Chastity belt

A chastity belt is a locking item of clothing designed to prevent sexual intercourse and possibly masturbation. The purpose may also be to protect the wearer from rape or temptation. Devices have been created for males and females.

The term "Chastity belt" is also used metaphorically in modern English to mean an overly protective device or practice. The term carries a derisive connotation and may also imply that the subject is antiquated, or is cumbersome, or provides unnecessary protection, or provides ineffective protection.

Western History

Chastity belts are surrounded by myths and folklore. The most common of these myths is that they were first used by crusading knights on their wives. There is no evidence of the existence of chastity belts until ca. 1400 which was over a century after the last Crusade.

The first known mention of chastity belts in the West is in Konrad Kyeser von Eichstätt's Bellifortis, a ca. 1400 book describing the military technology of the era. The book includes a drawing that is accompanied by the Latin text: "Est florentinarum hoc bracile dominarum ferreum et durum ab antea sic reseratum." ("These are hard iron breeches of Florentine women which are closed at the front.") [1] The belt in this drawing is described by Dingwall as "both clumsy and heavy", having "little in common with the later models which served the same use" (Dingwall, 1931, p.34). The Bellifortis account is not supported by any evidence or corroborating documents.

The period of the chastity belt's diffusion to Europe beyond Italy, and of its relatively most common use (though this was still quite rare), was the 16th century and the 17th century — so that the classical historical chastity belt can be more accurately described as a "Renaissance" phenomenon, rather than "Medieval". They were probably employed more by a few rich and jealous husbands married to much younger wives (a common upper-class practice at the time) — as seen in the 16th century German woodcut at right — than by soldiers going off to war.

In 1889, a leather-and-iron belt was found by A. M. Pachinger—a German collector of antiquities—in Linz, Austria in a grave on a skeleton of a young woman. The woman was purportedly buried sometime in the 16th century. Pachinger, however, could not find any record of the woman's burial in the town archives. The belt itself, along with most of the rest of Pachinger's collection, has been lost.

Two belts have been exhibited at the Musée de Cluny in Paris. The first, a simple velvet-covered hoop and plate of iron, was supposedly worn by Catherine de' Medici. The other—said to have been worn by Anna of Austria—is a hinged pair of plates held about the waist by metal straps, featuring intricately etched figures of Adam and Eve. There are other such belts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg and the British Museum in London. Most have been removed from display because the authenticity of these belts as Renaissance devices has since been called into question.

From the 1700s through the 1930s, masturbation was widely regarded as harmful in Western medicine. Numerous mentions can be found in medical journals of the time of the use of chastity belt-like devices to prevent masturbation in children and adolescents.

Pre-20th-century chastity belts had padded linings which had to be changed fairly frequently. By modern medical standards, these early belts were not practical for uninterrupted long-term wear.

Designs for many anti-masturbation devices were filed in the US Patent Office.

Modern chastity belts made from stainless steel are descended from improvements on the Florentine design by John Harold Higginbottom of Sheffield, England. His company, Tollyboy, now run by Richard Davies, still makes chastity belts today.

Today, chastity belts are enjoying a comeback thanks to the wider acceptance of BDSM practices in post-Sexual Revolution Western society. Their small resurgence in popularity has ridden the wave of BDSM on the Internet along with other historical tools of sexual repression such as the corset.

Non-Western History

Some Vaishnava sadhus (ascetic practitioners of the Hindu faith) have a tradition of wearing arbandh—or metal balls or cups enclosing the penis—for decades at a time as a way of demonstrating their strict celibacy and dedication to austerity.[2][3]

News and Trivia

Custom made chastity belts are necessarily a cottage industry. Many firms have come and gone over the years. Access Denied (USA), Herbert Rossmann (Austria), In Discretione Fortitudo/Nifrik Scylla (Netherlands), Kastley (Germany), Reinholds (composite belts, Germany), Pourquoi Pas (Germany), and Atelier Mode (Cologne, Germany) are among the more notable makers to have stopped manufacturing chastity belts from the 1980s to the present (2007).

