What Before the Internet?

The internet has been around for all of my adult life, and as you know there is lots of information available about enemas. Some good, some bad, some will curl your toes just thinking about it. That is how I found this place and realized there are quite a few more of you like me.

But - for those of you who grew up before the internet, how did you get your information? I realize that there were instructions for giving an enema in most first aid books but how did you find out that there were others like you that used enemas for other than health reasons? People who liked giving or getting an enema when they didn't need one, and heaven forbid, even used them for sexual stimulation?

In the adult bookstores, there were magazines like Water & Power, and several others that catered to enema lovers. There were also several articles in Penthouse Forum devoted to enema usage for erotic or sexual pleasures. Local adult newspapers such as Metro, advertised both BDSM and enema services.

There was this stuff called imagination and creativity back in those days. In the mid to late 1960s when I started doing enemas, I never knew that I needed information or instructions. I just got out the bad, filled it with water, stuck the end of the hose in my but, and voilla, I had an enema. Of course, I was in my teens then, and as we all know, teens know everything, or think they do.

We have lots more information now, but are we smarter? I think I need an enema.

My wife and I grew up BCC. That is Before desktop Computers and Cellphones. Back then, friends and family served much the same purpose as the Internet does these days.

While I am not into enemas, and never have been, my thoroughly Victorian grandmother believed in spanking follow by an enema as a punishment. Although I have never researched the subject, given the way she approached other matters, I have little doubt that she practice was fairly common among her maternal peers.

As a gay man, I bought all the gay porn magazines I could, read ads, corresponded with guys who shared my love of enemas. I remember Drummer magazine, no not about musicians, but a gay personals magazine, always had THE best personals, and lots of guys in far off cities who loved enemas!!!

Nothing not previously mentioned. As a child I read the section in various "How to look after your child's health" books on enemas and rectal temperature taking. In college it was adult bookstores for Water and Power and similar mags. Rare to find another real person to discuss with. The internet and sites like Zity have changed our lives.

Until penthouse forum, I thought there was no one but me. Looked in every book I could read either at home or several other libraries.

Then the progression nay, evolution of THE kink to this wonderful sight. Don't feel near as freaky as in my early days.

Now if I could get my SO to participate I would be a very happy man.

I learnt of enemas from a home nursing handbook in my mid-teens, tried them and liked them. But for a long time it never even occurred to me that there might be other people who also enjoyed enemas. As the gay community developed with its own magazines etc. I became aware there were in fact a few others, even if they were a small minority. But I had no interest in sharing this activity, so never sought contact.

For similar reasons, for most of my life I have improvised my own equipment and was always on the lookout for something I might adapt or pervert to my ends 😉 . (There was no enema equipment in our house when I was growing up.) Only after the internet took off did I acquire something of a collection of nozzles, colon tubes etc.

Indeed there was life before the internet. The question is akin to asking what did people do before the advent of cell/mobile phones, sat nav, CD players etc etc.

I lived my formative years long before the Internet. I was 47 or 48 before I first went on-line, and that was fairly early for where I lived, as the first Internet café of our city opened up right across the street. And even then, there wasn't much information gathering on line as such. I did start finding stories though and later imagery, especially on venues like the alt.sex.enemas bulletin boards.

My main sources of information before the Internet were books and magazines. Luckily where I live there have always been lots of bookstores, secondhand bookstores and stores willing to sell sex material. Even if we had to go to the Netherlands in the late 1960s and 1970s. There were sex shops galore in the small border villages and they all sold magazines of all types in all languages - English, Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish. You could find just about anything.

Secondhand bookstores were also a good venue for finding material, often in the form of secondhand medical textbooks, though these stores sold anything and everything and used to be very open minded. Being in large cities, there were also many such shops, some specializing in this or that, sex material included. I was and still am an inveterate collector and always visited any flea market or secondhand store that I came across, and I often found many an interesting item. Flea markets in France often yielded many an irrigation device. I've found many beauties in the most unlikely of places.

Back in pre Internet times, building up a collection of material and stuff was harder to do than now and once something was lost, almost impossible to replace. That went for simple items like books too - no amazon or eBay back then. So you learned to take care and if necessary, carefully hide it as well, especially when still living at home with your parents ... 😃 😃.

I'm not old enough to really remember before the web.

My Father has told me of riding his bicycle all the way to a drug store 3 miles down the road, so that the clerk there didn't know him, just to buy his first bag.

