The men behind the masks: The hidden world of the men who practice 'female masking'

Kerry, a green-eyed, crimson-lipped beauty with suspiciously smooth skin and a full bust, looks like a woman with something to hide.

And she is: Kerry is actually a 52-year-old heterosexual man wearing a latex mask and full bodysuit to emulate a woman.

Kerry is part of a subculture known as 'female masking' that until very recently has remained relatively unheard of, even among dedicated cross-dressers.

Male enthusiasts don elaborate latex or silicone masks and bodysuits complete with breasts to become glamorous female alter-egos.

Married man Kerry, from Seattle, has been fascinated by masks ever since he saw an episode of Mission: Impossible in 1970 depicting actresses wearing masks to impersonate other characters.

At 15, he began wearing female masks, at first from local costume shops, and later self-made latex creations.

'It'd be one thing to disguise myself as a guy, but I'd still be a guy,' he told the Atlantic of his initial desire to wear a mask.

'But if I could disguise myself as a woman that would be a total transformation.'

With the advent of the internet, Kerry found a community of like-minded female maskers and realized he wasn't alone.

Finding other female maskers not only provided Kerry with a community, it launched a whole new career.

He began selling his realistic masks to other men, and became so successful that he was able to leave his day job as a printer and create his own business in mask-making.

For about $500, a mask and body suit including foam-stuffed breasts can be purchased from Kerry's website.

His wife of 12 years, he says, thinks his obsession is 'weird.'

'She doesn't have anything to do with it. Once in a while she might help me with something but it's not really her thing,' he told the Atlantic.

And while his masking has a sexual element to it, he says that his wife is not into it, and he is OK with that.

'It's one of those things where we all sort of have fantasies, scenarios we'd like to do but I think the reality would be really, really disappointing. So probably better not to try that,' he said.

Female masking, while taboo even among the cross-dressing community, has managed to reach the edges of popular culture.

Photographer Steven Meisel even shot model Carolyn Murphy in a mask of Italian Vogue in 2012 after stumbling across the fetish online.

A British documentary called Secrets of the Living Dolls that screened earlier this year featured female maskers from all walks of life.

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?’

Her son Adam, who also works at Femskin, adds: ‘I don't think it would be fair to call them gay or even attracted to other men.’

‘It's about fun. A lot of men have fun by pretending to be women. Not all of them even want to be hot. Some want to be nasty hags.’

One masker who has no interest in being a nasty hag is Robert, who following a painful divorce, has spent the last 12 years dressing up as Sherry, a 40-ish buxom blonde.

But while many of the maskers who appear in Channel 4 documentary say it’s all about having fun; for 70-year-old Robert, matters don’t appear quite so simple.

'That's why I do this,’ he breathes as he pouts at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, ‘because I think I look amazing.

‘I just can't believe that's a 70-year-old man in the mirror and that's why I do this,’ he continues. ‘If I saw a 70-year-old man in the mirror I would quit this tomorrow. ‘

Asked what he sees when he looks at his dolled up reflection, he replies: 'An exciting looking female,’ adding: ‘If I saw a woman like this and she asked me to go hang out, I'd say yeah. ‘

For him, the appeal of Sherry seems to lie partly in the fact that for him, dating real women has been something of a disappointment.

‘You see, after all, I'm 70 years old and I've tried dating, and when I'm dating, the women I meet are generally 55 to well up into their 60s,’ he explains.

‘Some of them are in really good shape for their age but they don't look anything like this and it's very difficult to date when you have this to come home to.’

But not every masker has a troubled love life. For Joel, a British bartender who lives with his girlfriend, Mel, dressing up is all about escapism.

‘I get enjoyment out of it, I get a sense of escapism out of it,’ he reveals. ‘I'm just out to have fun. It's like the extension of another persona within me that just wants to go out and have fun.

‘The conundrum is people ask: “What do you do when you get dressed up?” And the answer is: not much.

‘Sometimes I just take photos to put up on masking websites, other times it just happens to be who I want to be that day.’

But Joel’s masking career hasn’t always gone smoothly. While girlfriend Mel is happy to accept his alter-ego Jessie, he spent 15 years hiding her from his parents – and from his neighbors.

‘I wouldn't walk 20 steps down the road dressed as a doll because I know general society in the area we live in would be very, very against it,’ he explains. ‘Who knows what could happen?’

One masker who is far less reticent about his hobby is Jon, a Minneapolis father-of-six who works as a forklift driver in a warehouse.
According to Jon, not only does masking make him feel good, it also helps him to bond with his daughters.

‘I try to find ways to fit in and be involved with the daughters, and that sometimes means make-up and fingernails and things like that as well,’ he explains.

‘You don't have to have your guard up and necessarily be afraid of other people if you want to dress in a way that makes you feel really good.

‘One guy in particular that I trust at work - he knows that I put on the boobies!’

But not everyone is quite so understanding. Jon’s wife Sunny is his second, met and wed after his first marriage broke up because of his penchant for rubber dolling.

‘This does affect my relationships because I make my priorities and sometimes other people are not happy about my choices,’ he admits.

So is it all worth it? Jon’s friend ‘Vanessa’, a 56-year-old who is also father of six, thinks it is.

‘When I'm in my male mode, I go out in public and I just blend in,’ he confesses. ‘When I walk down the street, people don't pay any attention to me.

‘But when I dress up, put this mask on and the wig, it's like being a beautiful woman walking down the street.

‘You become one of the beautiful people and you draw a lot of attention, and attention is not something I've had a lot of.’