'50's-'60's The Golden Age?...maybe not!!??!!

OK, if anyone's seen this one before, wow! This is not an intellectual exercise, just a total hoot! Couldn't capture the url, but if you go to your search engine/browser and enter “Enemas and the Victorian Corsetting Routine” you should at least get a chuckle. Enjoy….THEN go hang a bag!

This article, found in the suggested search:

https://www.staylace.com/textarea/satmagrcdftb_add.htm

Makes similar points to the ones I made in a post a while back. That said, the comments only really apply to the upper classes, as the vast majority of the population probably didn't have time or resources for such niceties. In the Victorian age, a simple enema syringe probably cost a year's income for the average person, if not more. Remember, rubber was a very new thing and plastic didn't exist.

Just based on my own experience and how things are out here in “sticks”, they were probably more popular in the 50s and 60s, but they are definitely becoming common again for all the same reasons and more, Around here “the golden age” had its peak and valley but enemas are now again fairly common.

The Staylace article was interesting. I suspect there is a lot of truth in women using enemas to avoid having to use the bathroom back in the day. My mom usually wore a girdle and stockings when she went to a party. She often took an enema before she got dressed to avoid the inconvenience of #2. I have done the same myself now and again.

Dita

Clearly we lost a lot with the death of Thomas Lirse back in November.

This was an interesting read. It makes me think about my growing up and how my mother wanted me to have a BM first thing in the morning, or at least before I was out the door on the way to school. I often wondered where that notion came from. As for women wearing girdles I do recall that my mom wore them but never my sisters so I guess the practice faded from use about the time their generation came along.

Clearly we lost a lot with the death of Thomas Lirse back in November.

Who is Thomas Lirse??

@gwhap - Go to the website of the article and read further (I had the same question)…He was the founder of LISA, an org that was totally into corsetry and its history…and OTHER THINGS!!!! TALK ABOUT AN INTRO TO KINK!!!!! Enjoy! (By the way, it's Thomas Liese.)

Gwhap - Go to the website of the article and read further (I had the same question)…He was the founder of LISA, an org the was totally into corsetry and its history…and OTHER THINGS!!!! TALK ABOUT AN INTRO TO KINK!!!!! Enjoy! (By the way, it's Thomas Liese.)

@duhwizzard Thank you - I did!! Interesting article and links! - BTW LISA was founded by Thomas B. Lierse. (not Liese or Lirse ) (Sorry, had to nitpick!!) 😄

Picky, picky!!! (lol)

There are some really good photo resources on the Staylace.com site! https://www.staylace.com/fn_index.htm

I think @reddevil and others would enjoy this site, if they haven't already found it.

and how my mother wanted me to have a BM first thing in the morning, or at least before I was out the door on the way to school. I often wondered where that notion came from.

@Westy

Most likely your Mother's intent was to prevent the humiliation of accidental release of flatulence and/or needing to use the restroom during classes. Usually if the sigmoid colon and rectum is empty, one rarely experiences the need to release gas. While motility varies from person to person, in general, emptying the rectum and sigmoid colon greatly reduces or eliminates the generation of gas for upwards of six to eight hours in the average healthy person.

I say that the era of the 1950's - early 1960's WERE for me and always will be the ‘ Golden Age ’ of the home enema . Why ‘ Gold ’ ??? They were my personal ‘ coming of age ‘ as to enema interaction w / my mother and other female relatives who gave me enemas in the day . That was a ’ kinder - gentler time ' when every home had a douche / enema / fountain syringe in the closet and they were used ……… often . My cousins , school chums both boys and girls verified their reception of the home enema and a few , myself included , became most receptive to their administration .

Dita and Victoria made some valid observations regarding those preventive or pre-emptive enemas in times past. There is a thread regarding that subject.

My mom used them and us kids got them to assure a BM prior to any situation where toileting would be challenging or in extremely unsanitary conditions. I suspect grandma pushed her in that direction.

I continued that for a lifetime. I was queried at one point why I seldom had to poop during long road trips or while fishing or hunting. My answer was that I took care of business prior to leaving. Details were not discussed save for one who took up the practice.

I used to believe mom and grandma were too obsessive regarding BM's and enemas. In hindsight, I think they had the right idea!

For enemas, it was probably before that!

I'm thinking between the world wars.

Just no one left alive to point that out!!

Clearly Douching peaked during and after the War!

LisaK douching still was prevalent to near the end of the 1970s. The first few years (early seventies) we were married she douched, but then stopped as medicaql advice changed.

