What Before the Internet?

Zity was not blocked in hospital I was in. But its blocked in my college.

International renown ... it's a two-edged sword ... ha ha

To go back to the original topic -

I remember seeing pages from French newspapers/magazines from the late 1970s (e.g. Libération) that did not specifically cater to a sex audience, well, their classified ads contained interesting stuff. I think I saw couples seeking partners for a foursome, for instance.

I think everything was by word of mouth, more or less explicit classified or other ads in mainstream magazines or papers, and specialized magazines.

In my Grandma's house, even now, most of her books on home medicine or first aid are from the period of 1956-1966. Nearly every one has something on enemas. it's almost always matter-of-fact without any advocacy one way or another.

My Grandfather was a bookworm basically, and she has only started to get rid of his old books. there are full book cases in every room except the bathroom.

I answered ads in gay magazines.

My Grandfather was a bookworm basically, and she has only started to get rid of his old books. there are full book cases in every room except the bathroom.

Sounds like my kind of house ... would I ever love to go looking through the books ...

When I was younger, way be for the Internet, I had great luck with free phone sex lines Does anyone know of a free gay phone line? The ones I know charge a fortune

My Mom was a serial note passer. Even in school, she would find a confidential way to get a note to my father about their next proposed enema session.

She found some pretty cleaver ways to pass them. because there were so many, Dad did manage, sometimes on purpose sometimes not, to save many but not nearly aqll of them.

That's what motivated me to learn to read cursive. Still can't write it, which is probably just as well. My Father gave it up because he was never good at it.

All the notes I have ever found from my Mom, including a couple she apparently wrote to herself were not only in cursive, but because she was

Canadian, she would spell color colour, and favor Favour etc. So it takes some getting used to just to read her notes.

That's what motivated me to learn to read cursive. Still can't write it, which is probably just as well. My Father gave it up because he was never good at it.

Cursive? Is that some special kind of writing?

Cursive is joined up handwriting or real writing as it was called when I was young.

A bit like joined up thinking!

I found a lot of information in old home medical texts, and eventually university nursing/medical books. At university I became aware of some of the research into fetishes - and only then realised I was not the only one...

It was my shameful, personal secret.

Cursive is joined up handwriting or real writing as it was called when I was young.

No offense, but in the original post it sounds like this is supposed to be a special skill. Isn't handwriting taught in school anymore? Granted, I will admit that I hate it, now even more than when I was in school. But still, handwriting is sort of a basic skill and one of the main reasons for going to school in the first place.

Cursive is writing where the letters of a word are joined together, not each separate from the next. It is also called script. When I was a boy, we learned to print first and then in perhaps the second grade, we learned cursive, or script as we called it then. with script, you do not lift the pen or pencil from the paper while writing a word, only when you reach the end of the word.

Today we have a controversy in the teaching establishment whether to teach script. The argument is that printing is sufficient and they are better off teaching keyboarding, as they call it, instead.

hankb

Today we have a controversy in the teaching establishment whether to teach script. The argument is that printing is sufficient and they are better off teaching keyboarding, as they call it, instead.

Thanks for the explanation. To think that I would live to see the day that handwriting is not thought important enough to teach in school ... on the one hand I detested the Palmer Method lessons from my day and thought them a waste of time ... on the other hand it is such a basic skill I am a bit flabbergasted.

I do wish they had taught us 10 finger typing in school though. That would have been a useful skill. But in my day, few people even had a typewriter in the home.

Anyway, here's to progress in a changing world ... 😃

For me, Penthouse Forum was the main source. I still believe it all began with a letter from an English nurse who spoke of her "special preference" for enemas. After that Penthouse called it the "Special Preference" section. Everything else --Roxbury Press, Sherema, BethTyler -- all came afterwards.

Cursive writing was invented for the fountain pen.

When fountain pens would blot or smear was when you lift them off the page. As a result writing at what we now consider "normal" Speed was only possible if you minimized the number of times you lifted the pen.

Cursive was a writing style developed in which all the letters of a given word were conjoined in a free flowing motion.

Worked well for the fountain pen, but was also unforgiving and could become virtually unreadable unless written nearly perfectly.

As a result there had to be an emphasis on "penmanship" or precise writing.

My parents went to elementary school in the 1960s, middle school right around the early 1970s and high school in the mid and late 1970s

By the time either of them got to high school, the "stick" type cheap Bic pen was ubiquitous, and was essentially the "standard" in most high schools.

You ask most people who graduated the same year my father did (1977) or the same year my mother did (1979) and most had probably SEEN an actual fountain pen but had never attempted to actually use one. By the time I gt to high school in the 1990s none of the teachers had ever even SEEN an actual working fountain pen and the modern rollerball had become the standard.

Bureaucratic inertia, combined with political pressure however meant that, although fountain pens were anywhere from 40 to 60 years obsolete by the time my parents came along. and really hadn't been in high schools in 30 years, they were STILL required to use Cursive writing. And they DID have to waste time on "penmanship" It still affected grades.

