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Feminization (sexual activity)

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BERJAYA
A dominant woman and a submissive man

Feminization or feminisation, sometimes forced feminization (shortened to forcefem or forced femme),[1][2] and also known as sissification,[3] is a practice in dominance and submission or kink subcultures, involving reversal of gender roles and making a submissive male take on a feminine role, which includes cross-dressing. Subsets of the practice include "sissy training" and variations thereof, where the submissive male is "trained" to become feminine.

Feminization as a sexual fetish is different from being a transgender woman, and the submissive partners engaging in it are typically cisgender men.

Practice

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Feminization is a practice in dominance and submission or kink subcultures, which involves reversing gender roles: a submissive partner – typically a man – takes on a feminine role, often for humiliation-based sexual pleasure.[3][4] This may include them cross-dressing in feminine clothing such as lingerie, wearing makeup, jewelry, and perfume, acting in a feminine manner, getting referred to by a feminine name,[3] or role-play scenarios together, for example, as a "damsel in distress".[5] HuffPost described one dominatrix's sissification sessions as involving humiliating the submissive by "parading them around" in high heels, make-up, and lingerie, and another dominatrix as "cheerleading" men into exploring femininity.[4]

Whereas not all participants are interested in the BDSM aspects of feminization, and only enjoy dressing up, it may also include things such as spanking, pegging, and bondage.[3] The feminized partner is sometimes called a "sissy" if male.[3]

Society

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According to a HuffPost feature interviewing sex workers, including dominatrixes and escorts, forced feminization is one of the most common sexual fantasies among sex workers' clients: one dominatrix said that a vast majority of her clients want to be sissified.[4] In Danielle Lindemann's book Dominatrix, about a third of a sample of 305 sex worker clients were interested in being made to cross-dress.[5] The fantasy is to a large degree practiced by heterosexual, cisgender men as the submissive partners, although Vice noted that there were also bisexual and pansexual men present at a feminization meet-up they reported on, as well as some genderfluid and transgender people.[3]

Some people also use feminization as a way to explore their sexuality.[6] As a BDSM role-play practice, being feminized may appeal to the submissive through making them feel vulnerable and reinforcing their role.[7] Dominant partners may enjoy feminization for getting to bring out the submissive's female persona,[2] or for getting to erotically humiliate them for their lack of masculinity.[8]

In her book Fetish Sex, writer Violet Blue says that although the kink may seem like it is devaluing women from an outsider's perspective, submissive partners engaging in it often have a lot of respect for women.[9] In Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures, Sabrina P. Ramet writes that although the fantasy may seem contradictory in its treatment of femininity as a source of humiliation, since it is often combined with femdom – as one could assume that the submissive's feminine clothing would be a symbol of the female superiority within a femdom–feminization role-play – the two fantasies are independent even within the role-play, with the humiliation coming from the cultural taboo of wearing women's clothing as a man.[10]

Feminization, as a sexual fetish, is not the same as being a transgender woman.[9] According to Ana Valens, writing for The Daily Dot, forced feminization is still a common fantasy among trans women, however, because of how trans women's stigmatized need to be women, through feminization fantasies, can be met before a trans woman has even admitted to having that need.[11]

Cultural depictions

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Visual artist Río Sofia created a series of self-portraits in 2019 themed around forced feminization, influenced by the Forced Womanhood! magazine and sharing its name.[12] Feminization was featured in an episode of the television drama series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which was described as an unrealistic portrayal by author Helen Boyd in her book My Husband Betty.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Parks-Ramage, Jonathan (2016-08-08). "Das geheime Leben von Crossdressern". Vice (in German). Vice Media. Archived from the original on 2020-09-16. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  2. 1 2 Fischer, Nancy L.; Seidman, Steven (2016). Introducing the New Sexuality Studies (3rd ed.). Routledge. p. 351. ISBN 9781317449188.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Parks-Ramage, Jonathan (2016-07-28). "'I Cross-Dress. Do You Still Love Me?': The Secret Lives of Sissies". Vice. Vice Media. Archived from the original on 2020-09-16. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  4. 1 2 3 Borresen, Kelsey (2018-10-24). "6 Of The Most Common Sexual Fantasies, According To Sex Workers". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 2020-04-24. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  5. 1 2 Lindemann, Danielle J. (2012). Dominatrix: Gender, Eroticism, and Control in the Dungeon. University of Chicago Press. pp. 167–169. ISBN 9780226482569.
  6. ↑ Boyd, Helen (2003). My Husband Betty: Love, Sex, and Life with a Crossdresser. Seal Press. pp. 176–179. ISBN 978-1-56025-515-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  7. ↑ "Maid Training". Kinkly. 2017-05-09. Retrieved 2020-06-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  8. ↑ Varrin, Claudia (1998). The Art of Sensual Female Dominance: A Guide for Women. Carol Publishing Group. pp. 53–61. ISBN 1-55972-447-1.
  9. 1 2 Blue, Violet (2006). "7: Cross-Dressing and Sissies". Fetish Sex: An Erotic Guide For Couples. Daedalus Publishing. pp. 119–140. ISBN 1-881943-23-2.
  10. ↑ Ramet, Sabrina P. (1996). Gender reversals and gender cultures: anthropological and historical perspectives. Routledge. pp. 12–14. ISBN 978-0-415-11482-0. Archived from the original on 2014-06-17. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  11. ↑ Valens, Ana (2020-02-28). "Trans/Sex: Kink is affirming—and complicated—for trans women". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2020-05-24. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  12. ↑ Walker, Harron (2019-04-25). "Making Work in Her Own Image". Out. Pride Media. Archived from the original on 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  13. ↑ Boyd 2003, p. 33–34

Further reading

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