American media ratings have undergone a quick evolution, beginning first with movies and quickly moving into the arenas of music, television, and even gaming. PG, TV14, MA, T: we’re all familiar with what they mean.

What may come as a surprise to some is that, until the late 1960’s, U.S. films were unrated. The movie industry’s self-imposed restrictions and regulations were officially emphasized by the Production Code, determining what was and was not permissible on-screen. The goal behind the code was to not “lower the standards of those who see [the film],” and therefore it was not permitted to show such images as interracial relationships, drug trafficking, passionate kissing, and more.

After the socially-revolutionary 1960s, filmmakers were beginning to push the envelope, despite the Production Code, spurring the movie industry to create the first ratings system, which included G, MPG (shortened to PG in 1970), and R. In 1984, PG-13 was added to the system.

However, problems arose in 1990 when ten mainstream movies were given an X rating, a designation usually restricted to pornography movies. After his film, Henry and June was awarded the profit-killing X rating, director Philip Kaufman gathered up civil liberties advocates and law professor Alan Dershowitz to convince the powers that were to create a new rating that would reflect content not appropriate for an R but not deserving of the porn-laced X.

On September 26, 1990, 17 years ago today, Kaufman won his battle and the X rating was forever abolished, replaced by NC-17 for mainstream film and XXX for pornography.