As soon as my father was out of high school, he stopped using it for anything but his signature. Largely because he was tired of getting hectored constantly over his "penmanship" Even had one asshole teacher tell him, " Your handwriting could stop a moose cold at 40 paces!" Mom fared a little better and continued to write in cursive until she disappeared.

So, cursive is an obsolete style of writing, designed for an obsolete technology, that mercifully modern students don't have to waste any time with, unless they are interested in stuff handwritten by their grandparents or great grandparents.

Cursive writing was invented for the fountain pen.

I went to grade school in the 1950s in the US, but when I came to Belgium in the mid 1960s, many pupils still wrote with old fashioned 'dipping' pens, which they had to dip the tip into an inkwell to have enough ink to write a line or two. And yet there too, fountain pen or 'dipping' pen, everyone had to write in cursive, no printing or block letters allowed at all. Writing a text in block letters was the equivalent of announcing substandard intelligence and being out of place in school.

So, from what I know, cursive script has almost been the norm for centuries, long before fountain pens were invented in the early 19th century. Besides, most pupils would not get a fountain pen to use in school from their parents anyway. Fountain pens were often considered expensive luxury items ...

My penmanship has always been very poor, mainly because I was "taught" by an old maid spinster 2nd grade teacher. Back in the late 50's and early 60's if a child was born left handed, they did everything they could, short of breaking your arm, to FORCE you to be right handed. At that time, it was still 'believed' that left handed people were sinister. It didn't work for my sister or for me, as we are both left handed, and the only ones on what had been both sides of the family. I was so thrilled to take two years of typing (manual one year, electric the other).

The ONE common thing designed strictly with left handedness in mind is a sewing machine; sit and carefully look at one and you will see. That is one thing I can operate and have heavy duty ones to make slings with.

And while we didn't use fountain pens (or quills), some of us did still use cartridge pens at times. They were like a fountain pen, but had a small cartridge that held the liquid ink, and would write quite a while on one filling.

Dan

My world was not void of credible information before the Internet. Growing up, there were great libraries and librarians and reference desks and countless books and encyclopedias and other resources, where I spent a large part of my high school and college in the 70s and early 80s. And there were wonderful independent bookstores in most towns. You had to get up and get out of the house and go to these places. Now most of those bookstores are gone. But there is still Powell's in Portland, and I just love that place! When got married, my Mom gave us a book on home nursing. It was printed in 1980 and had all up-to-date information. There was a large section on enemas, including the new squeeze bottle disposables. The book was very good, and we still have it. So, there were good sources before the Internet. Today's younger generation has it pretty easy when comes to research. Now you can sit all day in your jammies in front of the computer or even lie in bed with your iPhone. It's certainly a different world!

Hoseman ....I'm not necessarily doubting the information proffered in post # 74.. however Beth Tyler (Tyler Labs) appeared well before Bob Guccione's Penthouse Magazine....And so too the English magazine Club International from Paul Raymond Publications where I had read & probably still have the article written by a subscriber on the subject of & erotic tale of Higginson syringe enemas

English mag Men Only of the early1970's had also ran a feature piece about a young man that was dared by his friend to visit a medical play nurse / enema nurse that advertised her speciality in a presumably local rag (newspaper).....It was one of these two high quality gloss leaf English magazines that first printed "The Story Of O"...before the French (licenced) copy became available

It's doubtful that many here would know of some Australian publications that also catered to the whims of niche peculiarities, these were monthly issued circulations the size of daily newspapers & titled....Bawdy...Ribald & Searchlight...rarely missed a copy 😁

I got my first fountain pen as a gift in the mid 50's from my grandparents; a Parker 21. I loved it and as I grew older I acquired more, a Parker 51,45, Shaffer models. I used them all the way through college and now have a collection of BOUT 20 of them, including several made in Europe by Mont Blanc, Pelican, Waterman and others. In the 50's ball points pens weren't that reliable. That changed in the early 60's when BIC's came out. Every kid on campus had 2-3 Bics in thieir pockets, cause they were 25 cents each at that time and worked very well. I still use fountain pens a lot.

Both my mom and dad told me how important penmanship was considered in the 30's and 40's. Schools even gave out metals to pupils with great handwriting. Back then, most ledgers, spreadsheets and many documents in business were done by hand and being able to easily read them was critical. My parents were both "lefties" and my father's writing was beautiful, while my mom's was "passable".

I still have several antique fountain pens from the 1920's though the 50's. Type righters and PC's have made most pens obsolete. I understand that they start kids on keyboards in Kindergarten and elementary grades now, so that by Jr. High they can use PC's quickly. It seems like the only times signatures are required are on legal documents, credit card receipts. I've seen lots of people scribble on credit card machines. It's just progress.

