XXX or XOX

Welcome to Square Pegs all seekers of pornography. Sorry to disappoint you but there is no porn here. I don't like it, but, even though I may have brought you here under false pretences, I do have an important point to make..so hang around. There is a massive difference between XXX and XOX.

Where did these symbols come from and which came first, X for sexually explicit or other extreme material, or X for a sweet kiss? To answer this question, I have undertaken the most extensive course of research ever on Square Pegs.*

It would seem that X was used to denote the strength of liquor, sometime in the 19th century. More Xs indicated increasing strength. In the mid 20th century, X appeared for the first time in the Oxford dictionary and was listed in relation to discussions about X ratings for strong adult content in films. During the 1970s adult film makers applied more X's to indicate more explicit content, and here we are in the 21st century where XXX is synonymous with pornography including some very, very sick stuff.

The X itself is very old, dating back to the early Christian era where to sign with an X was the same as to swear an oath. Read more here the origins of X and O

Hugs and kisses are much nicer than pornography, so I am going to go out on an extremely prejudiced limb, and say that X has been stolen and perverted just as many beautiful things like sex itself, have been distorted and perverted. There is such an enormous chasm between 'I love you. xoxo' and 'I want to XXX you', that it's worth seriously pondering, and deciding that sex should never be divorced from love, and that love does not always even need sex.

There! What do you say about that? And no pictures in this blog either...ah ha!

* extensive research = Yahoo answers