Historical cases of masochism: Forced feminization
Reports of submissive sexual fantasies in men from the early literature on human sexual psychology. In this entry, a case of a man with the forced feminization kink, reported by Magnus Hirschfeld.
In the late 19th century, the pioneers of research into human sexual psychology developed an interest in studying a peculiar group of people: those who derived sexual pleasure from dressing in the clothes of the opposite sex. The educated opinion of the time often conflated these cross-dressers—who had not yet been given a name—with homosexuals. It was only through the scientific work of the German physician Magnus Hirschfeld that cross-dressers were distinguished from homosexuals.
Hirschfeld was greatly interested in the phenomenon of erotic cross-dressing. He personally knew many cross-dressers and often moved in their society. His many years of study culminated in the publication in 1910 of Die Transvestiten, a masterful monograph on the subject, and the first of its kind.1 This volume was only translated into English in 1991.2
Hirschfeld knew he was dealing with a phenomenon distinct from homosexuality, but giving it a name proved to be difficult. He ultimately decided on “transvestites”, a Latin construction with the meaning of being dressed in the clothes of the opposite sex. Even though the name went on to gain widespread popularity in the subsequent decades, Hirschfeld was not fully satisfied with his coinage.
Indeed, cross-dressing was only an outward expression of the inner yearning of these individuals, and it was the inner yearning that was the central motif of the phenomenon. These people—mostly men who had sexual fantasies of being feminine—could entertain seemingly endless images in their mind where they transformed themselves into the opposite sex in a variety of ways. Attire was only one of many possible avenues.
Hirschfeld: The term I use to characterize the most obvious internal and external images of the persons concerned, their feelings and thoughts, their drive to put on the clothing of the opposite sex, is taken from the Latin “trans” = across and “vestitus” = dressed, used also by the Roman classical writers as “transvestism.” Both men and women are termed “transvestites.” One disadvantage of the term is that it describes only the external side, while the internal is limitless.3
In his book, Hirschfeld collected seventeen classic case reports of transvestites. Some of them were also masochists, and the co-occurrence of masochism with the erotic drive to cross-dress seemed to combine synergistically in these individuals to form powerful sexual fantasies of a unique nature. In these masochistic transvestites, cross-dressing—and all the erotic ideas associated with that inner yearning to be feminine—was inextricably colored with the significance of a degradation of masculinity, a humiliation inflicted by a desirable woman on the masochist and suffered by him for her sake.
One of Hirschfeld’s cases—Mr. M.—stands out for the remarkable fashion in which these phenomena combined in his sexual psychology. He was a lawyer in his mid-twenties who was sexually aroused by the thought of being forced to appear, to act, and to think like a woman—a kink known today simply as forced feminization. Mr. M. discovered he had these erotic urges as early as his sixth year. Hirschfeld quotes Mr. M.’s own words from the extensive notes he provided the researcher:
Mr. M.: At that time there were a few young ladies in our circle of acquaintances whom I loved in the true sense of the word, i.e., in the still of my mind I thought it heavenly if they seduced me, took me all for themselves, spoiled me, coddled me, stuck me in girls’ clothing and mocked me, in short, if they played with me like a doll.4
For Mr. M., forced feminization was only one expression of his myriad masochistic fantasies. He also entertained in his head erotic scenarios of being physically restrained, rendered defenseless, and physically abused by the ladies he desired. He imagined himself suffering the humiliation of being painted black or being turned into a clown at the hands of these attractive women.
Mr. M.: It was exactly those things that made me ashamed in public that I had a burning desire for in my fantasy. I also imagined the women I loved changing me into a Negro as black as coal or into a whitefaced, colorfully decked-out clown.5
Nevertheless, forced feminization—and more specifically, its powerful expression in forced cross-dressing as a humiliation device—had a singular hold on Mr. M.’s erotic imagination, even in childhood. All of these fantasies were kept strictly in his mind, however, as he did not dare put them into practice at that time. The fear of repercussions was too great for him to risk cross-dressing in reality.
Mr. M.: Even as a child I felt a strong urge in me to put on women’s clothing. [When a nanny once dressed me up as a girl for fun, it] got me greatly excited. But even at that time I did not dare to behave like that on my own for fear of being discovered.6
At the age of nine, Mr. M.’s fantasies began maturing. The content of his erotic imagination started featuring scenes of his subjugation to women he found attractive. He fantasized about his mistresses toying with him and humiliating him while they wore furs—a powerful fetishistic symbol of cruelty in the culture of the age. He imagined himself serving these domineering women and being forced to perform cunnilingus on them for their sexual satisfaction, while they put him in female clothes just for a laugh.
