….say our regular contributors from Northern Ireland who enjoy motor cycling and total protection from wind and weather.

The great interest in gasmasks and the apparent reluctance of members of the fair sex to wear them is a recurring theme in Atomage. This has puzzled me because both my wife and myself do enjoy wearing our gasmasks and like to see photographs of other people wearing them.

Having been a leather, latex, SBR and vinyl enthusiast for at least 25 years, it has finally dawned on me that although there are thousands, of enthusiasts throughout the world, this enthusiasm takes many and varied forms. Although there is the liking for the various materials it doesn’t follow that we all like and enjoy the same type and style of attire and our motivation varies. Some like leather cat-suits for the feeling of restriction, others because it gives them a feeling of Protection.

Gasmasks have a strong appeal for a variety of reasons: the desire for full encasement in rubber, restricted breathing, the ability to control ones breathing, the ability to control ones partner’s breathing; the feeling of rubber close against the face, the grotesque and sinister appearance of the wearer, the feeling of protection, and, perhaps, even the feeling of genuine protection in the event of World War III.

The pleasure my wife and I get from wearing gasmasks is simply an extension of the pleasure of feeling protected by the wearing of leather, latex, SBR or vinyl. My wife and I were born, and spent our formative years, in a rather cold and wet part of the world, so it was perfectly natural for us to wear and to see others wearing rubber, leather, vinyl, pvc and other protective materials in the form of boots, coats, mats, gloves and headgear. I can well remember the day when the texture riding rnac worn fully buttoned, tightly belted with collar turned up and worn with headscarf or rain hat, leather gloves and wellingtons was quite a common sight. I can also remember how attractive a well-dressed, well protected, comfortable and snug female looked to me.

As I grew a little older I became a motor cycle enthusiast and this required the wearing of’ protective clothing which had to be warm and waterproof. Although in these days I was more interested in top speed, the handling of a machine oil corners and bends, 2-stroke performance versus that of a 4-stroke etc., my girlfriend and I had started to ‘go steady’ and Iwas quite surprised by tile fart that she took to motor cycling like a duck takes to water. Naturally she wasn’t keen on the idea of soaking and cold pillion ride,, and soon suggested that she should be properly kitted out for our trips.

PROTECTION

I was hardly likely to object to this request and so there followed a succession of motor Cycling outfits – riding macs, SBR mars, wellingtons, an ex-RAF flying suit which comprised a fur filled leather jacket, trousers and boots, and always suitable gloves. Also, of Course, there ere helmets, googles and face scarves – and later, leather fare masks. My wife soon appreciated tile comfort and the pleasure of being fully helmeted, goggled and masked when speeding along on the back half of my bike.

At this time the motor cycle clothing firms began to cater for tile fair sex and the woman in my life graduated t waterproof PVC two-piece suits -worn in conjunction with gloves, wellingtons and always helmet, goggles and face mask.

Some time later we progressed to leather attire for out- bike outings,. We saved our hard-earned money and purchased two-piece suits in black Ieather; these were learned with black leather boots and gloves, and as this was the beginning of the ‘safety’ era – ‘’crash’ helmets, ‘full face’ leather masks and goggles.

We were warm and comfortable while out on the Ariel, and we thought that we looked pretty smart too! But what about the wet weather? By this time in our lives we were married and had moved to London and had seen advertised in the motor cycling magaznes a fully waterproof two-piece suit in SBR made by the now defunct firm of ‘Thomkit’. We ordered two suits and when they arrived we were delighted with them. (I’ve since discovered that these suits were designed by John Sutcliffe, so it was little wonder that they were so good).

The Thomkit suits were excellent – good quality, well made, and comprised trousers with shoulder straps and waist belt, the jacket was double breasted, belted and had it delightfully high collar complete with buckled ‘storm flap’. They fitted smartly over our Ieathers. When worn in this way and with wellingtons, gloves, crash helmet, full face mask and goggles we ere able to ride in any weather in complete comfort and fully protected.

Even with the advent of the ‘full face’ safety helmet and nylon under¬-helmets, we still wore full fare masks of leather. Apart from the fact that heat loss is very great from an unprotected head, we enjoyed being geared up to the ‘ninetynines’ and the feeling, when riding along fully protected against tile elements – especially about the head – so that no wind or rain could penetrate our ‘armour’ was. to say the least, very sensual – and sexual.

When we finally gave up motor cycling and changed our mode of personal transport to an open two sealer sports car, we both were still fascinated by and still enjoyed the snugness, comfort and the feeling of protection provided by helmets and goggles.

By the time in our lives when we had progressed from two wheels to four, we had already built up quite a collection of interesting personal attire – skintight black latex catsuits, rubber fashion hoots, waders, gloves and SBR macs and, of course, full face hood masks and goggles, all of which we enjoyed, and still enjoy, wearing when we are alone together.

Personally, I had never even thought about gasmasks until one day while out shopping my wife noticed one for sale in the windows of an army surplus shop and asked what I thought of it, and would I like to try it? Needless to say I soon came round to her way of thinking. We bought two of the models displayed and on returning home began to experiment with out new toys, and found them a delight and very stimulating when worn in conjunction with our complete latex and SBR attire – not forgetting, of course, our full face latex hood masks.

Then we come back to the question of’ why we, personally, find our gasmasks such a delight to wear, why they give us so much pleasure and why they should be such an important item in our fun and games together? I think I can best explain it by saying it is an extension of the sensual pleasure we had speeding through wet and cold in our toe to head outfits – ‘Protection’.

With a gasmask even your breathing is protected. Every part of your head, your eyes, your face and your hearing is protected and you are made aware, as my wife has said, of your protection. As your gasmask breath goes in and out, you are forced to think and feel protection. Your being is aroused.

My wife and I would both agree that to be clad from head to toe in skin tight black latex attire: catsuit, complete with hoods, belt, gloves and hood mask is quite delightful, but then to pull on a neat fitting, black rubber gasmask and to feel the head straps pull in around an already rubber clad face – well, this really is an arousal pleasure, the ultimate in ‘dressing for pleasure’.