Hi Brane,
I'm not certain how you are defining thrilling (e.g., sexually?). Some probably did find it thrilling while others didn't. Just as today - some experience an enema or two and are hooked for life while others are repelled and loathe enemas.
Did people during the "golden age" derive sexual pleasure from enemas? Well some had to - there's a physiological connection. Quoting a couple of passages from a report entiteld: Klismaphilia - A Physiological Perspective
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY Vol. XXXVI, No. 4, October 1982
Author: JEREMY AGNEW
In the human male and female, the anus and the genitals lie in close proximity. Both the anal and the perineal areas are richly supplied with sensory nerve endings, and are highly sensitive to tactile stimulation. Also the anal and genital areas share muscles and nerves and therefore, stimulation of one area may cause a reaction in the other.
The use of enemas meets all the qualifications for anal masturbation. The insertion of the rectal nozzle or tube provides stimulation of the anal sphincter and the muscles and nerves of the peripheral mucosa. Injection of the enema solution, though it is not directly felt by the rectum, stimulates interoceptive and stretch receptors in the terminal colonic walls, due to distention of the rectum by the increasing pressure of the enema solution. Receptors in the walls of hollow abdominal viscera are especially sensitive to distention.[34]
In the female, as noted above, pressure on the back of the vagina can stimulate the same set of nerves and produce the same erotic experience as deep penetration of the rectum. This is one way of obtaining sexual gratification from an enema. The increasing pressure caused by the filling and distention of the rectum as the enema solution is injected, causes pressure on these same nerves and sensitive stretch receptors and this produces a similar sexual sensation.
In the male, the anterior wall of the rectum is next to the prostate and seminal vesicles. Filling and dilating the rectum with enema solution will cause direct pressure on these structures, as well as causing stimulation of the rectal stretch receptors.
Also, not to be forgotten is that the muscles stimulated by peristalsis and defecation terminate in the perineal area, as well as being loosely connected to the genital muscular structure by the close proximity of the terminal colonic segment and the internal genital structure in the abdomen. Thus expulsion of the enema can provide further erotic sensations through stimulation of the genital muscular structure by causing intensified waves of peristalsis.
Back to the thrill many of us experience today...surely there were those during the "golden age" that experienced a similar thrill. Even if you accept enemas from a medicinal/health perspective, we're still not supposed to find them sexually stimulating. Our mainstream culture considers this a perversion -- an unsavory sexual deviation. For those who were children during the "golden age", when arousal occured during or after an enema was administered by a parent, family member, or doctor/nurse, it may have created a secret "thrill" - beyond the physiological - a psychological thrill. Enemas were OK for health, but for sexual stimulation, not so much. Now, just thinking about an enema - whether giving or receiving - the anticipation, can be almost mind-blowing. You would think that after a while this feeling would go away, but it doesn't!
Reading the posts on e4f and from my own experience, as young children who received enemas grew up and became more sexually aware, we would sneak solo enemas and possibly, in addition, other anal stimulation. Sounds like many folks, during childhood, secretively engaged in enema-sharing with sisters/brothers/friends/cousins, etc. These acts were of a taboo nature because the enema was no longer for medicinal purposes, but for pleasure. The thrill of doing something secretively that you think you shouldn't be doing - something naughty, sneaky and perhaps even "abnormal", can be thrilling and definitely part of the wonderful allure of an enema. Now, add to this that our culture today is generally anti-enema, and you've just kicked the allure and thrill up several notches.
Ok - sorry for the length of this post. It's an interesting topic.
Arianna