Mr. M.: I later [fantasized about women who were attractive to me]. Most of them had golden blonde or black hair, were heavily made up and wore furs. I imagined I was in their power, they played with me, humiliated me, made me serve them; I had to sleep with my mistresses, perform cunnilingus, etc. They put me into every kind of clothing that was as womanish or as comical as possible.7
Inevitably, as happens with most men who have these sexual fantasies, Mr. M. popped his transvestic cherry by donning his mother’s costumes at the age of fourteen. This was the time he became bolder in pursuing the satisfaction of his erotic urges. The idea occurred to him once of arranging a play with his friends in which he was to perform a female role. He must have felt confident in his ability to conceal his true motive from his mates so they would not suspect a thing, but the project faltered, and Mr. M. was glad, as he was very shy to appear the slightest bit feminine in public.
When he moved into a boarding house at the age of sixteen, he started collecting articles of clothing for what became his cross-dressing hobby. He acquired all sorts of garments, wigs, a coat, a corset, and even women’s underwear. His days and nights were often spent dressing himself like a woman and relishing his feminine image in the mirror, the sight of which excited him greatly.
It was through this erotic exercise that his transvestic sexual fantasies crystallized into scenarios of forced feminization, as it occurred to him that when the element of coercion was included in his fantasies—and especially when that coercion was inflicted by a woman—the eroticism was all the more enjoyable. The woman orchestrating the feminization would not only dress him up for her own enjoyment, but would also exhibit him in front of other people so he could be mocked and humiliated, or used as a sex object for their gratification.
Mr. M.: When all of this [cross-dressing] was going on I imagined that it would have to feel much better if it were not I, but rather someone else, especially a woman, who had put me in this position [in female clothes], forcing me to persist in it and show myself to other persons to be mocked or wondered at or to sexually arouse them.8
And so, Mr. M.’s sexual psychology settled on a favorite routine. He would dress himself up in female clothes from his collection and gaze at himself in the mirror, becoming aroused by the garments and the feminine character they imparted on his body. Then, his imagination would conjure up scenarios where he is forced by a woman to wear those feminine clothes as a humiliation, a degradation of his masculinity. This became Mr. M.’s essential sexual fantasy.
Mr. M.: So, my manifold feelings were of this nature: First I saw in the mirror a being whose external appearance sexually aroused me. Second, the pieces of clothing on my body excited me, partly in themselves, partly by the feeling that they were effeminate. Third, [I put myself in the situation as far as possible, as if it had been brought about by strangers and represented a shameful predicament for me as a man.]9
In Mr. M.’s extensive notes that Hirschfeld included in his monograph, there is a passage which succinctly summarizes the elements at the heart of Mr. M.’s arousal by the forced feminization fantasies that dominated his erotic imagination. This is an exceptionally illuminating piece of writing that, although undoubtedly composed by its author in a state of sexual excitement inevitable in such circumstances, it reveals the implicit assumptions that underlie the essence of the forced feminization kink.
Here, I break this passage into parts for analysis, as several elements deserve comment. First, Mr. M. knew that his yearning to be feminized stemmed from its being a humiliating blow to his masculinity. His original position was that of the manly man whom women desired and sought, and it was from this position that he imagined himself being debased in the dynamic of degradation.
Mr. M.: It is more humiliating when a man is unremittingly forced into a role that is degrading or ridiculous for him, in which he certainly appears to possess the freedom of movement, but nevertheless in every moment is made conscious that everything that makes a man proud—his manly abilities, his strength, his gravity, his dominance over the female sex—is paralyzed at the same time.
Second, Mr. M. pointed out in his literary wandering that the humiliation of feminization should necessarily involve a “beloved woman” (in the sense of a woman he desired). This is a key element in fantasies of forced feminization, as such fantasies completely lose their erotic appeal if the desired woman is not involved, if the feminization is not imagined to have implications for the masochist’s relation to her.
Indeed, when the degradation of the man’s masculinity occurs before a woman he desires—or, even more so, at her hands—his fate is sealed at having failed to obtain her, and his desire for her is doomed to be hopelessly unrequited. Any chance that the woman might entertain him as a potential mate evaporates before his eyes as he is stripped of his masculine attributes and degraded to a position from which he can never hope to recover to win her over again.