As a medical products salesman, I had frequent access to hospital libraries and would go into them, supposedly to increase my medical knowledge, or run into Dr.'s that I called on. I actually got many nursing books and radiology books to read detailed info. on various enemas. I also read every edition of Gastroenterology newsletters, searching for info. on intestinal irrigations. Of course, all these publications were written in typical medical science forms, but it didn't take me long to bring my kink into them.

Before the internet, there were millions of horny people who had to get out of the house and go to an adult bookstore to get a release or sexual information.

Before the internet, there were millions of horny people who had to get out of the house and go to an adult bookstore to get a release or sexual information.

You are giving a short condensed version of my adolescent years ... ha ha

Luckily, I was in a large international city that had bookstores selling in various languages. Otherwise I would have been driven to madness I often think ... and to think there are still large cities where you can't find a decent book to save your life.

Years ago, I used to pick up Penthouse Forum on occasion and look to see if there were any enema stories, or "letters" involving enemas. Occasionally there were, which helped to validate my personal interest in, and desire for enemas. Also found a number of magazines devoted strictly to "enema lovers" that were available thru mail-order. Even the adult bookstores (1970's) back then didn't have many magazines on enemas (mostly standard porn), but enema related magazine ads were plentiful in the back of these porn magazines, and yes, I did purchase a few.

The important thing to remember about all the information on the net is, unless you vet the source, you have no idea of it's credibility. At least with hard copy published material, they were usually accurate (not counting Penthouse, etc.).

haha I'd forgotten all about adult book stores. A thing of the past now. And for the better, but they sure did serve a purpose at the time.

I've read some real doozies of historical and factual misinformation, deliberate or accidental, in hard copy published material. It is no more immune to distortions, mistakes or outright lying than material on the Internet. Maybe there is more junk on the Net or maybe more people find it easier to consult the Net instead of a book, but really, neither is immune to mistakes.

So much of the printed/illustrated material sold in adult books and sex shops in the past, is now rapidly becoming collectors items. This you can tell because of the prices being asked on on-line auctions or on-line collectible sites. Also because they are beginning to show up on sites like Tumblr as 'retro/vintage erotica' ...

Once again I could kick myself in the behind for not buying more of that stuff in the past. All you normally have to do is store it for 30 or 40 years and presto, instant collectible! About 10 years ago a secondhand bookshop in town here went out of business due to expired lease. It was one of the few that sold secondhand sex magazines and stuff. I only heard after it closed, that the owner threw his unsold stock - including several thousand old sex mags - into a container to be hauled away, but let anyone take whatever they wanted for free. Had I but known it at the time ...

@agracier : The OP talked about first aid books, so when I mentioned hard copy books, I was referring to nursing books, child care manuals, etc.

Still, I think it's more difficult to separate truth from fiction on the net. In magazines, letters to the editor and articles designated as "fiction" were clearly not credible. But regular articles were usually credible. Sure, there may have been some mistakes, but that happens with publications of every sort.

I love this site, but it's an example of how things on the net are ambiguous as to whether or not they're true. Ostensibly, what people post in the forums is true (unless they note it as being fiction), but the reality is MUCH of what people post as their experiences are clearly false. It seems to be the culture of this site not to call them out on it, and that's fine, but someone who sees this site as a legitimate source of information, may be misdirected based on postings here.

I had hard copy publications on history in mind mainly - probably because I read so many I guess. Some books really contain mistakes plain and simple or - and this is far more prevalent - interpretations can be so widely varied and at odds with other interpretations in other books that they are almost diametrically opposed. Plus one must never discount the fact that some authors have an agenda or a political stance to defend or a point to bring across. And it seems this is, for many authors, an excuse to fudge or gloss over data ...

And let's not even start about some magazine articles in printed editions. To quote John Cleese: 'utter rubbish' ...

But then again, yes, the Internet is a DIY publisher's paradise ...

Rijames99 writes :

I love this site, but it's an example of how things on the net are ambiguous as to whether or not they're true. Ostensibly, what people post in the forums is true (unless they note it as being fiction), but the reality is MUCH of what people post as their experiences are clearly false. It seems to be the culture of this site not to call them out on it, and that's fine, but someone who sees this site as a legitimate source of information, may be misdirected based on postings here.

Whoa there neddy...Large volumes of assorted personal informatives--true life experiences/excerpts of verifiable medical publications/links to research studies & factual advisories written by very credible professional entities exist here..with MUCH of that information absolutely LEGITIMATE...nothing ambiguous about it !!

Some posts (low percentage) could be found questionable but keen eyed members,moderators & webmaster soon rectify "issues" should they arise & are dealt with fairly promptly...which is why zity is unique amongst it's contemporaries

With all the medical professionals as members here, I think we get some very solid advice. This makes Zity the prominent Klysmo. site, as opposed to say, Voy, or others. I've also noticed a high degree of advanced education among our members. The posts we get here help keep us safe in our kinks. Thanks to all the members who give us rational advice and too our moderators.