’t include the first episode which is no longer available online) and 2 interview episodes out at the moment, and every one I have listened to so far (which is almost all of them now! They are way too easy to binge) has been super engaging and interesting. Some of the topics, such as the episode on camming, I am very familiar and well-versed in myself, but I still found the discussions very intriguing, and I think they would be a perfect way for someone who has no knowledge of these topics to be introduced to them. The hosts don’t assume the listeners are kinky nerds like me who are familiar with the language and terms they use. Instead they take care to explain things and educate listeners, to ensure you don’t feel left out during discussions.

My favourite episodes so far have definitely been: ‘Episode 2: Why the fuck would you pay for porn!?’, which is all about why the fuck you should pay for porn. I wish I could force everyone who uses tube sites to listen to this. ‘Episode 4: The Rise of Camming’, which gave realistic and truthful information about the camming industry, which can be hard to come by even in other sex-positive media. ‘Episode 5: I Kink Therefore I Am’, in which the hosts spoke about their own kinks, all in a completely open and non-judgemental way. It was brilliant to hear people speak about this usually ‘taboo’ subject in the open and receive nothing but good vibes back. ‘Episode 7: Self-Love, Sex and Magic’, which had some brilliant discussions about coming out in porn, along with an interview with Vanessa Cuccia, founder of Chakrubs, which had the sex toy geek in me squealing in delight. Lastly the most recent episode, ‘Episode 9: Getting What You Want: Consent, BDSM and Sex Talk’, which had a fantastic discussion about the meaning of consent that I feel like should be a high school sex education required listening.

If you’re looking for a podcast to do with sex-positivity then I would highly recommend The Ersties Podcast. Or even if you just want to be entertained for an hour and feel like you’re listening into your BFFs chatting over a bottle of wine. It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are of this stuff either. Whether you’re completely vanilla or a dominatrix, this podcast explains a range of topics with no assumed knowledge. Plus the way the hosts banter and crack jokes means that even topics you may be familiar with will be interesting to listen to. I’ll certainly be continuing to listen to the show even after this review, and I can’t wait to see what topic the girls explore next!

Sadly, The Ersties Podcast are no longer producing new content. However, you can still find old episodes on services like Spotify.

Last updated: 18/3/24

This post was sponsored by The Ersties Podcast, but as always, all opinions are my own.