Historical cases of male submissive sexual fantasies: Forced feminization
Reports of submissive kinks in men from the early literature on human sexuality. In this entry, a case of a man with the forced feminization kink reported by Magnus Hirschfeld.
This is part of a series of essays on historical cases of male submissive kinks. Find the Table of contents here.
In the late 19th century, the pioneers of research into human sexual psychology started developing an interest in studying a peculiar group of people: those who derived sexual pleasure from dressing in the clothes of the sex to which they did not belong. The educated opinion of the time often conflated these cross-dressers, who had not yet been named, with homosexuals. It was only through the scientific inquiry led by the German physician Magnus Hirschfeld that the differences between cross-dressing and homosexuality were ultimately elucidated.
Hirschfeld was intensely interested in cross-dressers. He personally knew many of them and often moved in their society. His careful observation and 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 to 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 decided on “transvestites”, constructed from the Latin “trans” and “vestitus”, and meaning something to the effect of being dressed in the clothes of the opposite sex.
Although the name stuck for more than a century after its coinage, Hirschfeld was not fully satisfied with his choice, for cross-dressing was only one way of outwardly expressing the inner yearning of these individuals, and it was that inner yearning which constituted the true phenomenon. These people—who were mostly men who had sexual fantasies of being feminine—could entertain seemingly endless images in their mind of transforming themselves into the opposite sex in various ways, with attire being only one of many possible avenues.
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 cases that presented with all sorts of interesting peculiarities. Some of the cases were men who had fantasies of being forcibly feminized as a humiliation device. Other cases, however, derived pleasure from cross-dressing without the slightest interest in being humiliated or dominated in any way.4
After careful study, and even in consideration of the fact that there was a strong relationship between submissive sexual fantasies (masochism) and the erotic drive to cross-dress (transvestism), Hirschfeld concluded that they were different phenomena that sometimes coincided in the same individual.
And coincide they did in no more remarkable fashion than in case number 12 of Mr. M., a lawyer in his mid-twenties who was sexually aroused at the thought of being forced to appear, to act, and to even think like a woman. Such a kink is simply known today as forced feminization. Mr. M. discovered these erotic urges in him as early as his sixth year, and Hirschfeld quotes Mr. M. in his own words from the extensive notes he provided:
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.5
Mr. M. also entertained sexual fantasies of being physically restrained by the ladies, of being rendered defenseless, and even of being physically abused by them. Forced feminization was only one manifestation of his submissive sexual fantasies as he also fancied being humiliated in other ways, such as being painted black or being turned into a clown.
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.6
Nonetheless, the cross-dressing element of feminization as a device for humiliation featured prominently in the sexual fantasies of Mr. M. when he was a child. He did not dare at that time to put his fantasies into practice by cross-dressing in reality as the fear of repercussions was too great for him to risk it.
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 fear of being discovered.7
After nine years of age, the fantasies of Mr. M. started to mature. The content of his erotic fancy started featuring scenes of his subjugation to women he found attractive. He thought of being toyed with and humiliated, serving his mistresses and being forced to satisfy them with his mouth by giving them cunnilingus. These domineering cruel women, in the imagination of Mr. M., would 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.8
Inevitably, as happens with almost everyone who has sexual fantasies of cross-dressing, Mr. M. popped his transvestic cherry by donning his mother’s costumes at the age of fourteen. This was the time he got more bold in the pursuit of his erotic urges. The idea occurred to him once to arrange with his friends a play in which he was to perform a female role. He must have been confident that his mates would not suspect his true motive to entertain the idea, but the project faltered anyway. Mr. M. was glad, as he was very shy to appear feminine in public in any way.
When he moved into a boarding house at the age of sixteen, he started collecting articles of clothing for 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 cross-dressing and relishing his image in the mirror, the sight of which excited him greatly.
It was through this erotic exercise that his sexual fantasies crystallized into scenarios of forced feminization, as it occurred to him that the element of coercion, when it was included in his fantasies and carried out by a woman, made his eroticism 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.9
And so, Mr. M. would dress himself up in female clothes from his collection, gaze at himself in the mirror, becoming aroused by the garments and the feminine character they imparted on his body. Then, he would call to his imagination scenarios where he is forced by a woman to wear those feminine clothes as a humiliation to him and 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.]10
In the notes of Mr. M. that Hirschfeld reprinted in his monograph, there is a passage which succinctly summarizes the element at the heart of Mr. M.’s sexual arousal by the fantasies of forced feminization that dominated his mind. This is an extremely illuminating piece of writing that, although undoubtedly composed by its author in a state of sexual excitement that is inevitable in such circumstances, it reveals the implicit assumptions that underlie the forced feminization kink.
Here, I break up this passage in 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. Such was the original position from which the man was debased in the dynamic of degradation: the position of the manly man that women desired and sought.
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 take place in front of a “beloved woman” (in the sense of a woman that he desired). This is a key element in fantasies of forced feminization. Indeed, when the degradation of the man’s masculinity occurs before a woman that he sexually 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 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 are turned and he becomes trapped in the supposedly more limited female mind, forced to occupy the very role of sexual object.
Notwithstanding the outdated view of 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, men with the forced feminization kink 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, a woman who is degraded to the abject position of a sexual object to be penetrated and dumped.
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;11 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. He, however, was a man. As such, he was physically stronger than the woman who would forcibly feminize him. It was not realistic then to imagine that the woman would be able to restrain him physically and to foil his efforts at freeing himself and resisting her.
The solution Mr. M. arrived at was that it was rather his mind that had to be restrained, not so his body, so that even if he wished to resist the process of forced feminization, he would not be able to summon the will within him to call his body into action. As such, his mind had to be manipulated and weakened by the woman to set the stage for the imposition of feminization. Such a process of mind alteration, Mr. M. suggested, could be hypnosis.
Mr. M.: The above-mentioned coercion would truly be best arrived at by hypnosis; […]12
It is fascinating that men entertained fantasies of being forcibly feminized through mind alteration and hypnosis more than a century ago. This thought process is the same one by way of which men today are driven to consume so-called “hypno-sissy” pornography, material produced to fulfill forced feminization fantasies through hypnosis.
Mr. M.’s sexual fantasies also featured themes of forced homosexuality, something I shall explore in another entry in this series of essays.
→ Go back to the Table of contents.
The line art in this essay’s card is by Georgian artist Dorian Chelios.
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.) Note that this translation, the only one in English, is not faithful to the original text at times.
Ibid., p. 233. Emphasis in bold mine.
One interesting case was a man who liked to cross-dress as a woman and enact mock rape scenes with his wife (he being the pseudo-rapist). The element of force was for him the only way to be aroused to intercourse and the wife seemed to enjoy it as well, being a masochist herself.
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 to be smaller and more limited than a man’s mind in the gender stereotypes of the day.
Ibid.