VIVID ENTERTAINMENT HEAD STEVEN HIRSCH SAYS RICK SANTORUM AND ACTIVIST MALIKA SAADA SAAR ARE BOTH OUT OF TOUCH ON PORN ISSUE

Hirsch Argues Women Are In Control Of Adult Movie Production and Female Viewership has Doubled

Steven Hirsch, founder and co-chairman of leading adult movie studio Vivid Entertainment, says both presidential hopeful Rick Santorum and blogger/activist Malika Saada Saar are wrong in their anti-porn stands.

“I have always found it interesting that some people feel compelled to control the lives of others,” says Mr. Hirsch in an article written for The Huffington Post. “These self-appointed morality police believe they are better suited than you to decide what you can watch and what you should think. They want laws passed that take away our First Amendment freedoms; we should all hope that they do not succeed.”

He rejected a call by Mr. Santorum for a ban on pornographic movies and websites, allegedly because “obscenity” causes brain damage, ruins marriages, leads to prostitution and sex trafficking, and “contributes to misogyny and violence against women.” He also disputed an argument by Ms. Saar, writing in her Huffington Post blog, that “mainstream porn is now hard-core and celebrates the debasement of the female body.” Saar said she is “disappointed by the left’s summary dismissal of Santorum’s proposed idea to ban porn.”

“Speaking for myself and my company, Vivid Entertainment, I believe that Ms. Saar and Mr. Santorum are out of touch. Their arguments don’t hold up to scrutiny. Let’s look at the facts: The FBI, National Crime Victimization Survey, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other credible organizations actually report a drop in rapes, teen pregnancies and sex crimes since 1991, when porn first became widely available on the Internet,” Hirsch writes.

“Allegations of misogyny are also untrue. Women increasingly control the adult business. There are many women who own adult companies. Women decide which movies they want to perform in, what scenes they are comfortable with and who their partners will be. No woman is forced to act in an adult film; they do so of their own free will,” he added, noting that two of Vivid’s most popular directors “are women who have won multiple awards for their work — Kimberly Kane and Tristan Taormino.”

“Even in the medical community prominent couples therapists frequently recommend that their patients watch adult films to help strengthen their relationships. Would this make sense if women were being degraded? Would doctors dare even consider such treatments if this were the case?” Hirsch asked. “In summary, this is 2012, and many women like to watch porn, and therefore companies like ours celebrate women and their power in our movies. We are hardly ‘waging a war on women’ as Ms. Saar suggests. To the contrary, women speak to us loud and clear from the marketplace, with female viewership of our programming more than doubling in the last ten years.”

About Steven Hirsch: Steven Hirsch is the founder and co-chairman of leading adult film studio Vivid Entertainment. Vivid: Founded in 1984, Vivid has always placed heavy emphasis on high quality erotic film entertainment and has created wide brand-name awareness through its films and the www.vivid.com website, an innovative marketing and a licensing program that extends to advertising, apparel, book publishing and a range of other products. Mr. Hirsch was honored in 2012 with the first AVN Visionary Award as a leader who “has propelled innovation and taken his company and the business as a whole to new heights.” In addition to its Vivid-Celeb imprint famous for celebrity sex tapes, the company is known for its Vivid Super XXX Heroes parodies and award-winning feature films. Vivid has the industry’s largest archive of adult films.

VIVID’S STEVEN HIRSCH BLASTS SANTORUM PORN STAND AS “RIDICULOUS AND JUST PLAIN WRONG”

Top Adult Industry Executive Says in America “Juries Respect Free Speech and Freedom of Expression”

Steven Hirsch, founder and co-chairman of leading adult film studio Vivid Entertainment, says an anti-pornography argument by Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is “ridiculous” and based on false data.

Santorum has called for vigorous enforcement of current anti-obscenity laws, arguing it causes brain damage, ruins marriages, leads to prostitution and sex trafficking, and “contributes to misogyny and violence against women.”

“This is ridiculous and just plain wrong,” says Mr. Hirsch. “None of his arguments holds up to scrutiny. For example the FBI, National Crime Victimization Survey, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other highly credible organizations have all reported a dramatic drop in rapes, teen pregnancies and sex crimes since 1991, when porn first became widely available on the Internet. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) reported that between 1991 and 2009 the occurrence of rape in the U.S. dropped 86 percent, just one of many surveys that indicate sexual violence is declining rather than increasing as Mr. Santorum argues.”

“I find it ironic that Mr. Santorum and some of the other Republican candidates claim to favor less government…except when it comes to issues like pornography, where they want Government to dictate what people can and cannot watch. Trying to ban an entertainment form that the U.S. Supreme Court has deemed to be protected is a hopeless task since no one can honestly make blanket judgments on what is obscene.”

“People today are more comfortable than ever with adult content,” Mr. Hirsch added. “If they choose to watch adult movies, it’s their personal decision. We vehemently oppose laws regarding sexual conduct between consenting adults.”

“Thankfully we live in America and have a rational justice system. If by some chance Mr. Santorum were elected president and chose to increase prosecutions, we are confident that our industry would prevail. We believe that juries respect both free speech and freedom of expression. It’s easy for a political candidate to attack our industry, but as everyone knows, pandering and policy are very different matters altogether.”