Editing Chastity belt

{{Short description|Device to prevent sexual activity}}
{{about|the item of clothing|the band|Chastity Belt (band)}}
[[Image:Venetian-chastity.JPG|thumb|A 16th–17th alleged chastity belt on display in the [[Doge's Palace, Venice]].]]

A '''chastity belt''' is a locking item of clothing designed to prevent [[sexual intercourse]] or [[masturbation]]. Such belts were historically designed for women, ostensibly for the purpose of [[chastity]], to [[anti-rape device|protect women from rape]], or to dissuade women and their potential [[sexual partner]]s from sexual [[temptation]].<ref name="Sheumaker">{{cite book |author=Helen Sheumaker |author2=Shirley Teresa Wajda| title = Material Culture in America: Understanding Everyday Life | publisher =[[ABC-CLIO]]|year = 2008|page=404|access-date = May 19, 2014| isbn = 978-1576076477 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=JjVlAzj9qDQC&pg=PA404}}</ref><ref name="Rosenthal">{{cite book |first=Martha|last= Rosenthal| title = Human Sexuality: From Cells to Society | publisher =[[Cengage Learning]]|year = 2012|page=11|access-date = May 19, 2014|isbn = 978-1133711445 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=xeYJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA11}}</ref><ref name="Chastity belt">{{cite dictionary|title =Chastity belt|dictionary=[[Merriam-Webster]]|access-date=January 13, 2014|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chastity%20belt}}</ref> Modern versions of the chastity belt are predominantly, but not exclusively, used in the [[BDSM]] community, and chastity belts are now designed for male wearers in addition to female wearers.<ref name="J. Ley">{{cite book |first=David|last=J. Ley| title = Insatiable Wives: Women Who Stray and the Men Who Love Them | publisher =[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|year = 2012|pages=176–177|access-date = May 19, 2014| isbn = 978-1442200326|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=tctxQzAKdJgC&pg=PA177}}</ref>

According to [[modern myth]]s, the chastity belt was used as an anti-temptation device during the [[Crusades]]. When the [[knight]] left for the Holy Lands on the Crusades, his Lady would wear a chastity belt to preserve her [[Monogamy|faithfulness]] to him. However, there is no credible evidence that chastity belts existed before the 15th century (over a century after the last Middle Eastern Crusade), and their main period of apparent use falls within the [[Renaissance]] rather than the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name="Rosenthal"/><ref name="semmelweis.museum">{{cite web|title=The Secret Histories of Chastity Belts Myth and Reality|publisher=semmelweis.museum.hu/Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archives of the History of Medicine|access-date=January 13, 2014|url=http://www.semmelweis.museum.hu/muzeum/kiallitasok/erenyov/reszletes_en.html|archive-date=April 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404120837/http://www.semmelweis.museum.hu/muzeum/kiallitasok/erenyov/reszletes_en.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="britishmuseum.org">{{cite web|title=forgery / chastity-belt|publisher=britishmuseum.org/[[British Museum]]|access-date=January 13, 2014|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=41046&partId=1&searchText=Chastity%20belt}}</ref> Research into the history of the chastity belt suggests that they were not used until the 16th century, and then only rather rarely; they first became widely available in the form of 19th-century anti-masturbation medical devices.<ref name="J. Ley"/><ref name="semmelweis.museum"/>

Renaissance chastity belts were said to have had padded linings (to prevent large areas of metal from coming into direct prolonged contact with the skin), and these had to be changed fairly frequently, so that such belts were not practical for uninterrupted long-term wear. Uninterrupted long-term wear could have caused genitourinary infection, abrasive wounds, [[sepsis]], and eventual death.<ref>Massimo Polidoro: "Myth of the Chastity Belts" Skeptical Inquirer: 35:5: September/October 2011: 27-28</ref><ref name=telegraph-20160118>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/chastity-belts-the-odd-truth-about-locking-up-womens-genitalia/ |title=Chastity belts: The odd truth about 'locking up' women's genitalia |author=Radhika Sanghani |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=18 January 2016 |access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref>

==Historical usage==
[[File:Chastity belt Bellifortis.jpg|225px|thumb|The ''[[Bellifortis]]'' sketch ({{circa|1405}})]]
[[Image:16thc-German-woodcut-Chastity-belt.jpg|thumb|225px|right|Sixteenth-century satirical German woodcut]]
[[Image:Chastity belt Heyser 0.png|thumb|225px|Excerpt from {{US Patent|995600}} by Jonas E. Heyser.]]

