MEMBER ARTICLE: How Masks And Hoods Transform Me Into The Lustful Self
from
Recon News
21 November 2023
By CHaddiction
I know how strange this may sound, but Dick Harper played by Jim Carrey in Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) was one of the many fictional characters I used to secretly fantasise during my adolescence. Unlike most people who watched this comedy for a laugh, I was obsessed with a few scenes in which Dick Harper and his wife rob people in disguise, more precisely and more importantly in balaclavas. It is interesting when trying to find my earliest memory of my mask and hood fetish, I thought of this movie first, probably because even I thought it was very strange to use a comedian character for sexual fantasies at the time.
I had a long list of movies in which people wear all types of masks and hoods, and it included Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), The Mask of Zorro (1998) and, of course, superhero movies such as Spider-Man 1-3 (2002-2007), just to name to few. Unfortunately, Elle (2016) came out much later, but I can imagine how much time I would have spent on it…
Those countless nights spent on searching and watching those movies made me realise, at a young age, that I had a 'thing' for men in masks and hoods, which was not just an aesthetic preference but a sexual desire. Of course, I used to think I was alone until I fully understood the word 'fetish' and discovered the fetish and kink community, thanks to the almighty Internet. Since then, I've had many play sessions wearing masks and hoods - myself, and with others wearing them. Sometimes, I would just wear a mask or hood and masturbate in front of a mirror, as watching myself like that really turns me on. For some time now, I've been collecting all different types of masks and hoods. I don't think I could ever have "too much".
"Why do I have a mask and hood fetish?"
This question had never occurred to me, not until I met my current partner who had been a mostly vanilla person. Of course, along with this question, he has also made me think about my other fetishes and kinks, but let's focus on masks and hoods here and leave those for another day.
For me, the power of masks and hoods has two dimensions. When I wear them myself, they provide me with opportunities to transform myself. While my face, by which perhaps most people recognise me, is covered, I feel not only safe but also free to express parts of me that I do not get to express daily. Those lustful, shameless, and submissive or dominant parts of me are unleashed simply by putting on a mask or hood. Such transformation has been so important to me, partly also because, apparently, I have a very "innocent" face, which sometimes can make it difficult for myself and people with whom I play to get into the right mood and characters that we desire.
Meanwhile, I certainly also enjoy seeing others wearing masks and hoods a lot. Unlike wearing them myself, seeing others wearing them adds a layer of mystery and excitement to fetish and kinky plays. "I don't know who you are but a sexual being." This is perhaps also similar to how some people feel about anonymous play, which is one of my fantasies as well.
So, of course, I have had countless play sessions involving wearing masks and hoods, but there was this one time I often recall. My partner at the time was planning to visit me from another city, so I thought I would prepare some "surprise" for him. I bought a new rubber gimp mask and hid it in a drawer in my bathroom. When he finally got to my place and settled down, it was late evening already. I told him I would have a shower and then we could do "something". Of course, by 'something', I meant some hot dom/sub play, but he probably thought it was just going to be simple sex. After the shower, I sneakily put on the rubber mask, which tightly wrapped around my head like a second layer of skin and only revealed my mouth. I looked at myself in the mirror and felt like I was transformed to a completely different person, who would do anything to please. I was so horny that I had to touch myself in front of the mirror. He was very surprised when he saw me walking out of the bathroom in nothing but only a sexy rubber gimp mask and then immediately knew what I was planning. This sexy sub in front of him was not the same person who went into the bathroom earlier. I got down on my knees and asked to serve and he used me so roughly as if I was not his partner but a sex toy, which was exactly how I wanted to be treated.
Unlike most play sessions I have had, which involved multiple types of fetishes and kinks, this experience involved only a rubber mask, but somehow it was still so hot that I remember it so vividly. I guess this explains how much the mask and hood fetish means to me.
The idea of writing about mask and hood fetish also made me curious about how others feel about them, about whether others feel the same as or different from how I feel. So, I asked some friends for opinions. Most of them also have the mask and hood fetish – not surprising at all, since they are my friends. They have very similar sentiments towards masks and hoods. For example, one of them told me that masks and hoods help him escape from everyday social relationships and identities: he does not have to think about social norms and restrictions when expressing his lust. Someone else told me that he enjoys how masks and hoods can be used in role plays to make people look and act in different ways, being it aggressive, dominant, slutty, or submissive. Another friend, then, told me that wearing masks and hoods makes him feel being objectified, which is part of the degradation process. Without doubt, as a fellow mask and hood fetishist, I couldn't agree more with them.
Nevertheless, two people told me about reasons why people may not like masks and hoods. "Your face is too beautiful to be covered," said by my current partner, who insisted that I use his quote in this article. While he understands why I like masks and hoods, he is a very face-attracted kind of person. He thinks if either or both of us wear masks or hoods during sex, it takes away the intimacy that is special just between us, which I must agree with as well. Then, another friend told me that he has a friend who hates masks and hoods, because they prevent two (or more) people from connecting with each other: no facial expression, and sometimes cannot verbally communicate or make eye contact.
I have noticed that perhaps the reasons why people like or dislike masks and hoods overlap. The pleasure that we get from being transformed, mysterious and anonymous is unpleasure to some others, as those are also ways of creating barriers to connection. Isn't this so common in the fetish and kink community? We like different things in different ways and respect differences between us. For my partner and I, we know it is important to communicate and find ways to satisfy each other, even though it is not always easy to do so. I put on a mask or hood to surprise him occasionally, which is something I really love doing, and asks him to wear one sometimes, but those are not the only ways of doing it between us.
Finally, I have stopped making the list of movies in which people wear masks and hoods and have forgotten most of them, but I'm glad that writing this article brings me back to that time. In case any mask and hood fetishist has not watched Elle (2016), please do watch it, and maybe let me know how you feel afterwards.
***If you'd like to share a fetish or kink experience in a member article, send your ideas or a first draft to: social@recon.com
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