In 1938 in Germany everyone took part in the air raid precaution exercises. We had, at this time, the Volksgasmaske made in green rubber that covered the whole head and had no straps. Young girls and the women wore them as well as the men, and many also wore rubber protection against possible gas attacks, including the rubber riding boots that appeared at that time.

I was just fourteen and the sight of young women wearing these masks and rubber protection had a great affect on my new found sexual awareness. Ever since that time I have been ‘turned on’ by rubber; rubber worn from tip to toe including the head.

I have many latex hoods and face masks, most of them and the best from Denise Walker in Blackburn.l must mention that I also like being blindfolded and like to make love with both partners blindfolded, or, better still, in masks only with nose openings. Even better than the latex hood is the mysterious gasmask, especially if the goggles are darkened. I particularly like the picture in Atomage of your Northern Ireland reader: a rubberclad woman in a black cat suit, with black rubber riding boots and wearing a gasmask with dark ‘windows’. She is the ‘Mysterious Mistress’ for you cannot see her eyes; she is gagged or dumb yet she is absolutely 104% feminine.

The mask is, for me, the focal point of the all over rubber protection – which creates the desire so you want to make love in these outfits. But forget what you read in Freud. The tube of the gasmask is not a phallic symbol. The wearing of masks is as old as the human race. You know the wooden masks from Africa, from the Indians, from China and the ‘Iron Mask’. I remember an old Hollywood movie with Patricia Medina in which she wore an Iron Mask. And in literature and art the mask has played an important role in drawing attention to the wearer and, in most cases, both for women and men, to show their sexual attraction. Whether it is the gold mask of Tutankhamun or the gold mask of Agamemnon in Mykene, the gold masks of the Incas in Mexico, or the industrial gasmasks, the effect is the same.

I, personally, like all sorts of masks – particularly rubber and leather – but I only wear them as part of an all over protection outfit. The effect on me I know and understand well, the reasons I cannot explain, but I am certainly grateful for the great pleasure I get from feelings which I am, fortunately, able to share with my wife, even though she is not a gas or rubber mask enthusiast.

– W.K. (W. Germany)