Welcome to Cirkus Eros!
My name is Calle Rehbinder, and I am the creator of this web project. I have always been very interested in human relationships, love, sex, art, photography, storytelling, teaching, politics, ideology and philosophy – the Big Issues, and the Meaning of Life. Circus Eros is a result of all these subjects combined.
Cirkus Eros has been on the Internet since 1999, and have had millions of visitors over the years. Here you can find all kinds of erotic inspiration – images, art, short stories, articles, consumer reviews, information about sex workshops and other events.
The name Cirkus Eros turned up already in 1995, as a title for a short story (which of course is available to read on this site), and illustrated the theme of the story – some friends on a party, competing on which couple could dance the sexiest, which of course develops into a exhibitionist orgy. Cirkus Eros means ”an arena for eroticism” – which of course was also a perfect name for the website.
The site started as a small hobby project, to show some pictures I had taken over the years, as well as make my short stories available for more readers, but then it grew, and included more and more, such as articles I have written, and then also material from ”guest artists”. Now it has grown into a massive site, with more than 300 pages. My hope is of course that every visitor stays here for a long time…
Cirkus Eros is mainly in Swedish, but I have also added a few pages in English – but it’s growing, and will continue to expand. Through the years I have gotten a lot of positive response from inquisitive non-Swedish-speaking site visitors, so I thought that the least I could do was to present a page with description of Cirkus Eros in English. And since we also occasionally arrange workshops in English, I added a page about that, too. Now this branch is growing, too, and more is coming. And of course, you can always look at the image galleries (no language barriers there)…
My story
Already in my teens, in the end of the 1970’s, I got my first short stories published. Without any sexual experience with anyone but myself, I wrote a couple of sexual fantasy stories that I sent to the Swedish men’s magazine Lektyr, very popular at the time. My stories were published, and I got well paid – I don’t remember exactly the sum, but quite a lot of money in those days for a teenage student. My friends were baffled, to say the least.
I have continued to explore sexuality, most of all artistically, in pictures (photo, art, illustration) as well as in writing – all my life. In 1982, only 19 years of age, I did my first nude art photos. A lovely girl I had made a photo shoot of, clothes on, a wonderful summer’s day. After the session, we went to a popular spot on an island in Stockholm, where being nude was seen as completely normal. She was just standing there, all naked, being divinely beautiful in the sunlight. So I asked if I could take some pictures. And she said yes.
”She was just standing there, all naked, being divinely beautiful in the sunlight. So I asked if I could take some pictures. And she said yes.”
This truly inspired me – both the photo session and the few beautiful pictures that came out of it. This moment also gave me inspiration to continue, which I did. The year after I had my first serious studio session with a beautiful girl – 7 rolls of film – and some of it was quite good. After that – well, I just continued – and I’m still doing it.
Photography has always been an important artistic expression for me, as well as a great tool for my work with illustration and painting. Photography has also always been an important channel for free and playful creativity, without expectations and demands. My pictures and my short stories are also the basis for this website, the very reason for creating Cirkus Eros in the first place.
Some of my earliest nude art photos, from 1982 and forward during the 1980’s.
Pictures have no language – or they are in a language of their own. But still, because I know I have many visitors who are not fluent in Swedish, and I sometimes add a written introduction to some of my pictures, I have also created a separate website in English, with my photo galleries. So if you want to indulge in exquisite and artistic erotica, don’t hesitate to visit my Cirkus Eros Image Gallery.
Going public with my art
Since the beginning of the 1980’s the Norwegians have had the privilege of a very serious and artistic erotic magazine – Cupido. And it’s still around, more than 30 years later. In the early 1990’s, Cupido tried to get established in Sweden, something that worked for a while, but after only a couple of years the Swedish magazine flopped. But at the time it came out, it was perfect for me. In an ecstatic mood I ran to their office with a box full of photos, and a newly written short story.
