The Encyclopedia Of Smut: X Is For X-Rated

The letter X holds a mighty burden. It has been chosen to represent the forbidden, the adult, the hardcore and nasty material that hides behind a curtain at your local video rental store. X used to mean something back in the day, something dangerous, and now it's just a toy for pornographers. Oh, mighty X, today we tell your story and salute you.

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The Birth of X

On November 1, 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) put their voluntary movie rating system into effect, replacing the outdated set of moral guidelines known as Hay's code with four easy-to-remember letters: G for general audiences, M for mature audiences, R for restricted (minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian), and X for adults only. At this time, X didn't necessarily have to do with nudity or sexual content, but could have been anything (such as extreme violence) that was deemed not suitable for youngsters. The first movie to ever receive the X was "Greetings," a 1968 Robert De Niro film about young men avoiding the draft for the Vietnam war.

Although filmmakers today will edit their hearts out in order to avoid having a film labelled Adults Only, there have been a number of non-pornographic films who have handled an X and found great success. "Midnight Cowboy" was rated X and still received six Academy Award nominations and won three, including the award for Best Picture; "A Clockwork Orange" dealt with the X and received four Oscar nominations (although Kubrick did edit out thirty seconds of sex in order to receive an R-rating); "Last Tango in Paris" received an X (no surprises there), and it was one of the last Hollywood films to be deemed inappropriate for kids.

[Above: one of our favorite sex scenes of all time, from the X-rated "A Clockwork Orange" (youtube.com)]

And Then There Was Porn

None of the rating letters were ever trademarked by the MPAA, so pornographers decided that they could make their movies seem extra adult by slapping a seemingly-official X upon their stuff. "Deep Throat" gave itself a single X in 1972, but that wasn't enough for some people, so 1978's "Debbie Does Dallas" gave itself three X's. That's right, XXX, thrice the amount of not-for-children-ness.

Technically speaking, X is the same as XXX, but there are a few scenarios in which there's a difference. In colonial America, X, XX, and XXX denoted different alcohol concentrations in beer. There is (or rather, was) an informal agreement in the porn community that XXX is for hardcore pornography (with graphic penetration and such), XX is for softcore (we've had porn studios offer us XX trailers for upcoming releases and it always makes us chuckle), and X is, in the words of William Rotsler, "for comparatively cool films."

Even though the MPAA doesn't recognize any rating above X, all use of that letter became tainted with the scent of hardcore smut, and no non-pornographic film wanted to be associated with the adult industry.

[Above: some blowjob action from a porno that targeted naughty audiences by giving itself a XXX rating, "Debbie Does Dallas" (theater.aebn.net)]

Goodbye X, Hello NC-17

With pornographers stamping X all over the place and mainstream advertisers and distributors afraid to touch anything with even an official X-rating, the MPAA needed a new classification, so on September 27, 1990--barely a few days before X turned twenty-two--they introduced NC-17. "No Children 17 and Under Admitted" became, and still is, the harshest rating a movie can receive, and many theaters and movie rental stores flat out refuse to show or stock films with that label. "Henry & June" was the first film to receive such a rating, and it's currently the second top grossing NC-17 film of all time, right after "Showgirls," but the money made from these movies is usually a reflection of home VHS and DVD sales. Often, when a filmmaker knows their movie is going to be deemed NC-17, they will avoid MPAA ratings altogether and release it with the "unrated" mark.

Some people think that NC-17 is just a "classier" way to say X, but NC-17's can be applied to films merely for depictions of violence (take "A Nightmare on Elm Street" for example). The two classifications differ in the sex and nudity department as well: X material features non-simulated sex, while NC-17 sex can still be simulated. There are, of course, exceptions; "Shortbus," which attempted to "employ sex in new cinematic ways" featured non-simulated banging and got an NC-17.

We hope that you've gained a new appreciation for the letter X and all it represents. The next time you see a pornstar spell her name with a superfluous X, or when you see a porn parody separate itself from its source material with XXX, or even when some snack food calls itself "X-treme," give it some respect, and maybe toss it an XOXO.

[Above: Nyomi Banxxx is a pretty lady with a pretty name, but Nyomi Bannc-17 doesn't do anything for us. Clip via "The Black Mother Fuckers" (theater.aebn.net)]

[At top: photo by Jeff Koga, from "Justice League of Pornstar Heroes"]