What Before the Internet?

As far as direct communication is concerned, what many of us would do is simply rent a P.O. Box and use it to correspond with others via a service. Shadow Lane was huge into this. Shadow Lane would publish a book of personals and if you wished to contact a person you wrote to them through Shadow Lane and Shadow Lane would forward that mail via a code included in the correspondence, on to that person. Shadow Lane is predominantly a spanking site but seemed to also quickly branch into enemas also, as well as their well known spanking video productions.

When I was in ROTC, I was told that they did not publish phone directories in the Soviet Union and other places because they could be used as a source of intelligence information for the CIA and people like that. True? I have no way of knowing.

Having lived through most of the Cold War growing up, through 20+ year military career, then almost crying while watching the Berlin Wall come down on the nightly news, I can attest to the insecurity of Russians both militarily and socially. Look at history - they are one of the most invaded countries in the world in modern times.

Some of the work I performed in the military entailed contact with and learning about the Soviet Union. Although city directories were printed, they were not available to the general public. Maps of urban areas were just as scarce. And, yes, the reason was national security.

Ah, for the good 'ol days! 😉

Porn shops existed long before the Internet. Screw Magazine always published phone numbers and that was the method of contact. There were a number of early pubs, like the pink pages Enema Times, and magazine shops.

Although city directories (in Russia) were printed, they were no available to the general public. Maps of urban areas were just as scarce. And, yes, the reason was national security.

Well nowadays we don't even get printed phone directories since so few people have landlines anymore. Nor are there directories of cellphone or smartphone numbers. So now we are like the Russians back in the Cold War days. You only have someone's number if they give it to you. Otherwise the presumption is the number is no one else's business.

This is really a switcheroo … 😢

There used to be a phone service in Canada called Chatline. There you could advertise what you were looking for very similar to Craigslist personals.

Met some of my early BDSM playmates through that service. I think the internet kind of killed it.

I enjoyed reading A5 format mags such as Search & Relate. A kinky lean in the topics and some very erotic photos, some now on Zity

My first exposure to an enema was when I was 7 years old (the early 1960's), and had to have my tonsils removed. The doctor prescribed “ a one pint warm soapy enema” to be given the night before the procedure. I believe my mother gave that to me over the edge of the bathtub, with a couple of bulb syringes. While in the hospital, the nurses also qave me an enema, the next morning following the procedure. Obviously this doctor was “into” enemas, as he recommended another “one pint warm soapy enema” if the child didn't have a bowel movement after two days. I believe those 3 enema experiences got me very “interested” in enemas for life. All through my teen years, I would sneak my mother's enema bag out of the closet, when my parents weren't home and give myself one. I would be so excited if they were invited to a wedding (and I wasn't) knowing that I would have at least 4 hours to give myself one or two. I went to college in NYC in the early 70's, and was able to visit 42nd street and browse through enema sections of the porno book stores that were there at the time, and purchased many of them. I still get tremendously aroused at just thinking about giving or receiving, or watching someone else get an enema, now on the internet so easily.

I was too young.

My awakening occurred just before the Internet. Finding enema information required trips to the university library including the medical school library. I ran across a publication called the Los Angeles Free Press and there were ads in the back for all sorts of nefarious activities. There was an ad for the Arthur Hamilton Co. out of NY and you could mail for their catalog. When it arrived…. oh my. Enema gear I had never even dreamed of. It was like finding the holy grail. It also legitimized my pruient interest in enemas, once I realized others were using them recreationally. I still own a barium enema nozzle I ordered from them. Unfortunately, an old-school double balloon nozzle I bought from them finally wore out a couple of years ago.

It was much more private and always felt “odd” liking E then now knowing how many enjoy them and we are not so odd. Got feeling many Bi and TG individuals get some relief in knowing there are many of them out there today with the Internet. Glad we can get information so we can all relax and enjoy our pleasures.

When I was around 14 or 15 I visited a friend of mine who had moved with his parents to the big city. He took me downtown to this peep show joint. I’d never heard of such a thing. It was dark with very few people there. Nobody checked our ID or bothered us in any way. There were machines with hooded screens you look into and for 25 cents you could watch a one minute porn movie. I noticed there were paper towel dispensers all over the place and trash cans full of paper towels. I couldn’t figure that out until I stood in front of one of those machines and realized the floor was sticky.

I discovered that others had the same enema fetish as me in the middle '60s, first by some stories in Penthouse magazine and Hustler. In the early '80s, there was a magizine called Frontiers, basically gay oriented, with a personals/classified section, and there were several ads for enema enthusiasts. Answering one, with a bit of trepidation, introduced me to several givers and receivers. That led to the first of Yahoo groups, where I led two enema themed party groups. Later, I found zity.biz and FetLife. with a lot of fellow kinksters.