The short story got published, as well as a few of my photos. And that was the start of a long-lasting relationship. As long as Cupido existed here in Sweden, practically everything I wrote got published. Most of it was also translated and published in Norway and Denmark as well. After the Swedish version of the magazine ended, the Norwegian Cupido continued to buy stories from me, which got published in both their Norwegian and Danish magazines. And they also still buy pictures from me once in a while. Cupido has also featured several articles about us and our workshops – so we still move in the same direction, more than 25 years later…
Read my short stories here! »
See my image galleries here! »
On the subject of pornography & erotica
My view is that there is no real difference between pornography and erotica. Creating a distinction between erotic art and porn is just an elitist way of justifying your interest in porn, by making it more acceptable – calling it art. I don’t subscribe to that view. All erotic art is by definition pornographic – and all porn has to be erotic. Otherwise it’s not porn. or erotica. I challenge anyone to define the difference – You just can’t. And noone else either.
”Instead of whining about bad porn, I make my own.”
Personally, I like the idea of pornography. It’s really just descriptions of sexual acts, in images, moving pictures or literature, with the purpose of making the reader/viewer sexually aroused. And there is really nothing wrong with that. My problem with porn is that I just very seldom find any kind of porn that I can appreciate – porn that arouse me as well as inspire me artistically, give me new angles, new insights, new and exciting fantasies.
So instead of whining about bad porn, I realised that to get the perfect pornography for me, I had to produce it myself. My pictures and my stories are results of this thinking. Nicely enough, my art has obviously inspired others too. To me, my writing and my photography is and has always been primarily an artistic work without any focus on financial profit – I do it out of passion and sheer interest – but my work has still gotten me quite a lot of assignments through the years, and a lot of it has been published, which of course is very rewarding in many ways.
Imagination
Being an artist, showman and creative person, imagination, fantasy and creativity has always been very central components in my life. Imagination is a liberating and magic force, the basis for all play, but also as a sign of intelligence and ability to solve problems. Our imagination is the tool to picture things that still don’t exist in the physical world. And that is a very important thing.
”Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
– Albert Einstein
Erotic fantasies are also very important. Imagination is definitely one of humanity’s most important tools for survival, and erotic imagination touches the core of survival – our procreation. Without sexual fantasies, we would probably make less babies. And life would most probably be more boring…
Imagination, fantasies, dreams, stories, legends – and all kinds of artistic renderings of all that – has always been a very important part of my life. I have always found ways of expressing myself as a writer, artist, photographer, actor, director, storyteller and/or musician, and I will most certainly continue doing just that until the day I draw my last breath. Subjects such as sexuality, both from an existential perspective as well as connected to relationships and love, are also very essential to me, so it should be no surprise that I focus a lot of my artistic work on those subjects.
”For I must tell you that we artists cannot tread the path of Beauty without Eros keeping company with us and appointing himself as our guide.”
– Thomas Mann
Cirkus Eros on the Internet
I took my first steps into the realm of the Internet back in 1997, and by January 1998 I had already created a row of websites. Not very good to start with, but they worked, and I got visitors. I took a multimedia education that same year, and learnt much more – so much so I could start designing websites professionally. But I also continued to make my own websites, just for fun, about all my different fields of activity.
I had truly realized what an amazing tool for communication Internet was, to share and advertise my thoughts and artistic work. I was still occasionally writing for the Norwegian magazine Cupido, but I also realized that anything that gets published in a magazine soon disappears into oblivion. So why not make an erotic website? Cirkus Eros was born in 1999, and I got very positive reactions immediately, which was encouraging, of course. So – Cirkus Eros is still around.
The name Cirkus Eros is supposed to awaken images of an arena for eroticism, a Circus for lovemaking. Originally it comes from one of my short stories, about a group of theater students at a party. They start doing improvised and erotic dance shows for each other, a very hot form of exhibitionistic play, which evolves into a game wherein the participants go further and further, getting hotter and hotter, more and more erotic, and finally they all erupt into a group sex situation. A perfect image for my website – hence the name.
My book
Nine years after the launch of this website (2008), I got a collection of my erotic short stories published as a book, by a a well established Swedish publishing company, Lind & Co, under their erotic label XStory.
My book got the same name as my website – ”Cirkus Eros och andra erotiska berättelser” (Cirkus Eros and other erotic short stories).
Branding is a great thing…
I see a very beautiful circular movement in the fact that this name comes back yet again. It was the name of one of my original stories, back in the early 1990’s, it became the name for my website, and after that – my book. This also places the book in a larger context, the artistic, philosophical, pedagogical and even political aspects of all my work with erotic expression. And of course it is a good brand name, which should never be underestimated.
