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 temptation1. This tool is usually formed by a metal belt and a connected vertical metal strip. The vertical metal strip goes through the crotch and covers the genitals. There is a lock in the junction, or, the connection in front of the two metal strips is fixed, the lock is designed on one side or both sides of the belt. Once locked, the vertical metal strip bends toward crotch, so the whole chastity belt can not be moved, then occurrence of sexual behavior is prevented.Though the history of the chastity belt, which is fashionable in a limited sense in the West (some eastern countries partly included), can be traced back to the 14th century Europe, its guiding concept and functional character have changed completely.Today, chastity belts are sometimes used in BDSM play and 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 firms2. The male chastity belt didn’t exist until the 19th century, that is to say, before that all the chastity belts were created for women only.Chastity belts are surrounded by myths and folklore. According to modern myth the chastity belt was used as an anti-temptation device during the Crusades. When the knight left for the Holy Lands on the Crusades, he would force his Lady to wear a chastity belt to preserve her faithfulness to him. But there is no credible evidence to prove it. The first known mention of what could be interpreted as chastity belts in the West is in Konrad Kyeser von Eichstätt's Bellifortis describing the military technology of the era dates 1405. The book includes a drawing that is accompanied b y 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.) 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”3.Italy seems to have been, both in the Middle Ages and later, the principal seat of their usein Europe; a phenomenon commonly ascribed to the notorious jealousy of the Italians4. In Italy, Husbands always had an eye on their wives and the laws against rape were very severe. So the so-called chastity belt can be concluded that this is the product of the social background. It is the product of the religious asceticism and men’s s elfish cravings. We can know this from a poem:Invisible catches & secret hooks, boneWithin bone & trick locks.If a man needs this to holdLove in place, master of keysWill always bite his nailsTo the quick. Tooled leather,Laced mail & jeweled bronze.Before his departure over a bodyOf themulant water, he turnsThe key in the lock as they kiss.5The chastity belt is considered as a torture device. The reason they are torture devices is because that they are humiliating and a lot of women were forced to wear one against their will6. And according to the materials and processes at the time, even if there were chastity belt, it can not be a long-term wear. It’s very uncomfort able and will hurt the skin (especially the iron rust), even do further damage to the entire body. The women’s genitals, waists and hips got ulcerated when they were locked for a long time. It’s very cruel.It’s somewhat incredible that such a cruel device has be popular for a very long time. The chastity belt has been popular in Europe for several centuries, and the Spanish were still using them in the 19th century. In the early 20th century, some archaeologists occasionally excavated a skeleton of a young woman in the cemetery near Linz, a northern city of Austria. The skeleton was wearing a chastity belt. And the woman was proved to be living in the early 16th century. Besides, two belts are 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 (wife of Henry II of France). The other—said to have been worn by Anna of Austria (wife of Louis XIII of France)—is a hinged pair of plates held about thewaist by metal straps, featuring intricately etched figures of Adam and Eve7.All these materials suggest that in Modern Europe women were considered as private possessions. They had to do anything their husbands asked. As a role of wife, a member of the family, they were treated more like a slave. Their social status is just like that of Chinese women in ancient times. But this is incredible. Because in ancient China, women can't study in schools or have a job in the government (Wu Zetian is an exception, she disobeyed the traditional rules). But in Europe, women can be queen, knight, military leader and many other roles. Many people will assume that European women have the same social status with man.And there are so-called knights and gentlemen in Europe. They do have their own faith and codes. The most famous code is the eight Knight Spirit: humility, honor, courage, sacrifice, compassion, spirituality, honesty and fair. And a gentleman should have gentle manners, respect women and human dignity, highlight man's fortitude, tenacity and magnanimous personality. All of these seem to have no connection with the chastity belt. But they do exist in the same period. Those gentlemen’s respect for women is limited to ceremonial. These gentlemen are the same with those educated men in Ancient China.So the chastity belt is like a bolt from the blue, breaking everybody’s fantastic fancy. Europe has no exception; it also conforms to the developing law of women’s social status. In the Renaissance, the humanists advocate the secular enjoyment, oppose the abstinence of asceticism. The hard work of women in the family can provide secular enjoyment for man. Since the functions of women’s labors have been approved, then the male would have to admit that there is a certain position for women in the family. However, the advancement of women in the family doesn’t mean that the social value of women increased. In the 16th