Enemas were once more of a woman's thing?

Thinking back to living in a large apt building in the 1950's - seems a lot of the women my mother knew in the building were into enemas, based upon conversations I overheard. Nothing sexual about their enemas (at least openly) - it seems they all had a thing for using enemas to stay regular and would share information about enemas they used..

Now-a-days, seems like men are way more into enemas than women (thanks in part to those women of yesterday giving us enemas!).

Perhaps it's more natural for men to find enemas more exciting than women do, whereas for women it something that has to be passed down from mother to daughter, akin to way wearing a girdle with stockings once was...

I don't really know, and just mentioning this to see what others think.

Reddevil,

I too, think that women WERE more into enemas than men in the 50's and before. My impression is that women's interest was strictly a health maintenance routine. I also believe that women deal with constipation issues more often than men. If you consult medical texts on I.B.S., you find that it is far more prevalent in females. Then, there were physicians who were always telling mothers to give enemas to their children in those days. Women also douched frequently in the 50's (thanks to spermicidal jelly); same equipment minus the nozzle.

If you go online in to health & wellness sites for enemas, you find far more females are members. Erotic enema sites are the opposite, with males outnumbering females 10 to 1.

I agree jimmy. When i was growing up in the 50's all the adult women in my life were very matter-of-fact when it came to enemas....both giving and receiving (although i think a little more than health/wellness was involved when mom and dad were giving each other enemas). Although sites like this are dominated by males, i think there may be just as many females out there that enjoy a good enema but are not as open about it as males are.

I read somewhere that in Asian countries it is still a belief that many of women's issues are caused by constipation. There are tons of advertisements for the micro-enemas and suppositories on the web.

Don't know that you can say that. Plenty of boys got them two. So did grown men.

It is well known that far more women are constipated than men, this for hormonal reasons. So it seems very likely that women know more upon giving and receiving enemas than men.

I read somewhere that women are more prone to constipation, because of physical makeup

or related. During the 40's and 50's women were usually the givers, plus guardians of family health.

Weekly or when there I check the 1st Aid isle. Alot of Fleet and store

brand squeeze bottle double packs are sold, many empty spaces.

Even up to a total of 32 bottles.

I thought of slipping my email address in some boxes, but don't need any

trouble or caught on store cameras.

If the economy goes, what will they do? If in MD or PA contact me.

Answer to the above: I have many vintage bags and cans for them

in my collection.

Things could be bad with all the constipated people.

Growing up my brother and I got enemas from mom when one was needed. This was the 60s and it seemed like a pretty normal thing. In college I started being a regular enema taker for PMS relief although the term PMS had yet to appear. When I got married I was still a regular enema taker and my husband would not even talk about them. So I guess I do agree that they are a female thing, but also don't see anything wrong in it either.

Emom, like you I also got enemas from when one was needed as did my sister who is 6 yrs older than me. It didn't take much for mom to decide I needed an enema: 2 days without a poop, a sneeze or cough, talking nasty or if mom and sis got one at the same time than so did I. Mom usually took 2 or 3 a week and sis got one a week so I got a break there. The only problem; for mom; was that she was a small woman and couldn't reach the sink to refill the bulb. So she would give me the first bulb, hand it to my sister to refill and hand back to her to empty into me. Four soapy bulbs followed by 5 rinse bulbs.

When mom started to work during my 8th year she would tell sis to give me an enema when I got home from school. Sis loved doing them. Not becauseshe gave them to me but since the bulb and eventually the bag had been used she could give herself an enema without mom knowing. My reward for not telling mom was I could watch her taking them nude as I was on the toilet. As a present for my 10th birthday I started give enemas to her.

I would guess that between the enemas she took solo, the ones I gave her and her period enemas from mom she got 3x the enemas I got. Yes in the 60' it was very much a female thing. It still is only women won't own up up to it for some reason.

Martin

I suspect that women in the 50's and 60's were expected to take care of most of the domestic chores. They also were expected to handle all of those other crises that arose so dad could eat dinner and relax after a hard day at work.

