Gee, I was hoping you guys could give me the facts, because I have this personal theory…
Amsterdam used to sell lots and lots of booze (before they discovered porn) and many bottles were made bearing the Amsterdam coat of arms, which consist of a shield with three saltires.
So the A’dam arms are literally a shield with XXX down the center.
As for porn, I agree with what you said.
Oh, oh. I’ve always wanted to do this!
In porn, “X” started with the MPAA film rating system in 1968. There were three regular ratings G (General); M (Mature); and R (Restricted). A film could be submitted to the MPAA and would receive one of these three ratings. To avoid allegations that the MPAA was censoring film content or was coercing filmmakers to use their services, the MPAA also created a fourth rating, X, which did not require a film to be submitted for review. And company that wanted to give one of its movies a rating of X could do so without going through the review process. Or if a film was reviewed by the MPAA and they said they weren’t giving it any of the asigned ratings, it received a de facto X rating.
Originally, an X rating did not automatically mean a pornographic film. Midnight Cowboy, for one prominent example, received both an X rating and a Best Picture Oscar. But changing standards in what was allowable in an R rated film and the growth of the pornographic film industry resulted in a X rating becoming associated with porno films.
The XXX or Triple X rating has no legal meaning. However, as a result of the lingering legacy of the non-pornographic use of the X rating, some porno producers began using XXX as an unofficial rating to assure their intended audience that they were getting a genuine porno film and not just some European art film with a salacious poster.
Just to be clear, Little Nemo, while the term “X-rated” arose from the MPAA ratings, the terms “X” and “XXX” to indicate sexual activity is much older.
Then, with all due respect to Lar, he should have been more clear. His response says: “Our online dictionary gives a definition of X-rated (adjective) and indicates that it first came into use in the 1970’s” without explaining why this happened. (The link requires signing on to an AOL account.) I was explaining why X became connected to pornography in the time period he mentioned. If there was an earlier connection between X and porn, I wasn’t aware of it.
Here is a link to info on the US film rating system:
I cannot imagine that the US “X” rating was not copied from the similar British “X” rating, which had been in existence for some time.