Men who dress in woman dolls...

Inside the secret world of the men who dress up as rubber dolls http://t.co/1WLigoBYqW via @femail pic.twitter.com/6tw0tGRKxF

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) February 23, 2014

In junior school I was always quite alarmed when some of the boys who did after care, would dress up in lady clothes clearly left there for that purpose. I was picked up on time by my parents, so I can't say how their behaviour began, I was never in after care with them. I have always hated things such as Halloween. I wore a type of mask I think only once in my life: a mask of a puppy dog for Halloween. I also have used a mask which goes about the eyes like Zorro, at a fancy dress party. It was quite Venetian, a type of mask to fascinate. The idea of a masquerade has always held mystery to humankind, though there are some masquerades which cross the lines of polite society.

[Below: AFP image: the Type of Mask people know and love]

RT @fgeffardAFP: A costumed reveller poses near St Mark's square during the Venice carnival pic.twitter.com/vghwCLGSgH by @GABRIELBOUYS #AFP

— AFP Photo Department (@AFPphoto) February 23, 2014

Everything is not as it seems, seems to be the mantra which is the call to action of the modern liberal. A bit of cosmetic surgery here and there and the sex of a person is deemed changed, despite their otherwise DNA and inability to reproduce by the natural means from that point onwards. As plastic surgeons have perfected their human canvas based art, it becomes more and more difficult to tell a human altered creation from a real male or female person. The thought that H.G. Wells once had, of doing surgery on animals to make them seem human (without excluding their reversion to savagery) suggests this deep obsession is not new. We expect to trust our eyes, and as the magic tricks of modern illusionists fascinate us, so do the tricks of plastic surgeons.

A new trick however has hit the market, full body rubber and silicon suits, inclusive of breasts and vagina, which men can and do wear. They don't appear to be real natural women, just as many women who have plastic surgery look unnatural or strange. None the less a strange fantasy seems at play in the minds of practitioners. Just as the kids in junior school dressed in girls clothes to be glamorous as I looked on perplexed, these men seem to look for an outlet away from reality. Just as men and women think changing the cosmetic appearance of their body allows them to become a different person, these believe just the appearance changes them. Their new mask, makes them a new person, as much as the face paint in The Lord of the Flies allowed the hunters and warriors among the children to no longer be the children they had been.

To me it is tragic. To many it is an object of fascination, as bearded women in freak shows had been. To others it is a symbol of freedom and modernity. To some, it is what they call fetishes. Interestingly we have a gut reaction, it is said: the more human something looks, robots wise, the more wonderful, until it becomes too real but still amiss. While that illusion remains just slightly not enough to fool the mind, the response of disgust and fascination persists.