Sissy Fashion - The Muff

An item that I have always dreaded being used on me for humiliating purposes is the muff. 

The muff has been around for hundreds of years.  It's one of those things that started out practical, became fashionable, and now is neither fashionable nor practical.  I'm guessing that 500 years ago that people still wished to keep their hands warm and it was probably easier to make a muff than it was a glove.  During the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century the muff was fashionable for women but at the same time, expectations and views of women were vastly different than they are today.

A muff is sort of a version of extreme femininity with a subservient undertone.  Much like how the parasol has gone nearly extinct in favor of hats, sunscreen, and wearing less clothing, the muff only tends to surface when people (often children) are "dressing up" for church, a night at the theater, etc. or in weddings.  In most portrayals of muffs (or parasols) the general idea is for a woman to be comfortable but at the same time it occupies her hands and limits what she can do.  It wreaks of "your job is to be here and look pretty, but remember you're a woman, you're not supposed to do anything else."  While a woman with her hands occupied is a gateway to chivalrous actions by men, I don't know many women who would be happy relegated to the background as an ornament.

In today's society women are independent go-getters.  They want to be in the thick of it, acting as part of the story rather than watching it.  They do what they want to do.  It's hard to picture a woman going from store to store in a mall shopping with both hands buried in a muff or trying to wear one while club-hopping downtown.  A muff is awkward, lacks sufficient storage space (even the ones with pockets), and even if it has a shoulder or neck strap a muff gets dirty/ruined easily.  It isn't hard to see why the muff was supplanted by the glove and purse combo in cold weather.

One time my first Mistress and I were at a fur and leather shop and the salesman showed her a muff hoping she would buy it.  I think her thoughts on it are probably similar to those of most women.
Her: "Wow, this is warm.  But what do I do with it when I need to do something?"
Him: "It has a wrist strap for those times."
She puts it on her wrist and starts moving her hands, watching it pendulum around awkwardly she is unconvinced.  She nudges me and whispers "Or you could hold it for me."
I blush and remain silent.
Her: "So would I wear this and carry a purse?  That's kind of a pain in the ass."
Him: "That doubles as a purse.  There's a zippered pocket inside to hold your personal items."
He turns it inside out and shows her the pocket.
Her: "So I could carry my cel phone or my keys or half of my wallet in there..."
Him: "Umm, it's not the biggest pocket..."
Her: "I don't get it."
Him: "What don't you get?"
Her: "I don't understand why a woman would want one of these."

What about for a sissy?  The muff occupies his hands, keeping them out of trouble.  Muffs are uber-feminine and stand out heavily in contemporary society, making them prime for humiliation.  With those factors in mind, the muff sets up nicely for a well-behaved sissy who is so self-conscious that he wouldn't think of misbehaving and even if he wanted to, there isn't much that he could do.  To me, a sissy in a muff says "I'm a naughty sissy with wandering hands."

Muffs also work well for discrete bondage in public.  Chain his wrists together inside the muff to take away any use of his hands.  Run a belt through it and suspend it at his waist height with the buckle at his back.  There's many possibilities. 

Long ago I once read a sub's story about being humiliated with a muff.  His Wife/Mistress started making him wear one in public when they would go shopping and one time she caught him trying to hide it under his coat.  After that she started painting his fingernails, so if he took the muff off everyone would see his painted fingernails.