Rubber dolls are designed to be physically flawless creatures. This is a fetish and lifestyle that has seen a lot of publicity this year as a result of the “Rubber Doll World Rendezvous” in Minneapolis. Enthusiasts encase themselves from head to toe in latex to transform their faces and bodies. The majority of rubber dolls are male underneath, but the most popular costume theme is an exaggerated version of the female form, with padded or inflatable breasts and hips and a tightly corseted waist. Latex masks are normally worn to give the doll’s face a look of almost cartoonish perfection.

While traditional drag queens satirise the most extreme facets of femininity, rubber dolls embody and celebrate it. South Africa’s “Sunday Independent” recently published an interesting article on rubber dolls, and an interview with latex craftsperson and rubber doll, Spirit:

“Psychologically it can be very confusing, yet you get to a stage of not caring what people think. It must have been like that with masking throughout the past. Many tribes and civilisations have done it through the ages, even masked balls by the gentry. This is just another form of changing one’s appearance. Behind the mask you are invisible and that, in turn, gives freedom to be what you want. Being shy, I find the freedom exhilarating. Then the attention, if you are good at dressing, is another appeal. We all want to be liked, so an ordinary person like me, who does not stand out in a crowd, can now be the centre of attraction. This has taken me all over the world. I have invitations to events and parties; this could not happen unless I was seen as a drawcard. So many want to be like me, but fail because of body shape or the ability to find doll clothes, which are not that easy to find because dressing as a doll is a new phenomenon… I’m meeting lovely new friends from a completely different background, who are perceived as somewhat weird but, in reality, have a better grasp of the world’s ugly face.”

Read the full article here.