Hirsch Discusses 'Vivid Day' at Yale

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Saturday's "Vivid Day," the first-ever dedication of an entire day to an adult production company as part of Yale University's biannual Sex Week at Yale (SWAY), was a smashing success according to Vivid Entertainment co-chairman Steven Hirsch.

"I'm happy we did it," Hirsch told AVN. "I talked to many people there while I was there, and the response was overwhelmingly positive."

Hirsch addressed the graduate business school as one of the events of "Vivid Day," and in addition to speaking at length about restricting online adult content from minors, he briefed the audience on Vivid's history and talked about the ever-changing dynamics of running an adult studio.

"We talked about how the company was started and went through the beginning years," Hirsch said. "Then we talked about some of the things that we did first - multiple angles on DVDs, Blu-ray. Then I talked about some of the issues that I thought were facing the adult business. And then I talked about the future.

"It was a business discussion," he went on. "It was a discussion about the adult entertainment business, and I very much enjoyed that."

Despite the lingering controversy over a presentation that night by director Paul Thomas of some non-hardcore footage depicting bondage and other activities that some found disturbing, Hirsch said the day served a good purpose for everyone involved.

"I know that there was a strong reaction [to the footage] - even though there was no sex - but only from very few people," Hirsch said. "Everybody's allowed to have an opinion, and we're all for it. And there's nowhere better to have a free exchange of ideas than at Yale University. So I think that that's a good thing.

"But when some people try to censor what other people can watch," he qualified, "that's when it becomes a problem. Opinions, conversation, discussion - all of those things are very positive. Censorship is not."