Farnham's Freehold

"Farnham's Freehold" is a dystopian novel, published in 1964 by sci-fi master Robert A. Heinlein, about a no-longer-that-young and dysfunctional family transported hundreds of years into the future by a nuclear holocaust.

They wind up in a civilization where a lot of the rules have changed -- one of them is an imposed "compulsive cleanliness" streak where everybody bathes in groups (still separated by sex) in a central facility (a social event of sorts) and enemas are sometimes part of the process.

I suppose it would be a fantasy of the first magnitude for some of the MedFet crowd, but that's only a small part of the society Heinlein, who had some pretty strong individualistic and libertarian (uncapitalized, please) ideals was seeking to depict.

"Farnham's Freehold" is a dystopian novel, published in 1964 by sci-fi master Robert A. Heinlein, about a no-longer-that-young and dysfunctional family transported hundreds of years into the future by a nuclear holocaust.

They wind up in a civilization where a lot of the rules have changed -- one of them is an imposed "compulsive cleanliness" streak where everybody bathes in groups (still separated by sex) in a central facility (a social event of sorts) and enemas are sometimes part of the process.

I suppose it would be a fantasy of the first magnitude for some of the MedFet crowd, but that's only a small part of the society Heinlein, who had some pretty strong individualistic and libertarian (uncapitalized, please) ideals was seeking to depict.

POW! A blast from the past - probably haven’t heard that title for 50 years. I’ve read a few of Heinlein’s works back in the late ‘60’s to early ‘70’s but not that one. I had a group of very academic HS and college friends who were also very SciFi savvy and well-read who got me interested in it including the Heinlein I read.

I heard Farnham's Freehold mentioned many times, but even though I really enjoyed other RAH works, for some reason I never started that one. I never expected to next hear about it on Zity. Since you mention it, I’m just curious about what he describes as far as incorporating enemas into a group or community bathing site to satisfy the “compulsive cleanliness” mores or requirements. Did he describe any more specifics as to whether they actually incorporated group or semi-public enemas or rather people instead going off to private rooms for that part of their cleaning rituals? Even for Heinlein, I’m surprised that back in the ‘60’s he’d even mention the practice.

Thanks,

Eric

As anyone who has ever played sports in high school, served in the military, or lived in a fraternity or sorority knows, a bond (which has nothing to do with sex) tends to form within groups who see each other without clothing regularly. And a parent asked to give an enema to a young child is often advised to point out that she has had them herself. If everybody in Farnham's new setting went through this same process -- and knew that everyone else had, any stigma would be gone.

Heinlein did not address the issue of privacy in "Farnham's Freehold".