[[Gregory the Great]], [[Alcuin of York]], [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], and Nicholas Gorranus all made passing references to "chastity belts" within their exhortatory and public discourses, but meant this in a figurative or metaphorical sense within their historical context.<ref name="Polidoro">Polidoro, 2011: 27-28</ref>

The first detailed actual mention of what could be interpreted as "chastity belts" in the West is in [[Konrad Kyeser von Eichstätt]]'s ''[[Bellifortis]]'' (1405), which describes 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 [[Florence|Florentine]] women which are closed at the front.") The belt in this drawing is described by [[Eric Dingwall|Dingwall]] as "both clumsy and heavy", having "little in common with the later models which served the same use".<ref name="dingwall">{{Cite book|last = Dingwall|first = Eric J|year = 1931|title = The Girdle of Chastity: A Medico-Historical Study|url = http://www.tpe.com/~altarboy/girdle.htm|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030207200726/http://www.tpe.com/~altarboy/girdle.htm|url-status = dead|archive-date = 2003-02-07|publisher = [[Routledge]]}}</ref> The ''Bellifortis'' account is not supported by any additional concrete evidence or corroborating documents. [[Massimo Polidoro|Polidoro]] argues that Kyeser's references are meant to be humorous or ironic,<ref name=telegraph-20160118/> and that Dingwall's accounts of the use of chastity belts by a few rich men in the 16th and 17th centuries to ensure the faithfulness of their often much younger wives should be treated critically, because of the absence of actual artifacts of this nature from the historical period in question, and his lack of access to more detailed contemporary historical records.<ref name="Polidoro" />

In 1889, a leather-and-iron belt was found by Anton Pachinger—a German collector of antiquities—in [[Linz]], Austria, in a grave on a skeleton of a young woman.  The woman was reportedly buried 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, were lost during the chaotic [[aftermath of World War I]].<ref name="dingwall" />

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 [[Anne of Austria]]—is a hinged pair of plates held about the waist by metal straps, featuring intricately etched figures of [[Adam and Eve]].<ref name="dingwall" /> There are other such belts at the [[Germanisches Nationalmuseum]] in [[Nuremberg]] and the [[British Museum]] in London.  Most have been removed from public display to avoid any further embarrassment because the authenticity of these belts as [[medieval]] devices has since been called into question. Many contemporary historians accept that these alleged "artifacts" date from the 19th century, and are thus inauthentic.<ref>{{cite news|title = Two historians say chastity belts are purely medieval myths|work = [[Houston Chronicle]]|date = 23 June 1996|url = http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_1349429|page=22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629063557/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_1349429 |archive-date=2011-06-29}}</ref>

From the 18th century until 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 female children and adolescents, as well as women.<ref>{{cite book|last1 = Stengers|first1 = Jean|first2 = Anne|last2 = van Neck|year = 2001|title = Masturbation: the history of a great terror|publisher = Palgrave|isbn = 0-312-22443-5|author-link1 = Jean Stengers}}</ref> Many designs for anti-masturbation devices were filed in the US [[Patent|Patent Office]] until the early 1930s, when masturbation was no longer deemed to be the cause of mental health problems.<ref>{{Cite journal|first = Vern|last = Bullough|author-link = Vern Bullough|year = 1987|title = Technology for the Prevention of 'les maladies produites par la masturbation|journal = Technology and Culture|volume=28|publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press|pages = 828–832|doi = 10.2307/3105184|pmid = 11612372|issue = 4|jstor = 3105184| s2cid=44275822 }}</ref>

Furthermore, some 19th-century working women may have used chastity belts for protective reasons, as a "rape shield" to obstruct sexual assault from predatory bosses or male colleagues; the belts were not worn for a long time uninterruptedly, however, since sanitary and hygiene reasons prevented this before the modern invention of stainless-steel belts.<ref name="Polidoro" /> The belt design was the most common but there were also concealed versions worn inside the vagina which were designed to injure the penis.<ref>{{cite book|title=Material Culture in America: Understanding Everyday Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBTHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA404|editor1-first=Helen|editor1-last=Sheumaker|editor2-first=Shirley|editor2-last=Wajda|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|isbn=9781576076484|date=2007|page=404}}</ref>

==Modern usage==

===BDSM===
{{Main article|Chastity belt (BDSM)}}

Chastity belts are sometimes used in [[BDSM]] play in consensual relationships.  They are a means for the wearer to surrender control over their sexual behavior either for sexual play, or as a long-term method of preventing infidelity or masturbation.  They range from simple leather or plastic toys commonly sold by adult stores to expensive high-security stainless steel devices made by a handful of specialist firms. The internet has significantly increased the number of people using chastity devices, with internet advertisements and amateur erotic content sites often serving as the means of discovery of chastity devices and their use. Similarly, the internet has allowed consumers to acquire devices more easily, faster, anonymously, and from a wider range of manufacturers and retailers. Simultaneously, the internet has provided a private avenue for subcultures dedicated to their usage, fostering the culture and allowing individuals with interests in chastity to connect with one another, both on the internet and in-person. 

