This Channel 4 documentary gives a remarkable behind-the-scenes look at the secretive world of female masking. Courtesy Channel 4

A BEAUTIFUL woman stands in front of her bathroom mirror, tousling her long blonde locks and smoothing a bright yellow dress over her curvaceous figure.

But 40-something Sherry isn't really a woman at all. She's a 70-year-old divorced retiree from California named Robert.

Robert is a "masker", one of a growing number of men who transform themselves into female dolls by squeezing into elaborate, lifelike rubber suits.

Unlike transgender people, maskers do not identify with a different sex. For them, dressing up as women is a way to escape, express the more feminine parts of their personality, or just to have fun.

The secretive world of female masking has been unveiled in a new UK documentary Secrets of the Living Dolls on Channel 4, directed by Nick Sweeney, reports The Daily Mail .

"They're not freaky people, they're not weird, they're just like you and me," explains Barbie Ramos in the documentary. Ms Ramos is the owner of Femskin, the company that makes the $950 custom-made silicone outfits worn by maskers. Some men have spent thousands on the suits, masks, clothes and wigs they wear to transform themselves into women.

"They're just like what they call 'vanilla people' - that's you and me - except for at night or on special occasions, they like to put on a mask. Why not?" said Ms Ramos.

"I don't think it would be fair to call them gay or even attracted to other men." said her son Adam, who also works at FemSkin. "It's about fun. A lot of men have fun by pretending to be women."

Though for some men, their reasoning goes a lot deeper than this.

"I think I look amazing," exclaimed Robert, a retired property developer, as he pouts at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. For Robert, it's about feeling beautiful and receiving the external recognition bestowed upon beautiful people. "That's why I do this," he said.

"I just can't believe that's a 70-year-old man in the mirror and that's why I do this," he said. 'If I saw a 70-year-old man in the mirror I would quit this tomorrow."

What does Robert see when he looks in the mirror? "An exciting looking female. If I saw a woman like this and she asked me to go hang out, I'd say yeah."

"You see, after all, I'm 70-years-old and I've tried dating, and when I'm dating, the women I meet are generally 55 to well up into their 60s.

"Some of them are in really good shape for their age but they don't look anything like this and it's very difficult to date when you have this to come home to."

But not every masker's motivations run this deep. For Joel, a British bartender who lives with his girlfriend Mel, dressing up is all about escapism.

"I get enjoyment out of it, I get a sense of escapism out of it," he said. "I'm just out to have fun. It's like the extension of another persona within me that just wants to go out and have fun.

"The conundrum is people ask: 'What do you do when you get dressed up?' And the answer is: not much.

"Sometimes I just take photos to put up on masking websites, other times it just happens to be who I want to be that day."

But things haven't always gone so smoothly. While his girlfriend Mel is accepting of his alter-ego Jessie, he spent 15 years hiding her from his parents and his neighbours.

"I wouldn't walk 20 steps down the road dressed as a doll because I know general society in the area we live in would be very, very against it. Who knows what could happen?"

Jon, a Minneapolis father-of-six who works as a forklift driver in a warehouse, finds his hobby helps him bond with his daughters.

"I try to find ways to fit in and be involved with the daughters, and that sometimes means make-up and fingernails and things like that as well," he explains.

"You don't have to have your guard up and necessarily be afraid of other people if you want to dress in a way that makes you feel really good.

"One guy in particular that I trust at work - he knows that I put on the boobies!"

Though not everyone is quite so understanding. Jon's first wife left him because of his love for masking.

"This does affect my relationships because I make my priorities and sometimes other people are not happy about my choices," he admits.

So is it all worth it? Jon's friend 'Vanessa', a 56-year-old who is also father of six, thinks it is.

"When I'm in my male mode, I go out in public and I just blend in," he confesses. "When I walk down the street, people don't pay any attention to me.

"But when I dress up, put this mask on and the wig, it's like being a beautiful woman walking down the street.

"You become one of the beautiful people and you draw a lot of attention, and attention is not something I've had a lot of."

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