Is the virginity belt real or is it just a product that exists in myths? The answer is…
Speaking of the chastity belt, many people will immediately remember the old story in the Middle Ages.
The chastity belt is widely believed to be to gauge a woman’s loyalty.
It is said that a man in the Middle Ages, before going to war away from home, used a chastity belt to lock his wife’s genitals to ensure that she could not deceive him into having sex with other people. And of course, the key of the belt also followed him to the battlefield.
However, no woman could bear to wear this chastity belt for more than a few days as an essential accessory and she died from infection.
As the years passed, the virginity belt was widely believed to be a measure of a woman’s loyalty.
However, according to experts, the source of this medieval virginity belt is just a “fake” story.
The first drawing of the chastity belt in history.
Dr David Reuben, a doctor and surgeon, describes the virginity belt as an iron-clad bikini with a front shield for urination and a two-centimeter thick metal section covering the outside of the vagina. Before going to war away from home, medieval men used chastity belts to lock their wives’ genitals to ensure they could not have sex with others.
According to Reuben, the chastity belt is one of those tools designed to oppress women and has been in common use for centuries. Metal chastity belts in museums and galleries are medieval relic, representing the brutality of men in this period.
However, many researchers believe that virginity belts were never used for this purpose, but only existed in myths.
The chastity belt is an iron-clad bikini with a front shield for urination and a 2cm thick metal part that covers the vagina.
Albrecht Classen, author of “The Middle Ages: A Process of Illusion,” told Time that the chastity belt was first mentioned in an essay by Konrad Kyeser in 1405.
According to Classen, Kyeser was a German engineer and artist, the concept for the chastity belt appearing later in his book.
They were originally supposed to be one of Kyeser’s jokes. And later works when it comes to chastity belts are allegorical and satirical.
Classen said: “There is no historical or legal document that ever mentions the virginity belt because perhaps the meaning behind this belt is because they contradict modern medical research.
It is difficult for a woman to survive after a few days of wearing this virginity belt because they are entangled in hygiene and health problems.”
Lesley Smith – late 16th century historian and curator of Tutbury Castle in England agrees with Classen’s opinion.
There is not a single historical document, or legal document that has ever mentioned the virginity belt.
In a 2007 article published in the British Medical Journal, she wrote : “I’ve traveled a lot, researched the origins of art collections, but haven’t found a true virginity belt – has its roots in the Middle Ages. But the tendency to believe in the myth of the chastity belt is understandable.”
Sarah Bond, an associate professor of classical studies at the University of Iowa (USA), said that historians of the last century believed that the virginity belt was real because it was tied to the power structure in the family.
He said: “Virginity belts mainly appear in Renaissance and early modern fiction as evocative images of the former Middle Ages.
The idea of a man locking his wife with a metal belt to prevent them from having an affair is a myth, and they are made up only to highlight the lack of civilization in the earlier era.”