Information was so limited pre-internet. If you speak with elderly ladies now, some were told they could get pregnant just by sitting on a boy's lap, or even by kissing him. Well, you can see the parents' logic.

Porno mags were a primary source of info, well at least pictures, to understand that most complex of things for a young boy to fathom, the vulva. So different, so hidden, how I stared at them. Come to think of it, I still do.

The first UK major sex manual was ‘The Joy of Sex’, a line-drawing type sex manual. A friend trying to order it via the UK's largest high street book seller, who would not dare stock it on their shelves, was refused even as a private order back in 1985. ‘Too Hot for us’ was the reply. No wonder the UK had (and may still have) one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe with such prudish attitudes.

I miss the limited access to sex in one way, scarcity makes things more valued. A porno mag was such a goldmine for a pubescent boy. Contact magazines like Forum had some of the weirder contact type ads, or sometimes in the Personals of general weekly buy/sell newspapers there were bluntly stated ads for what Mr would like you to do to his Mrs.

Porn shops existed but were regularly raided by police if they showed sexual intercourse. Now any kid can see anything on their phone they like, and don't know what normal is. How times have changed.

While I'm still quite young, the public internet wasn't a thing until I was about 12-15 years old. So before that, I had to be creative: I remember sneakily cutting out "interesting" images I accidentally spotted in our newspapers and putting them in a DIN A4 sleeve. One side had images of Emma Watson (my big crush at the time) and the other had images of syringes. But mostly I just used my imagination and zero external stimuli.

I remember sneakily cutting out "interesting" images I accidentally spotted in our newspapers and putting them in a DIN A4 sleeve. One side had images of Emma Watson (my big crush at the time) and the other had images of syringes.

I love finding/stumbling across such kind of private image collections at flea-markets. In some there are adding scribblings or doodlings like drawing breasts or an erect penis on photos or coloring lips or whatnot kind of naughty doodling.

Quite fun to find actually.

In the 1970s I discovered a local bookstore in south London that stocked fetish magazines- small format- such as Relate and Search. I recognise posts on Zity with images that are familiar even after nearly 50 years! There wer occasional larger format specials on Rubber etc

I love finding/stumbling across such kind of private image collections at flea-markets. In some there are adding scribblings or doodlings like drawing breasts or an erect penis on photos or coloring lips or whatnot kind of naughty doodling.

Quite fun to find actually.

What the hell kind of flea markets do you go to?😄 I admit I hardly ever go to flea markets. I must make it a point to go more often.😈

What the hell kind of flea markets do you go to?😄 I admit I hardly ever go to flea markets. I must make it a point to go more often.😈

I regularly, almost religiously, go to the daily flea-market in Brussels about once a week. Even more in the summer months. It is unbelievable the stuff you can find if you go there often enough.

And there are open-air flea markets in just about every city here in Belgium: Antwerp, Gent, Liege and so on. Then the large one in Paris in Clignancourt and others in Spain. Granted, in Spain you'll find old farming tools more often, but still I've found at least two albums of cut-out newspaper articles with photos of ladies from the 1950s and such. Probably a way to keep busy out in the country on lonely nights when the urges came on strong and there was no where to go for the unmarried …

And there is a great store in Brussels that sells all kinds of secondhand erotica, also something of an erotic flea-market … ha ha. The owner shows me material he keeps for himself. Last week a set of 3 large filled to the brim photo albums of nudist families, organizations and outings from the 1930s. Beautiful material, enough to fill two whole books. Or else private albums of erotic drawings, paintings, watercolors made by amateurs of varying proficiency and erotic intensity. I've bought a few of these. I've posted some scans of the appropriate medfet-ish like imagery in my albums here. Easily recognizable which they are.

Another item that is worthwhile are photos from the Congo taken before the war by administrators or journalists or travelers. Incredible material too. Often focused on taking photos of natives in their local (or lack of) clothing. Great ethnographic material and all unique stuff. Being in Brussels, means that a lot of such albums surface upon the death of the former owners.

I've also taken to collecting (cheap) nude statues of every kind, tacky, folkart, Art-Deco, Art Nouveau, classical, African, etc.

There were a great number of magazines, both pulp and slick, black and white and colored some years ago. And lots of movies on VHS and BETAMAX tapes as well as DVD'S later on. A friend of mine, who was single, had scores of DVD enema, spanking and S&M DVD's. We would watch them and get turned on to start our enema sessions.

