HISTORY OF X-RATED MOVIE POSTERS

Historians have dated the origins of modern pornography to the 1650s. X-rated movies can be traced back to the beginning of cinema in the late nineteenth century. During this time, they were known as exploitation or stag movies. 'Loop' movies, showing repetitive sex action, were often screened in brothels to excite the (predominantly male) audience.

The twentieth century saw a constant battle between the entertainment industry and the censors, particularly when it came to the X-rated movie. From the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, a majority of adult movies released in America were porn or stag movies. These were produced abroad, often in Scandinavia and the Far East, and many were classified as Art Movies in an attempt to circumvent the censors.

X-rated movies were shown in very few screens in America and even fewer cinemas would have displayed their posters. As a result, hardly any posters were printed; typically, barely a handful of each are known to have survived. Indeed, we sometimes come across an X-rated poster but cannot find any details of the movie it is advertising.

Perhaps more so than mainstream movie posters, X-rated posters reveal what was really going on in society at that time.

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$100 A Night / Madchen Fur Die Mambo-Bar (West Germany) (1959)
US 41 x 27 in. (104 x 69 cm)