Sex And Promiscuity
Sex And Scandal
Robert McCallum absolutely loved women and pursued their sexual delights with enthusiasm and gusto.
He had a vigorous sex drive and felt compelled to document his carnal encounters. His womanizing ways are unveiled in his candid, explicit, and frequently scandalous memoirs.
Victorian Myth
These were Victorian times, conventionally considered a period with prudish and puritanical values. The prevailing stereotype of Victorian sexual mores is that ladies were “sweet, untouchable guardians of morality”.
McCallum’s diaries contradict that view. They disclose a story far different; premarital sex was rife, and women appear anything but passionless, sexless individuals.
Promiscuity Versus Religion
McCallum had a religious upbringing – his father was a clergyman. He also regularly attended church as an adult.
This poses an interesting conflict. How did he reconcile his extremely promiscuous lifestyle with his Presbyterian Christian upbringing and preachings of the Church?
He Sought Variety
Variety and quantity appeared to be McCallum’s mantra during his single years. There was the “French girl”, “Maori girl”, “fat girl”, “nigger girl” and “China girl”.
No girl was safe, house maids, adjacent female boarders, fellow ship passengers all ended up sharing his bed.
Encounters
We learn that his encounters took place everywhere: “on the dining table”, “in my workshop”, “at the railway yards”, “on top of Mount Eden” etc.
He records if it was morning sex, a lunchtime dalliance, or sex during pregnancy.
The sexual candor and language are more titillating than offensive or pornographic. For example, we know if a girl ‘went south”, “choked me off “ or “let me cut the hair off her cunt.”
Prostitutes And Brothels
McCallum also sought the company of prostitutes.
Pre-marriage, he was a frequent visitor to brothels, which he called “milk houses”. We learn where these establishments were located in the streets of old downtown Auckland. Locally he had his favorite “P’s” and the madams are mentioned as personal friends.
When traveling abroad, “sporting houses” were a must-stop where he experimented with girls of many nationalities.
Secret Codes
McCallum had secret little code words. The sexual delights of a woman were referred to as “milk”. He was constantly carousing for “milk”.
He also had a liking for Polynesian girls. He referred to them as“native girls”, and when pursuing them sexually, “brown milk”.
An actual encounter would be referred to as “had a go”, “had a bit” or “had a grind”.
He had no qualms about recording a wet dream. He also adopted the term “had a bazaar”. Though slightly ambiguous, from its context, this was likely his code for masturbation. The term appears often.
Sex Tally
McCallum regularly kept count of his sexual activity. On one side of the column of his diary, he kept a running tally of his conquests. The numbers were astounding even by today’s more relaxed moral standards.
Some might consider him narcissistic. In addition to his obsessive tracking was occasionally a performance evaluation; we learn if she “was the best little girl I have ever had” or “not much good” and we know if an encounter was brief or as he sometimes boasted ‘all night long”.
The Clap
Not surprisingly, McCallum contracted the sexual disease “the clap” and also receives news of unwanted pregnancies. He bridged these inevitable pitfalls of his lifestyle with relative nonchalance.
He records the incidents, his discomfort with the symptoms, and how this was medicated at the time.
