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This week’s word is zentai.
zentai (n) a skintight garment that covers the entire body, including the face, and the community that celebrates it; also gimp suit. The word combines the Japanese zenshin and taitsu, lit. “full-body tights”
After tugging the hood of his latex zentai suit over his head, the submissive was vulnerable, faceless and ready for a session with his mistress.
For obvious reasons, masks have become the accessory du jour. If you waltz into your local Trader Joe’s without one, you’ll likely be greeted by a record scratch and a barrage of glares. With masks taking on more cultural relevance than ever before, we decided to use this week to dive into a different type of mask—one that comes with a full-body suit and takes PPE to a whole new level.
Typically made out of latex or spandex, the zentai (which also goes by the name “gimp suit” and sometimes “bodystocking”) encases you tightly from top to bottom, including your face. Your identity is erased.
Often, the purpose of a zentai is to completely depersonalize, disorient and therefore objectify the wearer, who is typically playing a submissive. It’s easy to understand its allure to practitioners of BDSM: The subject wearing the zentai ceases to become an individual and is instead a blank template for enacting one’s most repressed fantasies. The wearer is metaphorically naked, despite being shrouded head to toe. Zentai intersects with many other bondage subcultures, including groups that practice mummification, total enclosure and rubber and furry fetishisms.
Some may say this form of fetish-wear entered mainstream popularity with the grittiest scene from the 1994 film Pulp Fiction (I won’t ruin it for anyone). Since then it has been a pop culture touch point, appearing on television shows such as American Horror Story and even video games. In Japan, where the term originated, it has expanded beyond sexual applications and is seen as a declaration of individuality. The anonymity of the zentai offers an escape from what some Japanese citizens see as a conformist society.
Whether it’s fetish-wear, a fashion statement or a call to arms, the zentai proves that masking up had an instinctual appeal long before quarantine—and will continue long after it’s over.