His dad was something of a book worm, and would take my dad to the public library with him, It was not deliberate neglect, but he would get engrossed in his reading, and Dad could do what he wanted, including, but not limited to, read everything that library had on enemas.

Every comment has some similarities to my own experiences as I searched for enema information as a young person. Growing up in a small community was like living in a cave with almost no information available anywhere, although a few surprises popped up. After a diligent search of the town library under the very watchful eye of the matronly woman (thou shalt not chew gum in the library) I pretty much gave up finding anything to read about enemas there. Then a surprise came along with a 50s vintage Consumer Reports magazine showing up at home one day that had quite a lengthy article on laxatives and enemas. I read it thoroughly and I think it was obvious that I had since my mother made the magazine vanish without a trace a week or two after it arrived. I do believe she was on to my curiosity and was going to do everything possible to make it more difficult to learn any more about it or I might become somehow or another influenced. Well, it was too late. A year or so later I was mowing lawns for many people around the neighborhood when I spotted a pile of magazines and catalogs in the waste can at home I was mowing. Being an avid reader of almost everything I could find i snooped through it and found catalogs of medical equipment and nursing magazines that the lady, a nurse, had tossed out. I quickly grabbed all that I could carry and hauled them home. Wonderful articles on enema use for patient care and now pictures of specialized equipment for administering were now available for me to look at. I kept that stash of treasures for years very carefully hidden away until I left for college. Over the years and yet long before the internet whenever I traveled I would look through the bookstores, thrift stores, garage sales, and anyplace that might possibly have information about my curiosity. I have found many books and some magazines as others have described that were helpful, but they really just kind of grazed the surface of how's and why's of this fascinating subject. Then finally the internet came along and like most have said, "the rest is history!" Yet we keep searching and coming to sites like Zity to continue our quest for more information about it all. Strange bunch aren't we? I thank all the people I have talked with over the past years via Zity connections as well as other earlier websites that have been willing to share their experiences and ask me questions about mine. I still find it all fascinating and by the large count of Zity members it appears it must be for many others as well.

Before the internet? Well there were books. Before that didactic lectures, word of mouth, rumor, smoke signals, cave paintings and so on. I hardly believe that the internet is the most sophisticated means of communication we've had.

Before the internet? Well there were books. Before that didactic lectures, word of mouth, rumor, smoke signals, cave paintings and so on. I hardly believe that the internet is the most sophisticated means of communication we've had.

I have some good chuckles over this as well ... though so much depended on where you lived back then. In the US I lived in what was a new suburban area, but still very much out in the country mentality-wise and isolated from stores when you were still too young to drive. So that meant living in a sort of isolation except for what school and parents allowed you. In that respect even buying silly comic books had to be done with careful planning and the sneakiness worthy of a covert operation behind the Iron Curtain ... or so it seemed at least ... 😃

But when we moved to Belgium we lived in the second largest city of the country, which meant a wealth of stores and markets and such, even though I didn't really appreciate the possibilities at first. Then later I came to take it all for granted. Urban living does that after a while - want some Chinese food at 12 midnight? No prob, just 5 mins walk away. Looking for some dirty sex mags? No prob either, just go to the right store ... ha ha

But back then it did take considerably more effort to find stuff. You really had to be obsessive about it, always look in stores, at markets, everywhere. And never be shy about asking prices or buying anything. If it's on display, assume it is for sale to anyone.

The Internet is however wonderful for sharing information. No way would I lend out any of my material back in pre-Internet days. You'd probably never get it back. Now, just make a scan and voila, the whole world can share ...

Growing up I knew some of my friends and neighbors were getting enemas at home too but I was convinced I was the only kid who actually liked them and soon learned how to handle that red bulb myself. I read every medical, nursing, and first aid book in the library if it had anything in it about enemas. As a newlywed with a beautiful wife and a good job I had a deep, dark secret. As soon as my wife left the apartment to go to the supermarket I would fill my ass with water and jack off.

Then in the early 70’s there was a series of letters in Penthouse titled Special Preference. Holy cow!! There were others who used enemas for other than medical reasons. That was my first indication there were others out there like me. That led me to explore adult bookstores, and occasionally in the bin with other fetish magazines there would be a Water and Power or something similar.

One of those magazines had an add for a mail order place called Platinum, I think in Van Nuys, Ca. They sent out a catalog a few times a year and you could order enema equipment, magazines, and videos. I bought several things from them. They disappeared about the time the internet came on. I think most of the enema magazines like Water and Power disappeared about the same time. Everything is on the internet now.