Mr. M.: He feels every moment of the humiliation in front of the people and in front of the beloved woman; this goads him on to rebel. But not great, overwhelming power, but rather his own condition of weakness in which the woman has cleverly placed him, will prevent him. He has to look on helplessly as she pulls the net tighter and tighter, as she makes him weaker and weaker and thereby humiliates and degrades him. Is there a greater humiliation than when the physically strong man is forced to assume the form of the woman?
Third, in Mr. M.’s assessment, the “true” man only looks at women as objects of sexual pleasure to be experienced every once in a while for the satisfaction of the physical urge of sex. But when such a man is forcibly feminized by a woman, the tables turn and he becomes trapped in the supposedly more limited female mind, forced to occupy the very role of sexual object in which he, in his previous capacity of a manly man, used to place women.
Notwithstanding the outdated view on women’s intellectual powers, this observation lays bare an important element in fantasies of forced feminization. As the man completely imagines himself in the role of the woman, both in the mental sphere and in the sexual one, he can come to desire any and all of the sexual humiliations that a woman could be subjected to. In his imagined role as a woman, he becomes, as Mr. M. put it, “a tool for the gratification of the sex drive and of caprice”.
Indeed, it is common for men with the forced feminization kink to fantasize about having sex in the role of a submissive woman who is made to pleasure others with her body and to be used and abused by them for their sexual gratification. These men imagine themselves in the role of a woman who is degraded to the abject position of a sexual object that is penetrated and dumped afterwards.
Mr. M.: For the true man, who belongs to the proudest of his sex, the gratification of the sex drive is only in the order of maintaining health, a necessary physical practice to feel well; his noble, creative spirit changes from its otherwise higher planes and looks upon women simply as objects of pleasure. Well, such a man is captured into [the] small boundary of the female mind;10 he is forced to be what the woman is supposed to be to him, i.e., a tool for the gratification of the sex drive and of caprice.
Fourth, Mr. M. saw a logical problem in his fantasies. He desired to be feminized against his will by a woman, but he, as a man, was physically stronger than the woman he imagined forcibly feminizing him. It was not realistic, then, to imagine that a woman would be able to restrain Mr. M. physically, to foil his efforts at freeing himself, and to thwart his natural struggle to resist the coercive plans of feminization that he envisioned.
The solution Mr. M. arrived at was that it was his mind that had to be restrained rather than his body, so that even if he wished to resist the process of forced feminization, he would be incapable of summoning the will within him to call his body into action. Thus, his mind had to be manipulated and weakened by the woman to set the stage for feminization to be imposed. Such a process of mind control, Mr. M. suggested, could be accomplished through hypnosis.
Mr. M.: The above-mentioned coercion would truly be best arrived at by hypnosis; […]11
It is fascinating that men like Mr. M. entertained fantasies of being forcibly feminized through mind alteration techniques more than a century ago. This unspoken thought process is the same one by way of which many men today are driven to consume so-called “hypnosissy” pornography, material produced to fulfill forced feminization fantasies through purported hypnosis.
Mr. M.’s extensive notes give us a glimpse into the sexual psychology of a masochistic transvestite from the 19th century. From this window into his intimate desires, we can only conclude that what animated his erotic spirit is the exact same drive that sexually stimulates today’s “sissy” submissive men. Readers who have the forced feminization kink will recognize Mr. M. as a peer from a century past, and will find in his notes a picture-perfect description of some of their most intimate sexual desires.
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Hirschfeld, Magnus. (1910). Die Transvestiten: eine Untersuchung über den erotischen Verkleidungstrieb. Alfred Pulvermacher & Co.
Hirschfeld, Magnus. (1991). Transvestites: The Erotic Drive to Cross-Dress. Translated from the German by Michael A. Lombardi-Nash. Prometheus Books. (Originally published in 1910.) This translation—the only one in English—is not faithful to the original text at times.
Ibid., p. 233. Emphasis in bold mine.
Ibid., p. 73.
Ibid., p. 74.
Ibid., p. 74–75. Where the English translation is not faithful to the original text, I substitute my own.
Ibid., p. 75.
Ibid., p. 75–76.
Ibid., p. 76.
In the sense that a woman’s mind was considered smaller and more limited than a man’s, as the gender stereotypes of the day had it.
Ibid.
Wow fascinating vintage sissy
Notwithstanding the misogynistic stereotypes, it's truly fascinating to see sissies far back in history.