'Be that as it may, the fact that they had to cut out "sex and gore" from UXM implies that, whatever the mission statement, the writers were writing the stories they wanted to read, rather than what they thought kids would want to read (which, in my opinion, is a much better idea, both from a creative and from a marketing standpoint).'
That's what I was trying to say--USM was (and still is) the only "Ultimate" title that fit the criteria that Marvel was trying to establish for the line. I'm not saying that they should be dumbed down for preschoolers, but it's not necessary to see Wolverine skewering Magneto, Magneto ripping out someone's pacemaker from his chest or seeing a Sentinel obliterate a mother and her child in a title that's used to sell lunchboxes for preschoolers.
USM, on the other hand, manages to be accessible to both young and old readers and really doesn't go much farther than the Spider-Man movies (or PG-13 films in general) in terms of sex or violence.