Although there exists a historical association of chastity belts with women, the male chastity devices market offers more options and diversity compared to what is available for female chastity devices.  Among male chastity devices, "cock-and-ball" trap devices are the most popular, followed by typically more secure full belt (around-the-waist) style devices.

===Films and TV===
*In ''[[Robin Hood: Men in Tights]]'', [[Maid Marian]] (portrayed by [[Amy Yasbeck]]) has a silver-colored [[Everlast (brand)|Everlast]] chastity belt first shown when she stands up from the bathtub and later revealed by the Sheriff.
*In the Korean film ''The Cage'' by [[Lior Shamriz]], the protagonist Nick ([[Kim Wonmok]]) flees his boss ([[Won Tae-hee]]) and crosses the border wearing a pink chastity device.
*''[[Meet the Spartans]]'' features a scene where Margo (portrayed by [[Carmen Electra]]) comes in a golden chastity belt concealed by her dress when she encounters Leonidas for the first time.
*''[[The Love Guru]]'': Maurice Pitka (portrayed by [[Mike Myers]]) is given a metallic chastity belt at 12 years old with a large metallic elephant head that makes a trumpeting noise when exposed. It clanks and makes a pinging noise when he gets an erection and does not protect his genitalia from pain.
*''[[Stoke Me a Clipper]]'', the second episode of the seventh series of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', has [[Dave Lister]] (portrayed by [[Craig Charles]]) utilize [[cheat code]]s to remove the chastity belt of the [[Queen of Camelot]] in a medieval fantasy game.
*''[[Mad Max: Fury Road]]'': The Five Wives are seen removing their chastity belts, once they have escaped from Immortan Joe and the Citadel.

===Other occurrences===
In 1981, while California State Senator [[John G. Schmitz]] was leading hearings on outlawing abortion, [[Gloria Allred]] presented him with a chastity belt. Schmitz retaliated in a press release, calling her a "slick butch lawyeress." She sued him for [[libel]], and eventually secured a settlement of $20,000 and an apology.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-22-mn-16808-story.html|title=Sorry! : Gloria Allred Wins $20,000, Public Apology From Ex-Sen. Schmitz for '81 Press Release|year=1986|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2012-03-09}}</ref>

In 1998, racial riots against the ethnic Chinese in [[West Java]] prompted the production and sale of "anti-rape corsets".  These were Florentine-type belts of imitation leather-covered plastic, fastened with a combination lock.  The belts had a solid crotch strap without holes, and were intended only for brief outings.<ref>{{cite journal|first = Peter|last = Henderson|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20000711042724/http://www.tpe.com/~altarboy/nt000625.htm|archive-date=2000-07-11|url=http://www.tpe.com/~altarboy/nt000625.htm|title = I Wear A Chastity Belt|journal = Australian Cosmopolitan Magazine|date= 2000-07-11}}</ref>

In April 2002, the Uwe Koetter Jewellers company of [[Cape Town]], South Africa, completed and delivered a diamond and pearl-encrusted chastity belt made of gold to a British customer.  The belt reportedly cost R160,000 and was a wedding gift from a husband-to-be for his bride to wear at their wedding.<ref>{{cite news|first = Barbara|last = Cole|title = Chastity belt-maker zips lips at Durban show|url = http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=ct20020512214730830C300638|work = The Mercury|date = 12 May 2002}}</ref>

On February 6, 2004, ''[[USA Today]]'' reported that at [[Athens International Airport|Athens airport]] in Greece, a woman's steel chastity belt had triggered a security alarm at the [[Airport X-ray|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.<ref>{{cite news|title = Woman's chastity belt set off airport security alarm|url = http://usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-02-06-chastity-belt_x.htm|work = USA Today|date = 6 February 2004|location = Athens|access-date = 2007-07-22|archive-date = 2007-07-09|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070709013127/http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-02-06-chastity-belt_x.htm|url-status = dead}}</ref>

In November 2006, photographs of Lucio Valentini's hand-wrought iron chastity belts were published in newspapers including the Seoul Times,<ref>{{cite news|title=Photo News: Medieval Chastity Belt|url = http://theseoultimes.com/ST/photo_gallery/photo_gallery.php?name=Photo_News&code=20061118-00300&page=24|date = 18 November 2006|work = The Seoul Times}}</ref> and CRI Online.<ref>{{cite news|title = 意大利工匠打造贞操带 (Italian artisans to build chastity belt)|work = CRI Online|url = http://gb.cri.cn/11344/2006/11/17/664@1307814.htm|date = 17 November 2006|language = zh|access-date = 9 February 2007|archive-date = 20 March 2012|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120320072217/http://gb.cri.cn/11344/2006/11/17/664@1307814.htm|url-status = dead}}</ref>  Although Valentini's company, MedioEvo, claims that their chastity belts' designs are from the Middle Ages on their website, a company spokesperson acknowledged that there is no proof that devices such as these were actually used.

