"is Porn An Acceptable Career Option" Today?

[XCritic Editor]

"IS PORN AN ACCEPTABLE CAREER OPTION" TODAY? ASKS VIVID ENTERTAINMENT CHIEF STEVEN HIRSCH IN HUFFINGTON POST BLOG

LOS ANGELES – (May 31, 2012) – Recent events show porn fulfilling predictions of becoming mainstream entertainment and perhaps even becoming an acceptable career option, says Steven Hirsch, founder and co-chairman of leading adult studio Vivid Entertainment, in an article for The Huffington Post.

"It's been frequently reported that porn has permeated the mainstream entertainment scene," Mr. Hirsch writes in a blog entitled, "Is Porn an Acceptable Career Option?" He says "a number of recent events convince me that this is actually happening," including the decision by Nadya "Octomom" Suleman to shoot a solo masturbation video.

"Three years ago she rejected a $1-million offer Vivid made to her to star in an x-rated film. She told Oprah Winfrey that no matter how hard up for cash she was, the idea that she would appear in an adult movie was 'completely unfathomable.' Today no one is surprised that she seems to be embracing porn, and there is little public backlash about her decision. The only controversy seems to be over her poor financial planning, not the method by which she's solving her money problems.

"Was Octomom's porn decision part of a new norm? Is doing explicit films to pay the bills now seen as a viable and acceptable option?" Mr. Hirsch asks. He cites the case of Chyna, the former world champion professional wrestler, who has made two successful x-rated videos for Vivid. "With the exception of a relatively small number of people, no one condemned Chyna for her decision to make porn films, and in fact she reports that 'wrestling fans have been incredibly loyal to me,'" Mr. Hirsch writes. He also cited Vivid's "blockbuster sex videos with celebrities ranging from Kim Kardashian to Montana Fishburne and from Kendra Wilkinson to Phil Varone. There's plenty of interest in these explicit videos, but rarely censure. And sometimes, as in the case of Kim Kardashian, a sex tape leads to an empire."

He notes that when he founded Vivid in 1984 "adult films were considered taboo and as a result, it wasn't easy for the public to access our movies. Today, Vivid and other adult studios have highly popular websites where their videos are sold 24/7 -- either for delivery at home in discreet packaging or for immediate download to the customer's computer. National retail chains sell our DVDs and hotels offer our movies to customers."

"Perhaps we are growing as a society, on some levels at least," Mr. Hirsch writes. "Of course there will always be those conservative groups that disagree with me, but clearly porn is more of an acceptable career option than it ever was before, as it should be. And one day, when Octomom tells her children what she did to help support them, they're sure to have 14 different opinions... but hopefully disapproval won't be one of them."

About 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. Co-founder and CEO Steven 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 SuperXXXHeroes parodies and award-winning feature films. Vivid has the industry's largest archive of adult films. For more on Vivid visit Twitter.com/VividCorp or Facebook.com/vividgirls.