Chastity Devices.

First of all, I want to stress, those of you who have your own chastity devices, it really is imperative that you have a spare key!

Now a bit of trivia for you. As you all know throughout the ages a jealous husband or concerned father have adopted extreme measures for the assuring of exclusive sexual attentions of loved ones by depriving others (and sometimes themselves), the privilege of using sexual organs to satisfy the pleasures of the flesh. Chastity belts and girdles of various designs have been pressed into service not only for this denial but also the more extreme and painful practice of infibulation by suturing or "buckling" of the genitalia -- both male and female.

One of the earliest known literary reference to a device used to enforce sexual bondage is Homer's "Odyssey", which describes how the Goddess Aphrodite (Venus) betrayed her husband, Hephaistos, by dallying with his brother Ares. The outrages Hephaistos, aflame with jealousy, took vengeance by forcing a girdle about the goddess's loins to stop further infidelities. Although infibulation ( the sewing up or buckling of the genitalia) was once widely practiced in ancient times, the utilization of the actual chastity belt does not seem to have become prevalent until the 12th Century. Said to have been brought to Europe from the Oriental countries during the Crusades, the chastity belt was first popularized by the Forentines, whose wives were notorious for their sexual promiscuity. Soon the device, designed in many models and variations, became popular all over Europe.

Interestingly, Dingwall, in his "The Girdle of Chastity", describes a typical medieval chastity belts as follows: "It consists essentially of two main parts: a band of flexible metal and a perforated plate or pair of hinged plates. The band is worn around the body above the hips, the hinder part passing just above the nates. The second part of the apparatus, if in one portion, is attached by a joint to the flexible band in front. This second piece constructed either of metal, bone or ivory, is made convex so that it presses firmly against the mons veneris and extending downward completely encloses the vulva, an indentated or plain perforation permitting the natural functions but being to small to admit even the tip of the finger. When two plates are used these are hinged or jointed in the middle, one section covering the anterior portion of the body, whilst the other is drawn up in a posterior direction covering the natal cleft and attached to the band where it passes just above the buttocks. In this case the lock can either be in the encircling band or at the back where the hinged plate joins it. In the former one piece model the lock is usually in front, the band being made adjustable in both cases to fit persons of varying degrees of girth. In the cases where two plates are used, not only are the external genitals guarded, but also the anus, this precaution being taken, so report has it, in order to prevent those variations of the methods of coitus which were said to have been introduced into Italy from the East."

So obviously the Easterners were enjoying anal sex long before the Italians.