I missed Secrets of the Living Dolls when it was shown on UK's Channel 4, but have just watched it on Catch Up. It's about those men who do the most extreme form of cross-dressing — wearing masks on their faces and bodysuits beneath their clothing to emulate sexy women. The programme is compulsive watching for anyone with an open mind.
Most of my own stories contain similar plot elements, but with one exception — for me, passing as a woman is the most important thing. So I was disappointed to see from this programme that face mask technology is still a very long way from achieving this.
The men all use Femskins as the bodysuit, and with a few exceptions, these all looked realistic, although without the obviously wide hips which characterise the shape of many women. But the masks had painted eyes and fixed mouths. Lacking the normal eye and mouth movements, they are very obviously false.
I suspect it will not be long before some enterprising mask maker starts using 3D printers to produce personalised face masks, which leave the eyes and mouth on view but which give a more feminine line to the face, but there was no evidence of it here.
For those able to watch UK TV programmes on the net, it can be seen at http://www.channel4.com/programmes/secrets-of-the-living-dol... I was amazed that even the Daily Mail gave a reasonable write up of the programme.
Comments
Face masks
Where the body is concerned, most things can be achieved by using padding or compression (eg elastane or corsetry) to achieve the desired results, since most of the body is soft tissue. Obviously one can't do anything about height or arm or leg length since those are defined by bone structure.
One can't really do much about the head, however, since it is constrained by the bones of the skull and jaw. It may be possible to push the facial tissues around a little but the range of movement will be limited depending on surface fat and muscle.
The basic shape of the skull is more or less fixed and, for most males, will be larger and differently shaped than most females. I can't see any way around that limitation. Most cross-dressers take advantage of current feminine hairstyles which hide much of the skull to disguise the fact that their own is larger. Different proportions of eyes and nose are more difficult to disguise.
While a face mask may be able to disguise some of the basic male facial structure I'm not sure that it will ever be possible to completely hide the underlying shape. Not, at least, until we can develop bio-compatible nanotechnology (perhaps) which can aid in the reshaping. But that's for the future.
Penny
Small changes can make a big difference
I only have to look in a mirror, give a big smile and twinkle my eyes, and my face becomes more feminine, as my cheeks get fuller, my eyes wider and my whole face more animated.
Pull up my nose slightly, and I not only get a feminine upturned nose, it also stretches my upper lip upwards in a very feminine pout.
It only takes a little stretching here and a little padding there to transform a face. It may not win the Miss Universe title, but most of us are not seeking that - simply acceptance as a female.
I think that part face masks, modelled to the wearer's face, could pad out the cheekbones and the area around the nose to make the nose appear smaller, and stretch the areas around the eyes and mouth to change their shape. Above all, apart from stretching the shape, they would leave the mouth and eyes alone in order to provide the animation that all faces need to look realistic.
For those of us who cannot
For those of us who cannot play it on channel4, it is available on YouTube, just go to YT and search "Secrets of the Living Dolls".
Enjoy.
Hugs,
Mark <3