century in Western Europe, with the relaxation of religious control for the secular marriage and the family, authority of the husband and paternity fill the space left behind by the religious authority in time. It can be seen that, compare to the control of Middle Ages, the oppression of women in the Renaissance is greater.Analyzing from the women's marital and family conditions, women have two roles in marriage in the Renaissance. When she is young, she could only act as a gentle bride, married passively to the man who complies with the interests of her own family. Then inlater life, she also must be careful and prudent. After all, the man of the family has the final say. Such situation is almost the same with that in ancient China.Then look at the level of women’s education. In the Renaissance, the women from rich families have been trained from childhood. How to be a wife and mother in the future are the main curriculum subjects of her education. The women from poor families rarely receive good education; because they have to participate in productive labor, in order to make ends meet. It can be seen that the education is still closed to the majority of women in the Renaissance; even aristocratic women's education is also given to serve the purpose of male power.Renaissance, known as the "discovery of man" is a great era, emphasizing on human value and dignity and promoting individual emancipation and freedom. However, from a feminist point of view, the "discovery of man" of Renaissance is not based on the awakening of both sexes, but ignoring the development needs of women as human beings, just focusing on men’s liberation from God’s repression. At the same time, women are still treated as men's accessories, objects to enslave and dally.All in all, during this Renaissance the status of women still clings to the medieval tradition- based on male-centered theory and women's inf eriority of the Christ’s traditional concept. And women are confined to private and family realm. This phenomenon is commonly accepted as the notion that the women were uniquely fashioned for the private realm is at least as old as Aristotle8.And many phi losophers ascribe women’ inferiority to their own nature. The confinement of woman to the private sphere is justified by reference to woman’s particularistic, emotional, non-universal nature. Since she knows only the bonds of love and friendship, she will be a dangerous person in political life, prepared, perhaps, to sacrifice the wide public interest to satisfy person tie or private preference. By contrast, men will recognize the wider interest and will not be guided mere emotion and sentimentality9.Kant believes that the obedience of wife to husband is a requirement of natural law10. And woman’s nature is used to justify her social status, and then her actual social is used as a disqualification for any other status11. So according to the woman’s nature s aid above, women’s confinement to the private realm and subsidiary status is natural.Because women’s education level is very low and they always stay at home or in the convents, have little contact with the actual social life, their knowledge is both ideal and rigid compared with men’s knowledge; it is impossible to make much contribution to society. So they have no idea to fight for their own right; they just suffer and say no word. What might Kant say if he could see the current world? The women are playing their in various field; they have the same social status with the man. In the Renaissance, the chastity belt was made for women; now there are chastity belts for both sexes, certainly, their usage has changed completely. It’s a truth that women’s socia l status was consistent with the ideological level at that time.Women's liberation is a long process. With the social development and progress, women will have more opportunities to participate in social and public affairs. But the stereotypical view of women accumulated over history can not be changed overnight, nor disappear automatically. The world is changing every minute now; women should seize every opportunity, struggle with the social prejudices, change their low status and control their own destiny.Women should also attach importance to cooperation and coordination with men while stressing that their own liberation. Women and men shall work together to create a free, equal and harmonious gender relation in order to promote the human civilization development. The environment and education the modern women get are better than those in the Renaissance, therefore, the modern women should more accurately position themselves, and more fully exploit their own potential and make greater contributions to society.BibliographyBooks:9.Women, Culture & Politics (The Randomhouseinc Press) p.810.Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, trans. M. Gregor (Martinus Nijhoff, TheHuge, 1974) p.16711.Women, Culture & Politics (The Randomhouseinc Press) p.21Journals:3.Dingwall, Eric J (1931), The Girdle of Chastity: A Medico-Historical StudyMan,V ol.31(Nov,1931) p257-2584.Dingwall, Eric J (1931), The Girdle of Chastity: A Medico-Historical StudyMan,V ol.31(Nov,1931) p257-2585.Yusef Komunyakaa, Chastity Belt. The Keyon Review, New Series, V ol.20, No. 3/4(summer-autumn, 1998) p.17.Dingwall, Eric J (1931), The Girdle of Chastity: A Medico-Historical StudyMan,V ol.31(Nov,1931) p257-2588.The Historical Journal, V ol. 36, No. 2 (Jun., 1993), pp. 383-414 Published by:Cambridge University PressInternet Resources:1.Chastity Belt. < http://www.chastitybelt.eu/>2.Chastity Belt. /wiki/Chastity_belt6.Torture device-Chastity belt</article/1212-ancient-torture-devices>。