The magazines that Atreyu mentions were in fact real. I learned about them as a senior in high school, when we were taught how to write a research paper. I did mine on child abuse, splitting it into three forms. One of the topics was sexual abuse, and in gathering sources, I learned of such magazines. I don't think I have the paper anymore. I got a solid "A" on it. I remember a source citing how shocked she was, but don't remember her name. An acquaintance of hers had brought her several issues of a magazine called Lollitots, a play on the word "lollipops". At the time, I was stunned to learn that such things once existed, for sale, right over the counter in bookstores.
Back in the day, we had National Geographic magazines for our source of porn! The librarian and our teachers knew what we were up to, too.
Keep in mind, this was the mid-70's, in rural Indiana. We didn't know much, as we didn't get out much (as Bette Midler once said). Sex was not a topic for discussion. It was a very stressful event, when the school showed us "THE FILM" in the 6th grade. The illustrations were awful, I recall. Any modern day artist who draws comics, cartoons, etc., for one of "those sites" would have been ashamed to post such art. The kid must have just come out of an ice bath!
To say that just about everyone was a prude would be an understatement. Answers to those "hard" questions could be bought from the 6th grade girls, though, on the school bus. Our biggest nemesis was Kathy (literally), but she wasn't a liar, we found, once we'd seen the film.
I have to give our teacher one thing, though. He got through it professionally, and didn't seem the least bit shocked by any of it. Ironically, he was arrested in 2000-something, having since retired, for indecent conduct with a minor. I recognized the name, town, and the age fit. Sure enough, it was him. Don't know what the details were, though. Should have saved the article, I guess. I wasn't that surprised, but looking back, he was a rather "touchy/feely" type.
Given the attitudes of the day/era, however, it's a wonder that any of us boys grew up to be able shed enough of those inhibitions that were piled on us to even be able to do ... well, anything, really!
As I've told the story to Jesus A., our poor preacher got the worst of it. The Bible is filled with things like David collecting foreskins, circumcision, virgins, Daniel and the whole eunuch thing in chapter 1, etc. And of course, we had to ask. Where was Kathy when you needed her? By then, she'd moved on to high school and her family didn't attend church. The poor preacher looked as if he'd rather fall through the floor, than answer questions like "What's a eunuch?"
And yes, I was the one who threw that one at him.
I think it was Ryan who asked what a virgin was.
We ended up having to surf the dictionary to figure out circumcision, as no one would explain it to us. It was that repressive.
I can't even begin to imagine how our mindsets might have changed, if like Atreyu, we'd had access to such media back then. Like I said, we had National Geographic. And Kathy.
As far as the Internet goes, well, that's another large can of worms that perhaps could be opened in another thread. If we'd discovered that, had it existed, well ... that sounds like a plot for an EA story, doesn't it?
