The Secret World Of The Living Dolls

The Daily Beast reports on a documentary that Britain's Channel 4 aired last night.

When 70-year-old Robert looks in the mirror, which he does often when dolled up, he sees a beautiful blond woman, voluptuous in her yellow halter dress and chunky heels. Her name is Sherry and she passes the time taking selfies in the courtyard of her Orange County mansion and floating topless in the macaroni-shaped pool. Sans costume, Robert (not his real name) is a property developer, recently divorced, and living with his 19-year-old daughter. But when he powders his latex and silicone suit and climbs in, pulling a frozen, doll-faced mask over his head, and throwing on a wig and a dress, he’s Sherry. “That’s me in there,” he says, gazing entranced at his reflection. “That’s one of the things I have to keep telling myself: That’s me inside that female.” Robert is a masker, leading two very different lives: one in the so-called vanilla world of his family and coworkers; another dolled up as a life-size figurine in the privacy of his own home, or, occasionally, out with other cross-dressers and fellow mask-wearers.

More from the Daily Mail:

Unlike transgender people, ‘maskers’, or ‘rubber dollers’ as they’re also known, do not feel born in the wrong body. For them, dressing up as a member of the opposite sex is a simply a way to have fun. ‘They’re not freaky people, they’re not weird, they’re just like you and me,’ explains Barbie Ramos, the owner of Femskin, a company that makes the $850 (approximately £518) custom-made silicone outfits worn by maskers. ‘They’re just like what they call “vanilla people” - that’s you and me - except for at night or on special occasions, they like to put on a mask. Why not?’

Most of the men report having supportive wives or girlfriends, although some say their "masking" habit has cost them their marriages.


RELATED: Minneapolis hosts an annual convention called the Rubber Doll Rendezvous  and the Daily Beast has also posted a rubber dolls gallery. A Florida-based company called FemSkin (not office-safe) sells some of the full body suits.