In our house, mom was the "Enema Queen". After taking care of all those other responsibilities, it seemed to be her duty to assure that everyone else was well and that they had done their chores. Especially going #2. While I always believed this to be an obsession on her part, it may just be that women were far more likely to be familiar with the rubber implements of the time. A hot water bottle, ice bag, throat bag, neck collar, invalid ring, ice cap, and yes...the good old fashioned enema or douche bag were all marketed to the women of the world. The names of such things were sometimes dainty and sometimes damned threatening. I don't think mom needed any additional backup when the Dreadnought was filled with hot soapy water.

I never was attended to by a male nurse until well into the 90's. Back in the day, a nurse with an enema bag was enough to control and cause most tuffians to cower as they tried to cowboy up for an impending surgical procedure. To top things off, they might just come and shave you too.

I may have been rather jealous that women could put these rubber goods to use without undue scrutiny or embarrassment. After all, women had all those hygienic issues to deal with. I thought I'd die every time I had to buy my mom some Kotex at the store. Then there were the times I had to go buy a new enema bag.

Yes, enemas were more of a woman's thing. Then they rebelled...pretty soon they resented the male docs ordering them to have an enema while in labor. Douching was taboo in most cases. Disposable plastic implements replaced those great old rubber goods. Things just seemed to go right down the terlet for us guys.

We kept our secret fantasies well hidden. Our masculinity was in jeapordy. What real man gave himself an enema? If mom or a nurse gave it...must have been necessary for our own good and survival. Masculinity was held harmless...especially if we kept it a secret that deep down inside we really enjoyed the procedure. We secretly wished that women would rise up to the occasion and once again take control of our most basic needs and fantasies.

Finally, after all these years, along came the Internet. Lo and behold, there's really others out there who may share some of those deepest secrets. There might even be a few women who appreciate the effect a good enema can have on one's overall well being. Why, they even seem to have a monopoly on spas that also offer colon hydrotherapy. A super enema without the nostalgia of those beautiful, but oft dreaded rubber implements that we secretly cherished.

Keep it up EMOM and all the rest of you wonderful women who seem to understand!!!

Ultimately, we are still the ones that men turn to when they need to be taken care of. It's what we do. It's what we're good at. Celebrate it, ladies. They will always need us...

You hit that one on the laces, momabagz. There's nothing like a woman's touch when I need taken care of.

My mother really like to discuss enemas with other women.I remember when in the hospital age 11 she discretely told me they were going to give me an enema.

When I was in for a hernia operation at age 11 my mother told me that I would get an enema before the operation and then probably one every day after since they didn't want any "exertion" in those days. I looked at her and said "sh.." and she simply said "that's the purpose" . What I had no idea about was how much stronger the hospital enemas would be than my baking soda ones at home. They were all ordeals but the lovely nurse who gave then after the operation each morning made them extremely erotic and will never forget the combination of sensations.

As I have said elsewhere in the Forum, ALL the women in my family and extended family were enema users. The amber bag lived on the back of the bathroom door and was seldom dry. Mom used the bag almost as frequently as she brushed her teeth! From my early childhood I was given enemas by mom, sister and aunty, but never by any male in the family. I do believe that mom got more than one kind of "relief" from her late night enema sessions. I believe she got "the urge to purge" more often than she was constipated. I know she always felt better after her enema and always said how good she felt "now". Those were the days, my friend, I thought they'd never end. 😃 Sadly, time has proven me wrong. 😢.

My mother never used any enemas or gave any of us ones. I did notice that she had a small douche bag with a nozzle. We always had a large vegetable garden and many fruit trees in the back yard, so we grew up eating very healthy. On occasions, I remember being given a glycerin suppository on just a couple of occasions. I don't remember constipation being an issue at all. We never ate junk, or TV dinners. Everything was freshly made. My parents came from Russia, so our meals had more veggies and fruit, with lots of healthy fiber. Both of my parents worked, but my mom took care of the household and my dad took care of the yard. Perhaps this routine enema "fix" for any type of health problem was an American cultural thing, or lack of available fresh veggies and fruit in daily meals. I'm not sure.

