Comments on: Venetian Chastity Belts http://karenrayne.com/2008/01/15/venetian-chastity-belts/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:41:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: karenrayne http://karenrayne.com/2008/01/15/venetian-chastity-belts/comment-page-1/#comment-3592 karenrayne Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:45:21 +0000 http://karenrayne.com/2008/01/15/venetian-chastity-belts/#comment-3592 Thanks for the history lesson, Malcolm! I must say, I don't tend to doubt history museums on their display items - but perhaps I should have. :) Cheers! Dr. Karen Thanks for the history lesson, Malcolm! I must say, I don’t tend to doubt history museums on their display items - but perhaps I should have. :)

Cheers!
Dr. Karen

]]> By: Malcolm http://karenrayne.com/2008/01/15/venetian-chastity-belts/comment-page-1/#comment-3590 Malcolm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:38:03 +0000 http://karenrayne.com/2008/01/15/venetian-chastity-belts/#comment-3590 Hello Dr Karen. Surely you were not taken in by this contraption! There is one on display in my city as well, albeit not as finely worked as this one. Both are probably fakes made 150 years or so ago. The Victorians did of course advocate the use of similar devices and sought a historical precedent for their own more subtle repressions. 'Not only is the virgin protected but the fidelity of the wife exacted' ran the advertising spiel. Wives and daughters were compelled to wear 'preservative belts' in middle-class families here in England (have you read Wilkie Collins' excellent novel Armadale? It's all alluded to in there). The desire to control the sexuality of women and girls is an enduring male obsession - I recall reading that a proposal was made in 1930s Hungary to require all girls above the age of 12 to be fitted with one, the keys to be kept by their fathers. The idea was taken seriously but thankfully never implemented. Kind regards Malcolm. Hello Dr Karen.
Surely you were not taken in by this contraption! There is one on display in my city as well, albeit not as finely worked as this one. Both are probably fakes made 150 years or so ago. The Victorians did of course advocate the use of similar devices and sought a historical precedent for their own more subtle repressions.
‘Not only is the virgin protected but the fidelity of the wife exacted’ ran the advertising spiel. Wives and daughters were compelled to wear ‘preservative belts’ in middle-class families here in England (have you read Wilkie Collins’ excellent novel Armadale? It’s all alluded to in there).
The desire to control the sexuality of women and girls is an enduring male obsession - I recall reading that a proposal was made in 1930s Hungary to require all girls above the age of 12 to be fitted with one, the keys to be kept by their fathers. The idea was taken seriously but thankfully never implemented.
Kind regards
Malcolm.

]]>