I have really enjoyed your readers letters on enemas. I am a counselor at a boys camp and also act as a medic when any of the kids get sick. As we have no nurse at the camp, the kids are referred to me when they have fevers or tummy aches. Naturally, I'm responsible enough to send them to a doctor if I should think it is anything serious, but in most cases their illnesses require only a day in bed to recover. I have asked a doctor about enemas and, like myself, he believes that a good clean-out will do no harm to most boys. In fact, we both agree that enemas are not only a natural therapy, but safer and more convenient than laxatives, which have to go through the whole system merely to move a clog at the terminal point.

My wife is a nurse and takes care of the girls. Most of the boys are a little shy at first when I produce the enema can, which I do for nearly all who are confined to bed. The enema is the first treatment I give, and it is really surprising how many boys, after their first enema, see it as a most natural, pleasant and comfortable treatment. It is natural to expect that most teenage boys will get erections, but this is quite harmless. Most of the parents have congratulated me when they learn I give their boys enemas, as they also see it as a sensible way to take care of many ailments without the use of harmful chemicals. Yet I admit there are parents and doctors who would rather feed children habit-forming laxatives by mouth, as if the rectum was a forbidden area, thereby setting up inhibitions for the present and future. My wife and I have three teenagers, all at the camp and all familiar with the enema, and as far as I can see they have no rectal hang-ups. We all freely use the bathroom with an open door and are not ashamed of our bowel movements. I believe our family attitude will make for healthy sensual and sexual relationships in the future, as it now does with my wife and myself, as we also use the enema as a sex aid.

A word of advice to your good readers. Giving enemas to schoolboys and my own children has taught me to introduce the treatment gently if it is the boy's first time. If necessary, let the boy hold the pressure clip so that he can control the flow of water to his comfort. J. R., Toronto, Canada (April 1973)