There were some alternative health books in my house growing up which mentioned how to give enemas and all the sorts of symptoms that should warrant them. I definitely read and masturbated to all those sections many times, even long before I was old enough to be able to ejaculate. I often fantasized living in a house where even some very minor symptoms were met with immediate enemas (as some of the books recommended). Then finally in highschool I got access to aol through dialup and shortly after found esig/usenet/chats and of course the popular web sites back then. And that was a pretty life changing thing. Prior to that I didn't have any exposure to discussion about enemas as a sexual thing, and then suddenly discovering a whole community.

I grew up without it, life was much better as you saw, congregated and done things with my friends and family. As far as I am concerned the world was a much better place.

I grew up without it, life was much better as you saw, congregated and done things with my friends and family. As far as I am concerned the world was a much better place.

And yet here we are, all members of a virtual organisation that would have been impossible without the Internet.

I have memories of my youth being a very boring time, of being sort of misaligned with friends who were not really interested in what I liked to do. I would be with them by default, lacking better things to do. It seemed as if there were fascinating and enticing things and books out in the world somewhere out there, but they were so difficult, almost impossible to get my hands on. One ended up settling for cultural junk, like comic books or the old b/w TV shows or goody-goody books and movies for lack of anything better.

Living in a large city was at least somewhat better in terms of interesting things to do and see, but the real expansion of access happened after going on-line. That is when I became aware of a far vaster and more diverse world than any I had ever experienced when younger.

It's not a good idea to fall for the Golden Age meme … some things might have been better in the past, but that was usually because we couldn't imagine things being otherwise. You accepted what couldn't be changed.

@jimmyt44

H Jimmy… you mention the “Parker Pen's!! of which I have a ”Parker 51!!" Yes I can write “Cursive!!!” as it is how it is!! But I digress.. the Parker 51 has a special place especially among “AVIATOR's"…. There is an old WWII vintage Fighter Aircraft the North American ”P-51 MUSTANG!!" which anybody who knows airplane knows what I mean!! Pilots would and still do fill out their “LOG BOOKS” in Cursive writing!! When working on getting the required Flight hours for a license I remember at our local air port when I was in my early teens… an experienced pilot asked another fledgling aviator how much “P-51” time did he have to log??? Yes, it was “Parker 51” Time!!!!! “Get my Drift!!" One of my old friends remembered me telling the story and he found a Parker 51 on e-bay and gave it to me for Christmas one year… ’Have it with all my ”Log's!!!" and yes I still keep all my “Log's” in Cursive with my Parker 51!!!!!

highwater

Hi All,

Yes before the internet!! The “Pulp Fiction Daze!!” in the 60's there was the “L.A. FREE PRESS” an “Undergound newspaper in Los Angeles and its' back ”Classified" add's were to behold!! Yes there in print was Sherry Taylor's “SHEREMA” clinic add's!! among other's!!! Now to go digging thru my archives to see if I might still have a copy or two…… I'll let you know!!!!!

hghwater

Before the Internet there was Enema Erotica magazine.

Before the internet there was boring, kind of dull vanilla stuff. Unless you could find erotic stuff to suit your tastes at an adult store near you.

Before the internet there was boring, kind of dull vanilla stuff. Unless you could find erotic stuff to suit your tastes at an adult store near you.

I grew up in the time before there were even such things as adult stores. The first ones I knew of were in the early 1970s and then in the Netherlands. Had to drive across the border to get to one. So imagine being a teenager in the 1960s. Magazines like Playboy were banned here until the mid 1970s. And when they were finally allowed on the newsstands, the naughty parts were blackened out.

Most people think of the internet as web sites and forums as you are now looking at. Although the Usenet still exists, that was where we connected on the various subjects, alt.sex.enemas, etc. It was text-based. Working in a university, we had access to the intra net and internet before most people. But it was the internet, and before that it was magazines at news stands, where I saw an article in I think Penthouse, learned that I wasn't the only person in to enemas.

Actually, the early days of the internet had pictures of naked women available, with and without sex toys, thermometers in their butts, among other things. Then they all but vanished. Before that, if you lived in a large, and progressive city, outside of the Bible Belt, you could get some incredible porno magazines, I.e., Screw magazine, enemarotica, Mayfair, and a host of others. I’m not sure that any of them are available today, and if so, they probably don’t have the nude pictures.

Penthouse magazine for pics and stories. Hustler magazine for explicit photos. 8mm stag films. There was enough to get off with We are spoiled with all the choices today.