In the year 1998, racial riots against the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia prompted the production and sale of "anti-rape corsets" by Simon Sanjava of West Java. These devices were of Florentine design with a waistband and a single crotch strap with no holes for going to the toilet. They were made of imitation leather and steel and were secured with a combination lock. [4]

In April, 2002, the Uwe Koetter Jewellers company of Cape Town, South Africa completed and delivered a spectacular diamond and pearl-encrusted chastity belt made of gold to a British customer. The belt cost reportedly cost R160,000 and was a wedding gift from a husband-to-be for his bride to wear at their wedding. [5] [6]

On February 6, 2004, USA Today reported that in at Athens airport in Greece, a woman's steel chastity belt had triggered a security alarm at the metal detector. The woman explained that her husband had forced her to wear the device to prevent an extramarital affair while she was on vacation in Greece. She was allowed to continue her flight to London on the pilot's authority. The incident was said to have happened just before Christmas in 2003. [7] Weekly World News also wrote an article about this event. [8]

In November, 2006, photographs of Lucio Gubbio's hand-wrought iron chastity belts were published in newspapers including the Seoul Times, [9] and CRI Online [10]. Although Gubbio's company, MedioEvo, claims that their chastity belts' designs are from the Middle Ages on their website [11], a company spokesperson acknowledged that there is no proof that devices such as these were actually used.

Modern use

Today, chastity belts are sometimes used in consensual BDSM play and as a form of erotic sexual denial. They range from simple leather or plastic toys commonly sold by adult stores to expensive high-security steel devices made by a handful of specialist firms.

Although no reliable statistics are available on the use of chastity belts, anecdotal reports from manufacturers suggest that most belts sold in Europe and the US are for men.

Modern, high-security chastity belts tend to be one of two types:

A "cage"-type device which encloses the male genitals, intended to prevent stimulation and erection. "Metal-detector safe" models also exist; these are made entirely of plastic and fasten with tamper-evident plastic seals.
A "Florentine"-style belt (named after the Bellifortis reference) has a band around the waist or hips, with a "shield" running between the legs to cover the genitals.

For Florentine belts, the design must accommodate a long-term wearer's needs to pass both urine and feces:

For females, the shield is commonly a flat band with a slot through which the labia can protrude and through which urine can pass. (Some manufacturers fit a perforated cover—sometimes called the "secondary shield"—over this slot to both to prevent the wearer from being pinched when sitting and also to prevent masturbation.)
For males, the shield usually covers a tube in which the penis is held facing downward with perforations at the bottom of the shield to allow urine to escape.
Belts with a "thong" arrangement have a single strap running up between the buttocks to the waistband. On some, this is a plastic-coated cable or a thin curved metal rod; on others, it is a steel strap with an aperture over the anus to allow passage of feces.
Belts with a "V"-arrangement have a pair of chains attached together the bottom of the shield and apart towards the back of waistband in a "V" to leave the rear open.

Most modern chastity belts are fastened with padlocks. Some high-security designs nest the lock within a shroud to make it more difficult to attack with bolt cutters. Some of the more expensive designs have locks that are integrated into the belt.

Modern chastity devices of both cage and Florentine types are often designed to also work with genital piercings for greater security.

Choosing a chastity belt

Modern chastity belts are designed for long-term, continuous wear. However, before investing in a chastity belt, it is usually advisable to clarify one's budget and goals, then balance them against the potential physical and mental discomfort.
"Florentine"-style waist belts can be incompatible with vigorous sporting activity because they make bending forwards or sideways at the hips difficult.
The choice of materials used in the belt is also important: some plastics, alloys (especially those containing nickel), and rubber (such as that used in neoprene) may cause allergic contact dermatitis after constant contact with the skin.
Weight gain or a protruding belly may make the fitting of a "Florentine"-style belt difficult, or render an existing belt uncomfortable for constant wear. For long-term wear, a hip belt that rests on the taper of the hips or a curved belt that hugs above the hip bone and drops below the belly in the front is preferred to a waist belt that encloses the narrowest part of the waist.
Badly designed or adjusted devices can compress male genitals in a potentially harmful manner.
Devices made entirely of plastic, as well as plastic single-use verifiable closures, are available for wearers who must travel through airports or other places where metal detectors are used.