Growing up in the 40's & 50's my sister and I got enemas all the time you had to take the whole enema bag full or else you had to start over until you could. My mother said make sure that you pee before we start so you will be able to take the whole enemabag full.....

Enemas in the 50s were popular among women for keeping their weight down. It was S.O.P. in 50s Hollywood.

EastCoaster,

So, all the women living in the 50s taking enemas for keeping their weight down had been wrong. The greatest part of all the nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine. Even in taking high volume enemas you will be exclusively able to rinse the colon, but in no case the small intestine.

All my childhood enemas were from Mom but that is to be expected. Enemas were casually mentioned in conversations. They were not considered sexual obviously as sex was NEVER mentioned. My mother did give herself enemas and made no effort to hide it as the enema bag was left out to dry and mom had been home by herself.

Twist

My mother and two sisters got many more enemas than I did. It wasn't until I got married that I began to fully understand why. While I dreaded having to get an enema my two sisters were a lot more accepting.

My Mother may have taken a few enemas in her life, but I personally think she despised them. I remember one day before she was getting ready to give me one I asked her if she ever took them. She told me matter of factly that she had had only one in her life and that was right before she had me in the hospital. She went on to say that they'd have to catch her and hold her down if she were to get another. With that said, Mom looked directly into my eyes and said "Mike, I just don't understand why you enjoy them so much. It's embarrassing to me to have you ask for them so often." Mom did use the Rexall Victoria bag to douche with, but as far as I know, I was the only one that had fluid from that bag pushed up their rectums.

I wish I could remember where I read this, but during WWII there was a shortage of men living at home in the US due to the draft. This left a lot of women to explore their sexuality by themselves and with neighbors, all during a time when enemas were quite popular.

I've gotten a colonic twice a year for the past three or four years and I asked the lady I get them from who came in more, Males or Females. The answer she gave me was, "I have an equal number of Male and Female customers across all ages". She went on to say, she even had some teens that came in with their parents.

EastCoaster,

So, all the women living in the 50s taking enemas for keeping their weight down had been wrong. The greatest part of all the nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine. Even in taking high volume enemas you will be exclusively able to rinse the colon, but in no case the small intestine.

It's not about absorption. An empty colon means a flatter abdomen, a little less weight, but also for some reason people seem to be less hungry when they have a clean empty colon.

I find I eat a lot more when I'm constipated then when I'm cleaned out, I'm guessing with the popularity of enemas for weight loss I'm not the only one..

I like post # 10 by sse4fun. Your insight and and your way of expressing it are right on.

Wallywoodcutter, You are right, sse4fun has the best post.

Thanks for the acknowledgement Wally and View!

I can only wish and hope that the pendulum swings back in favor of the ladies before I'm too old to be able to appreciate the effects of that simple old procedure. If more women enjoyed enemas to the extent that many of us older guys do, I believe the chances of some play time would be far more favorable.

I've posted here, and elsewhere, that enema heaven would be that place and time where that simple old procedure could be discussed and practiced in ways that seemed to exist when we were kids. Our moms and grandmas weren't too shy to engage in open discussions. They seemed to share and practice on each other as well as us less than cooperative kids. I think most everyone got enemas during the heyday. Nurses got first hand OJT and we kids learned first hand as well. If only we knew then, what we know now!

Like I said before, a woman can purchase/possess all of the various tools necessary without undue scrutiny or negative attention. We guys must protect our masculinity/ego at all costs. If they hang their favorite enema/douche bag in the bathroom, who's going to think less of them? If I hang mine in view of a visitor, I'm likely to be labeled a pervert or very weird.

I realize that male doctors likely turned as many women away from enemas by subjecting them under some less than desirable circumstances. It's always been my desire to assure that female recipients were coddled, fondled, and otherwise shown that a good enema can have a very positive effect on all of the other physiological responses of the body. That is, of course, unless they are experienced and desire a bit more control on the part of the giver.

Things have a habit of coming & going. Enemas may have been more a woman's thing decades ago than now but the pendulum may swing back again. I too have noticed the prevalence of women and health & wellness sites as well.

Constipation is a woman thing !