In medieval European legend, the chastity belt has been pictured as a metal restraint a crusading noble fitted to his wife before departure. Historically most of that legend is later invention, but the device itself is still produced and, changing in form, is widely used as BDSM equipment. That is the chastity device. A chastity device (貞操帯, teisoutai; English chastity belt / chastity cage) is a restraint that physically restricts the wearer’s genital contact, masturbation, and intercourse. This entry covers the historical examination of the medieval-origin claim, the modern invention and medical use, the place of the chastity device in BDSM communities, and the spread of male-oriented products.

Overview

A chastity device covers the wearer’s genitals with a structure of metal, plastic, or silicone; requires a key or lock for external release; and cannot be removed by the wearer alone. During the period of wear, direct genital contact, erection, and masturbation become physically difficult or impossible. In BDSM contexts the wearer is usually the submissive (sub) and the right to unlock is held by the dominant (Dom), forming a continuous power relationship in which the dominant controls the wearer’s sexual activity.

The medieval-origin claim

The claim that “the chastity belt was forced on crusaders’ wives in medieval Europe” contains large embellishment, as research has shown. According to Albrecht Classen and others, many medieval references to a “chastity belt” appear in allegory and satire rather than as descriptions of real devices; many “medieval chastity belts” displayed in museums are nineteenth-century fakes or replicas; and from hygiene and practicality, long-term wear was impossible with medieval technology. The legend spread largely through the romanticism and historical fiction of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and through curiosity-driven museum display. The oldest surviving devices are nineteenth-century products manufactured as medical “anti-masturbation” appliances.

The modern period

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Western medical discourse held masturbation to be a disease and a moral problem, and anti-masturbation and anti-erection appliances were commercialised, with night-time devices for children and penis cages for men advertised in medical journals of the time. After the masturbation-harm theory was medically rejected following the Second World War, these devices nonetheless gained enthusiasts in BDSM and fetish communities and re-established themselves from the late twentieth century as core equipment for submissive men.

Modern BDSM use

The main forms circulating in BDSM today are the male penis cage (CB-6000, Holy Trainer, various metal cages), the female crotch structure, the short-wear silicone type, and the long-wear metal type. The male form is especially common, with wear ranging from hours to months. Long-term wear requires careful practice: securing the urinary route and cleaning, ensuring a means of emergency release, and monitoring the wearer’s physical and mental state.

Reception

The psychological core of chastity play is the construction of a relationship that “places sexual impulse under another’s control.” The wearer cannot begin sexual activity alone and must request unlocking from the dominant, placed in a subordinate position. This continuous state of denial strengthens both the accumulation of sexual tension and dependence on the dominant. The device is also used to maintain long-distance relationships, with an online-chastity culture in which the wearer, living daily life, reports continued wear and petitions for release to a remote dominant.

Related Terms

• BDSM
• SM culture
• SM collar
• Kinbaku
• CBT
• Erection