The most important thing in my life.
In 2001 I met the greatest love of my life, the lovely Jennie, who became my wife, my lover, my soul mate, my collegue and my best friend. I have been married before, and I have three wonderful children from that marriage, but after a couple of years as a single, I met Jennie – and that made the biggest difference in my life, ever. This has also had a great impact on Cirkus Eros. Jennie is not only my favourite model, she is also my collegue and my best friend. Ever. And now also the mother of my fourth child.
Jennie is also my Goddess, my tantric priestess and my greatest source of inspiration. She is also a photographer, and has contributed with both articles and photos here on Cirkus Eros. But the biggest change came when we started leading tantric love workshops together, back in 2004. Our teaching work has since then grown into a business, our major source of income. It’s what we do. And it’s not just a job. It’s a calling.
Teaching about sex, love and relationships
Our teaching business started seriously in 2004, when we had the first in a long row of love workshops for couples. That has continued, and now we are up to around 300 workshops – introductory workshops, continuance workshops, workshops for singles and couples, for men, for women – and more.
Cirkus Eros was the obvious place for marketing our workshops, with thousands of visitors every day. So from the very start, we had a group with 6 couples. From there we continued, and step by step we have made our love workshops into our main business – a way of life.
Occasionally, we also teach in English. We had our first workshop in English already in 2006, at a new age festival in Värmland. Since then we have presented a few more workshops in English, in Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Mostly shorter workshops at festivals, but also a few longer workshops. We would love to do it much more, and we are working on that, too.
You can find out more about our workshops and what we do on the Cirkus Eros page About our workshops – in English. And if you think we would be perfect for your tantric festival (or similar events), don’t hesitate to contact us.
My mission
Since many years back I am on a mission – to spread a widened consciousness about love, about better relations, about really good sex, about the positive role of sexuality in the lives of all of us. This website of mine is (and has been since the beginning) an obvious expression of this mission. To use the old hippie quote – ”Make Love, Not War” – which is immensely more wise than many would think. And I believe this. If we all would choose love and curiosity more often, rather than fear and judgement, this world would be an even better place for all of us.
Cirkus Eros has developed enormously, from being a place where I show some pictures and short stories of mine, to a huge mass of information around sexuality as a whole, with articles, questions and answers, link pages, as well as an advertising base for our workshops, lectures and coaching sessions, concerning love, relationships and sexuality. Cirkus Eros has opened the door to a lot of opportunities for me – relationships, work, and a lot of media – TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. And it is constantly growing, which is immensely inspiring.
See our media coverage here! »
Taking a stand for sexuality
Sexuality is very important, something that I feel deeply about, something I think should get more attention in our lives, in a positive and shame-free way, through better sex education, better pornography, through the workshops and lectures we and many others provide. I also take a strong political stand for erotic liberty and sexual rights. Seen from that perspective, this website is an integrated part of something much larger, a collective ambition for sexual enlightenment that is way larger than a website, or a book. Or me.
I want Cirkus Eros to be a positive force, an inspiration for the many to liberate themselves from stuffy old ideals that put sex and body consciousness in the closet, as something to be ashamed of. Therefore my ambition is not only to please, to entertain or show beauty. I also want to question, to provoke the mind, turn ideas and conceptions upside down. I want to wake people up, inspire and open up people’s minds to new thoughts, new ideas, new experiences, new insights.
Just a few examples:
- Can sex be a spiritual path?
- What is wrong, what is right? Is there even such a thing?
- Is it wrong to make a living on sex?
- Is it necessarily the right thing to have only one exclusive partner?
- is infidelity always wrong and bad?
- Is sex really dangerous in any way?
- Why is there still shame around solo-sex?
Even just asking these questions (and many other questions on the same subject) may make some people very upset. But that’s my treat. Take it or leave it.
And of course, I am totally satisfied if this website will serve only as a provider of some good moments, inspiring reading, entertainment and sexy pictures. I have no need to ”save” anyone from anything. I just wish you a good life, filled with joy, pleasure and happiness – and good relations, including to yourself.
Welcome!
Carl Johan Rehbinder – Your host on Cirkus Eros