Every once in awhile, we can still experience a little of life before the internet. About ten days ago a nasty wind storm blew through out area knocking out power to 95 percent of the area. We were among the fortunate, we had minimal damage and out power was out only about ten hours. But that ten hours meant sitting in a dark house with only a couple candles on the mantle, and a flashlight to carry around. No TV, no computer, no internet. Wife's iPad wasn't much use as there was no power for the wifi. But we made it fine, red wine by candle light. A protein bar for dinner. Not knowing how long the power would be out, we didn't dare open a fridge or freezer. A whole evening and going to bed with no power. Like camping in your own home.

A friend in HS (mid-1950's) had an older friend with a porn collection. We visited him one day, and I said something about "get out the French deck" -- well-known playing cards with 52 separate photos from topless to the whole spectrum. His deck had an enema card -- 2 couples; one girl on hands & knees with guy holding enema bag. I knew then (maybe age 15) that I wasn't alone. Then Penthouse forum in late 60's; famous Al Goldstein had a weekly display ad for Beth Tyler and her enema business in "Screw" magazine in the 1970's. Printed discussions of enemas grew slowly; the internet has since offered an avalance of enema info.

First, medical books. After that, catalogs. Later (before the interwebs) there were Penthouse, Penthouse Letters, the BBSs, ComouServe, Prodigy AOL and others that were available by dial up.

Wow, quincy, glad you guys got through pretty well. No power is no fun. But, I am surprised to see no enemas by candlelight with wine! Or did your power outage knock out your water, too?

Quincy,

THAT is the reason I have several Honda generators; if power is out too long, I can plug in the furnace and several lights, and can alternate fridge and freezer if needed.

As to where I learned of other guys who were into Enemas was from a chapter in Larry Townsend's "Leatherman's Handbook", where it mentioned a group from the late Frank Ball. It was a correspondence group for other guys who were into Enemas. Later he had a couple of other groups, but after the internet came along, most wanted to e-mail directly instead of using 'snail mail'.

Dan

I remember in my late teens, using a fake id to go in adult bookstores in a neighboring city, and buying magazines such as Water & Power and WaterWorks. I was in heaven when a photo showed a man with an enema nozzle up his butt. I loved the Platinum Press magazines. In the last few years I have surprisingly built a collection of over 100 vintage copies of these wonderful magazines!!!

I remember in my late teens, using a fake id to go in adult bookstores in a neighboring city ...

You needed an ID to get into an adult bookstore? You've got to be kidding ... that is hilarious, like a scene from Superbad.

When I was young and in the habit of going to Dutch sex shops across the border, you were an adult at 21 in those days. But do you think I was ever looked at twice or asked my age? As long as you had guilders to spend, those Reformed Calvinist small businessmen were happy to provide whatever turned them a profit ... they really took 'judge not and ye shall not be judged' to heart ... ha ha

Rayme: What period is that, when child care books still advised giving enemas to children? Which country?

I know from reading it that Dr Spocks authorative guide to childcare specifically said that enemas should not be given to children. The rationale was that they would make the child feel as if he were blowing up.

Liquidsky: Which means, since he had to warn against them, that they were still fairly commonly given... and possibly advised by other, older books!

Pecan Nutjob, I was born in 1947 and my mom had books from that period into the 50s. It would have been around '55 when I was looking thru them. I recall the fascination of the instructions and at least one illustration of a small child over mom's knee and a small bulb syringe being inserted. Actual titles may be tangled somewhere in my neurons but I can't retrieve them. Sorry.

Liquidsky: Other case in mind - I've read in a child care book that one should not try to trigger a bowel movement in a child by inserting a rectal thermometer, because this could damage the rectum. This means that it was a practice so common that the book had to warn against it specifically. (And, indeed, my mom once told me she used to do that to me when I was an infant!)

The question raised by the recent posts is really should enemas be given at all to small children? My ex who was a board certified and highly trained pediatrician stated that the prevailing opinion among those at her university hospital was that parents should not give enemas to small children. Also of note is the use of enemas for abdominal pain. They are totally contraindicated because of the danger of perforation with appendicitis.

The question was "How did you get your information?" My answer is trial and error. I received my first enema at age 6. I didn't really become a Klismo until I was 11 or 12, but I experimented a great deal during those years and really dug in after 12, so my answer stands. Not being smart enough to try to find written information didn't stop me. I'm just lucky I didn't do any permanent damage.

Yes because I was only 16 at the time, and in Mississippi you had to be 21 to enter adult book stores. A friend at the sheriff's department hooked me up with a fake ID!!!