Chastity Device Use For Religious Convictions?

[Clausum Genitalibus]

Does anyone here use a chastity device because of religious practice or convictions?

Many religions frown on sexual promiscuity and masturbation, and have certain seasons of abstinence from sexual activity. The Christian season of Lent comes immediately to my mind.

Monks in the Middle-Ages wore itchy shirts woven from hair and spiked vests. It seems logical that they would also have improvised some type of male chastity device. The early female devices are well known.

[anominus]

Early female devices may be well known, but they are also fictional. See, e.g. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you ... tity-belts or http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php ... val-times/

[Clausum Genitalibus]

You're right, I should say: The Victorian female devices are well known.

I'm not sure I would be so quick to declare medieval belts fictional. Their existence is disputed, and the physical evidence is lacking or now thought to be fraudulent.

The literary evidence is still hotly debated. The term 'cingulum castitatis' (chastity belt) has been in use since at least Gregory the Great (c540-604) and regularly reoccurs throughout the medieval period. The strongest literary reference would be from Nicolaus Gorranus (1232-1295), he wrote: "Because you have been promised such a mighty grace that you will see Him whom only the Angels are now allowed to see, when you are girdled against the excess of lewdness by a chastity belt not only in your bodily loins, which is the source of lewdness, but also in your spiritual loins, in order to unburden your minds from superfluous pleasure."

Notice he says: "a chastity belt not only in your bodily loins". The debate between two scholarly camps is whether he is being figurative, or referencing a real device. The later phrase: "but also in your spiritual loins" is definitely a figurative reference. Religious authors tend to use figurative speech to refer to real physical objects, it's a literary technique used frequently in the Bible.

My feeling is they possibly existed, or many people of that era believed they existed.

[Tom Allen]

My feeling is they possibly existed, or many people of that era believed they existed.

I'm not an expert on history from that era, but I do have a background in manufacturing. A metal belt fitting to be worn by a noble lady would have been a rare thing indeed, and I can not imagine a woman of breeding (hell, or any of them) wearing a device made of fairly heavy gauge metal. Iron, and even steel would have rusted and
tarnished. Bronze alloys of the time would probably have stained the skin. And the metal thickness would have been very ungainly. Ladies weren't expected to just sit in a chair all day; I can't imagine any device at the time allowing them to function normally, go horseback riding, etc.

Not saying that there was no possibility, but to my, it makes sense that the chastity belt really was more of a figurative concept. If one were built, there's no way it would have been a long term functional piece.

[sherulestherooster]

My wife was raised Catholic and she always gave up something for lent, usually soda. I think it's a decent idea, to give up something to focus on spiritual matters. I have "fasted" by eating only plain oatmeal (which I do not like) and it did help me to focus spiritually (I don't do well with zero sugars, and I need to concentrate for my job).

One time, my wife was denying me orgasms around that time, so I joked that she had given up my orgasms for lent, lol.

In any event, because it turns me on to be denied orgasm, I think doing so would be self-defeating.

[AnonChristianDenied]

> Chastity Device Use For Religious Convictions?
It's complicated. No, my religion doesn't call for strict chastity. But it does call for selflessness, and continuous masturbation wastes passion better spent on my wife. So the device is a tool useful for pursuit of religious ends, but it's not an end in itself.

[Clausum Genitalibus]

My wife was raised Catholic and she always gave up something for lent, usually soda. I think it's a decent idea, to give up something to focus on spiritual matters. I have "fasted" by eating only plain oatmeal (which I do not like) and it did help me to focus spiritually (I don't do well with zero sugars, and I need to concentrate for my job).

One time, my wife was denying me orgasms around that time, so I joked that she had given up my orgasms for lent, lol.

In any event, because it turns me on to be denied orgasm, I think doing so would be self-defeating.

For Lent 2015 I'm going to try to abstain from orgasm for the entire season. I think since Sunday's aren't counted in the 40 days, that will be be day of the week I remove it for cleaning. Though, I may have a "Jail Bird" by then and hygienic maintenance will be easier and lessen the temptation and opportunity, for masturbation.

[Clausum Genitalibus]

My feeling is they possibly existed, or many people of that era believed they existed.

I'm not an expert on history from that era, but I do have a background in manufacturing. A metal belt fitting to be worn by a noble lady would have been a rare thing indeed, and I can not imagine a woman of breeding (hell, or any of them) wearing a device made of fairly heavy gauge metal. Iron, and even steel would have rusted and tarnished.

Yeah, if they existed, the practice would most probably have been only among the aristocracy and royalty. The devices would then have been made of precious metals, maybe decorated with precious stones, and lined with the softest velvet or fine leather or fur. I'm thinking in terms of how some crowns or coronets were made. If they were made of precious metals, it may explain why none can be found. The crown jewels of England were destroyed during their civil war (1642-1651), and the same for the French Revolution (1789-1799).

It would have been much easier to confine someone, by royal decree, to a convent or monastery to guard their chastity.

We may only ever know for sure, in discoveries from yet unknown literary records. There may be something tucked away and forgotten in the Vatican Secret (aka Private) Archives.