One has only to look at the job columns in newspapers and magazines to realise that a rubberist with marital problems is just the tip of the iceberg. His problem is a sensual one that started, in many cases, during infancy, created by the maternal sexual qualities inherent in the rubber enigma.

Hence, long before the rubberist became involved with the opposite sex, he literally already had a “mistress”, i.e. rubber that had seduced him and brought sexual gratification without any considerations or complications. This “mistress” did not, however, distract his libido from its natural attraction towards woman, but he felt the merging of the two was his ideal.

The rubberist’s ideal is pure sensuality and we know a marriage will not survive on . that alone. A lasting, loving relationship should be all-embracing, able to withstand the rigours of everyday life and its problems, at the same time creating a family – the spiritual and natural development of mankind.

There are many anxieties that go in creating such a relationship. Remembering the old maxim that a wife should be a queen in the kitchen, a lady in the lounge and a whore in the bedroom, it is somewhat thwarted in these days with the need for the wife to be a “bread winner”. It is not easy for the wife to be a whore in the bedroom pandering to her rubberist husband’s fantasies. She might even feel slighted to have to wear a “prop” to satisfy her husband, thinking that her own attractiveness to him had diminished. I am quite sure a rubberist would become impatient, feeling that his wife was flying the flag of endurance like a faked orgasm, just to please him. His ideal is a mistress that is enjoying their rubber games as much as he is. He wants his wife to be that temptress in rubber.

The rubberist who can proudly say his wife is his mistress is a lucky man indeed. I would think that situation is one where the wife or girl friend is receiving a great deal of happiness and gratification from their love life.

Recently we have seen rubber create a trend in the fashion scene. Latex and continental rubber has suddenly become feminine, intimate apparel rivalling silks and satins which have enhanced women’s beauty for centuries. Publicity, the fashion shows, the group gatherings of rubberists (with, I note, quite a few women present) is becoming ever more popular.

Yet the tag of something not quite nice and sinister still hangs like a cloud over the rubber scene. Society still deems that publications like Atomage should be confined to sex shops.

How can one differentiate between a satin nightdress and a latex one? How can one differentiate between any exotic, erotic apparel which is enhancing and sensual and say one particular material is sinister?

Who is responsible for this censure? It is indeed as much an enigma as rubber itself.

– R. H. (London)