Lisa, No one left alive from between the wars? Almost but not quite. I qualify and can report the enemas were a family thing in the 1930's. Always private and never discussed in mixed company. But mom did tell her bridge group women that she had “just given my boy and enema”. Annoying at first but with puberty guess what happened? Yes and now enema lust is still with me though performance is below par these days. Still love the ladies donating the warm suds to me but it is all imagination or solo practice now. Keep the beautiful pictures in our zity 'images' coming for me please.

It seemed to be common, at least in my family, if you did not have a BM before you went to school, sometime before the day was done you would be getting two enemas. Before we were old enough to attend school, Mom kept a sharp eye on out toilet habits and you could expect her to show up standing next to you at just about any time holding a half full enema bag, a towel and that look on her face.

An interesting site:

http://thisisversaillesmadame.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-royal-enemas.html

Will Rogers, Vaudeville and early Hollywood performer said “Things aint like they used be and probably never were" so I think it's the Golden Age right now!!

@Westy my growing up and how my mother wanted me to have a BM first thing in the morning, or at least before I was out the door on the way to school. I often wondered where that notion came from.

Good question, but where ever it came from, my mom was in tune with that idea. Seems after a short time sitting on the john I'd hear my mom call out “any luck yet?".

I was given regular weekly enemas, from about age 5 to 17. By my mother or my aunt.

When I started to ejaculate at about 11, they told me don’t hold back, it’s normal for boy’s having enemas.

They were good times. I still enjoy enemas today.

My mother douched up until she left.

She HAD cut back from weekly when she lived at home to only after her period and for “Special” occasions when on her own. That was a reflection of her OWN beliefs instead of her mother's.

I remember in the mid 60s when I was really young and seen my mom's pumpkin style douche bag hanging in the bathroom and asking my sister who is a couple of years older than me what it was, she said it was mom's special water balloon.

It seems that “regularity” in bowel habits was really pushed in media circles of those times. Laxatives, stool softeners, and probiotics were becoming more common and advertised for their effectiveness and convenience. Anti-enema folks and companies found a lucrative niche as the 70's changed habits.

Most moms seemed to be into the regularity mode and monitored bowel habits in their families. Failure to have a BM daily, and on schedule, likely resulted in resorting to an immediate action plan as suggested by medical folks and media.

In our family's case, the enema bag was deployed. Those other methods were iffy at best, and were far more costly than a quart or two of warm water, and some soapsuds for obstinate cases.

Unfortunately Thomas Lirse left this world back in November.

Last I heard the future of his website was still undecided.

It remains for now up as a “Zombie” site that never changes.

How long that is going to be the case remains unknown at this time.

I would describe the 1950s and 1960s as the “silver age” of enemas.

To me the “golden age” was 1890-1940

I agree about the silver and gold ages of the beloved enema.

Certainly the 30's and 40's were golden to me after puberty but before puberty they were the shits.

The ‘golden age’ is probably a misnomer. IMO, many people have been near obsessed with poo for several hundred years, at least.

Partly, it makes sense. If someone doesn't poo regularly, tend to feel sluggish and ‘out of sorts’ and may suddenly have to poo at an inopportune and embarrassing time… especially a hundred yeas or so ago when toilets were not ubiquitous. Also, although rarely mentioned, staining to pass large, hard poo is tough on your passage and often leads to ano-rectal problems later in life.

Given these factors, moms were probably encouraged by their moms to be sure their kids pood regularly. And a poo every morning, before school or something, did this reliably. Some moms opted for a dose of Castoria or ExLax at bedtime if the morning poo didn't happen. Other moms took a different approach by either noticing how long a kid was in the bathroom (at least in preteens) or listening for sounds of staining.

And, let's face it, if someone has difficulty or can't poo, an enema is a good choice to bring prompt relief. While the preparation takes longer than a dose of laxative or a suppository, relief happens within minutes. Also, if it's a bag of warm water, not a Fleet,, the poo comes out propelled and accompanied by a gush of water which eases the passage of even large, had lumps.

I suspect that the ‘golden age’ is more a matter of perception than reality. In those days enema equipment was designed to give yeas of service as those attributes were prevalent at the time. Today, it's a disposable society and so are the enemas and douches.

MO

Seems like it's always the “Golden Age”. Harvey Kellogg and “The San” portrayed in “The Road to Wellville” book and film made it seem Victorian America was golden. Hollywood from it's beginning had an enema history. All of us “Boomers” had the same. And now with the focus on health (and the delicious feelings that enemas can provide) I feel another “Golden Age” is right now.