Purchasing and wearing a chastity belt

Most manufacturers offer belts with a curved waistband that surrounds the hips instead of the waist. These hip belts offer more comfort and flexibility to the wearer and are the overwhelming choice of modern buyers over traditional waist belts.
For a custom made stainless steel belt to fit comfortably, accurate measurements of the wearer's body must be taken. Steel belts are very expensive to modify.

After the belt is delivered, a period is usually required for the wearer and the belt to adjust to each other. The belt must be bent by hand for fit and comfort. The wearer should wear the belt for 1-2 hours on the first day, then gradually lengthen the amount of time spent in the belt. Usually one month or longer is required until a new belt can be worn continuously.
The wearer should check regularly for bruising, edema and chafing where the device contacts their skin. Chastity belt wearers should be vigilant against pressure sores.
During periods of long term wear, the belt should be removed regularly to clean off accumulated skin, urine, and other deposits. Care should be taken to clean parts of the belt that are in constant contact with the body.
For belts with a "thong" arrangement, access to a bidet can greatly simplify hygiene. The belt must also drain well enough to prevent water and bodily fluids from being trapped against the skin. Skin trapped with water without any time to "breathe" can lead to chafing or rashes. A hairdryer may be helpful for drying difficult-to-reach areas of skin after bathing.

References

Bonneau, Alcide (1892) Padlocks and Girdles of Chastity: An historical and descriptive notice. Paris: Isidore Lideux. ISBN 1-58963-347-4. (Reprinted in 1932 and later by New York: Golden Hind Press and , New York: Big Dollar Books, and others.) Translation of Les cadenas et ceintures de chasteté. (The first half of the book is a dubious historical overview of chastity belts and their use by Greeks, Romans and others. The second half of the book is titled "Speech of Monsieur Freydier's on behalf of Mademoiselle Marie Lajon versus Sieur Pierre Berlhe, prisoner of the Court", in which Mlle. Lajon's counsel argues to have the Court order a chastity belt removed from her.)
Dingwall, Eric J (1931) The Girdle of Chastity: A Medico-Historical Study. London: Routledge. (Standard older scholarly reference.)
Bullough, Vern (1987) '"Technology for the Prevention of 'les maladies produites par la masturbation,'" (in Technology and Culture, volume 28 [1987], pages 828 - 832). (A brief history of masturbation as an illness. Prevention treatments, methods, and a focus on patented devices in the United States through 1932. One paragraph on the debunking of these erroneous ideas towards the end of that period.)
Stengers, Jean; van Neck, Anne; translated by Hoffmann, Kathryn (2001) Masturbation: the history of a great terror. New York: Palgrave. ISBN 0-312-22443-5. (Discusses Victorian anti-masturbatory chastity belts.)
Classen, Albrecht (2007) THE MEDIEVAL CHASTITY BELT: A Myth-Making Process. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-7558-2. History of the Chastity Belt myth.

External links

History

A Young Persons Guide to Chastity Belts (history and general information)
Chastity belt essays

Erotic/BDSM usage

Altairboy's Chastity Belt Website
Locked in Steel
Chastity UK
Jan Thor
LockMeUp Discussion Boards Active discussion board on modern CB usage
Locknkeep.com
YourKeys Vanilla and Spice
DIY Homemade: DIY chastity belt instructions.

Other

Peter Henderson: I Wear A Chastity Belt. Australian Cosmopolitan Magazine (July 2000). (Describes anti-rape chastity belts used by ethnic Chinese women after the 1998 Indonesian riots.)