In 2007, the Asian Human Rights Commission reported that women were being forced to wear chastity belts in the [[India]]n state of [[Rajasthan]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=INDIA: Forcing women to wear a chastity belt is a common practice in Rajasthan|publisher=Asian Human Rights Commission|date=August 3, 2007|url=http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2007statements/1139/|access-date=10 June 2010}}</ref>

In 2008, masseuses in [[Batu (city)|Batu]], [[Indonesia]] were required to wear belts with a lock and key during working hours, to prevent [[prostitution]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20080429-indonesian-masseuses-forced-lock-trousers |title=The return of the chastity belt |date=2008-04-29 |work=The Observers |publisher=[[France 24]] |access-date=10 June 2010 |location=Indonesia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307234836/http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20080429-indonesian-masseuses-forced-lock-trousers |archive-date=March 7, 2009 }}</ref>

On February 8, 2010, [[AOL News]] reported that Dexter Blanch, a dog breeder from [[Louisiana]], introduced a chastity belt for dogs, called PABS (Pet Anti-Breeding System). It is made of [[polypropylene]] and uses an eight-buckle locking system and a washable mesh pad to prevent intercourse in female dogs. Kathleen Makolinski, director of veterinary outreach at the [[ASPCA]], commented that "For the majority of animals, spaying and neutering remains the most beneficial option".<ref>{{cite news|last=Wolf|first=Buck|title=Ruff Sex: A Chastity Belt for Dogs|url=http://www.aolnews.com/2010/02/08/ruff-sex-a-chastity-belt-for-dogs/|access-date=2 April 2011|newspaper=AOL News|date=8 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410200915/http://www.aolnews.com/2010/02/08/ruff-sex-a-chastity-belt-for-dogs/|archive-date=10 April 2011}}</ref> While this may be true for dogs being helped by rescues and humane societies, the American Kennel Club subsequently changed its policy regarding pediatric spaying or neutering. Following the research published by UC Davis, the American Kennel Club (AKC) now says that the owner of large breed dogs will have a healthier, longer lived dog if the pet owner would wait until the dog is of appropriate age before spaying or neutering.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.akc.org/news/new-spay-neuter-position-statement/|title=AKC Clarifies Position Statements Related to Spaying and Neutering|last=Department|first=Government Relations|website=www.akc.org|access-date=2016-06-07}}</ref>

On September 19, 2012, ''[[China People's Daily]]'' reported that a man in his 50s, naked except for a homemade chastity belt, appeared with a pair of banners in [[Changchun World Sculpture Park]] in [[Jilin]] province in China, seeking a wife. He stated that he wore the chastity belt to symbolize fidelity to his future wife.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://english.people.com.cn/90782/7940337.html|title=Man in his 50s tries to woo potential mates by wearing homemade 'chastity belt'|date=2012-09-19|newspaper=China Peoples Daily|access-date=17 October 2012|location=China|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910061652/http://english.people.com.cn/90782/7940337.html|archive-date=10 September 2012}} [https://archive.ax/G8ieH Alt URL]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Confraternities of the Cord#Confraternity of the Cord of Saint Thomas usually called the Angelic Warfare Confraternity|Confraternity of the Cord of Saint Thomas]]
* [[Erotic sexual denial]]
* [[Modesty]]
* [[Sexual abstinence]]

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* 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.)
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*Classen, Albrecht: ''The Medieval Chastity Belt: A Myth-Making Process (New Middle Ages)'': [[Palgrave Macmillan]]: 2007.
*Dingwall, Eric John: ''The Girdle of Chastity: A Medico-Historical Study'': London: [[Routledge|Routledge and Sons]]: 1931.
*Polidoro, Massimo: "The Myth of Chastity Belts": ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'': 35: 5: September/October 2011: 27–28.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Chastity devices}}
* [https://www.imdb.com/keyword/chastity-belt/ Chastity belt appearances in movies and TV]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chastity Belt}}

[[Category:15th-century fashion]]
[[Category:16th-century fashion]]
[[Category:17th-century fashion]]
[[Category:18th-century fashion]]
[[Category:19th-century fashion]]
[[Category:20th-century fashion]]
[[Category:21st-century fashion]]
[[Category:BDSM equipment]]
[[Category:Physical restraint]]
[[Category:Sexual abstinence]]
[[Category:Undergarments]]
[[Category:Opposition to masturbation]]