While searching around for germane stuff to talk about on the subject of men and cleaning, I came across a site that definitely pertains, but also straddles the NSFW line. I doubt that there’s anything too obscene here. Nevertheless, you may still get some funny looks from the IT guys after you click on the following link to The French Maids.

Thus warned, what you’ll find there is a collection of images sent in by men who enjoy dressing up in sissy maid costumes and mincing about while cleaning house. Often, it seems to extend into foreplay or S&M, with corporal punishment and being gagged and bound. Just as often, the pictures suggest that these men just enjoy being dainty and getting dolled up for its own sake. Surely it is not a simple phenomenon, as widespread as it is; the participants in this website alone live in all corners of the world: Britain, Canada, Australia, Sweden, and the US to name a few.

I decided to consult a professional who might have insight into this lifestyle—a close friend who is a dominatrix with a dozen years under her belt; she specializes in emasculation, and her name is Mistress Seelie. (No, ours is not a professional relationship.)

Her clientele has included professional athletes, military personnel, politicians, prominent actors, as well as the Joe Average, like electricians, computer dorks, delivery guys, etc. There is no primary demographic for men who want stern women to take control over them and ‘force’ them into panties and heels; they come from all walks of life. But why do they want this? Where does this desire come from, and how does it manifest?

Mistress Seelie tries to explain, “Most guys don’t know why they want this, they have no explanation. A small number of them have confided that they had baby sitters or other female authority figures that dressed them when they were children, but why it becomes eroticised is anyone’s guess. Some do it out of a desire to be humiliated and they equate feminizing with humiliation; some do it to submit, because it’s what I enjoy. Another very small percentage are genuinely transgendered.”

A deeper interview follows after the jump.

What attracts you, as a domme and/or a woman, to feminizing men?

Probably whatever it is about me that attracted me to Frank n Furter and Pete Burns when I was in junior high. It’s fun, playful, and sexy.

Have you ever had a sissy maid clean your home? If so, do they seem to prefer any particular chores over others?

Many times. And yes, they seem to prefer the task of polishing my boot collection to any other. Of course, a well-trained sissy maid is happy to do any task that makes my life easier.

Do either or both of you feel that the experience enhances or detracts from the client’s innate masculinity?

It’s hard to speak for each individual slave, but I don’t think so. I definitely don’t. For most sissies, I think the time spent in a pinafore is strictly demarcated from the rest of his life. Many of my cross-dressing clients are traditionally masculine in their daily lives, working as mechanics, truck drivers, and contractors, for example. Some sissies are further along the spectrum toward being transgendered than others, and for them, I’m sure a sense of femininity pervades their lives.

How often do they bring their own gear? Do you provide clothes and equipment?

Not very often. Most of them would if they could, but they’re often married and have a difficult time storing their wardrobe. Most of my clients are married or in relationships, and are looking for something their partner can’t provide them, or they’re too afraid to share their needs/fetishes with their partners. Obviously, there are men living their sissy fantasies at home with wives as well, but those aren’t the ones who come to see me. For clients who do have items of their own, I can keep their stashes of clothes and shoes. Also, many cross-dressers who experience guilt over their dressing tend to “purge” their wardrobes periodically, in an attempt to stop their compulsion. I do have a limited collection of outfits and undergarments I can provide, and also often take my clients on shopping excursions.

Do most of them actually seek to please you, or do they enjoy fucking up and getting punished as a more general rule?

Most of them genuinely are submissive and want to please me, but there are always those who attempt to provoke me for a variety of reasons. He may think if he breaks a glass as he’s doing the dishes that I’ll spank him for it. But if a spanking is desired, it’s not a punishment, so I have to punish that type in other ways.

What kind of punishment do you administer?

There is an endless variety. It could be a spanking or a whipping, or something else sadistic. It could be imprisonment in a cage, or “corner time,” for a sissy playing at being a little girl. It could be performing a task until it’s done properly. It could be a well-placed kick in the nuts. For some clients, the feminization is itself a punishment, if it’s not a fetish they enjoy.

Do you think the experience helps them respect women more?

Some of them, definitely. Others, not really, because they see their feminization as humiliating. So, somewhere in their brain, they have made the equation that being a woman is not as good as being a man, and can only be a punishment or a humiliating misfortune.

Do men make good cleaners, or are women innately more attuned to the detail work?

I’d say submissives of any gender are better at cleaning. They have a hard-wired incentive to do the job perfectly, and if they don’t, they know there will be hell to pay. Men are often taller and stronger than women, so they have an advantage on projects that require heavy lifting or a lot of elbow grease.

Do the majority of the men want to feel pretty, or is it more about the humiliation involved? (Lots of the men on the website seem to enjoy being ‘dainty’.)

It takes all kinds. To generalize, the ones who want to come across as more pretty, dainty, or even elegant have at least a touch of gender dysphoria in them that makes the dressing more a way of feeling comfortable or expressing a repressed part of themselves. Those who want to be humiliated or come across as trampy or slutty often have more of a sexual/fetishistic connection to the dressing. Or, they can’t accept the transgendered part of themselves and its desires, and feel the need to be punished for it or “become a bad woman”, like a trashy whore complete with smeared lipstick and garish eye makeup. There is a whole subgenre with cross-dressing fetishists called “forced feminization,” for those who must have a plot device in their role-play that their Mistress is forcing them to dress as a woman. That way, they can enjoy the session without taking responsibility for wanting to dress up themselves.

[thefrenchmaids.com]