Uncomfortable metal belts, with hard bits of metal fashioned like the modern day g-string around the nether regions of the female body - that is the stereotype image most of us have about the chastity belt. The belts are described as "a metal belt with padlock, worn by women around the abdomen and genitals during the absence of the husband to preserve chastity; in use since the crusades".

The general impression is that a chastity belt is a device that prevents the wearer from indulging in any form of sexual intercourse. This logically implies that it was a lock that couldn't be opened, except by the person who had the key.

The myth is that these belts first made their appearance during the Middle Ages, when valiant knights rode off to fight the Crusades and free Jerusalem, with the key to the chastity belt their ladyloves wore. The fact that they would be away for months, and the hard metal around one of the softest spots of the female anatomy would be disastrously uncomfortable, when worn over a long period of time, and that many of the knights would just die in battle is something history hasn't touched upon. So, the myth lives on.

A metal belt with padlock, worn by women around the abdomen and genitals during the absence of the husband to preserve chastity.

What we know about chastity and chastity belts are from mentions in various books. The first plausible chastity belt makes its appearance in the Guigemar Epic by the 12th century poetess Marie de France (fl. 1180). It narrates how one day the Knight Guigemar, bids goodbye to his ladylove, amid her tearful declarations that if he were killed, she would no longer want to live. This is where the first hint of a chastity belt begins - she ties a knot to the end of his shirttails, one that could only be opened by force, and begged him to be faithful.

She pledged fidelity too. In turn, Guigemar took a girdle knotted it in a peculiar fashion, and tied it around the naked body of his lady, whereupon she swore only to love him, the man who would be able to open the knot without the use of any force - an obvious implication that there was no way she could indulge in intercourse while wearing the girdle.

Guillaume de Machaut, a troubadour, poet-musician of the 14th century gives a similar example of a symbolic chastity belt in his "Book of See Known". His works attached a subjective mysticism to love and the symbolic gesture of chastity mentioned there.

The first known illustration of a chastity belt is seen in a manuscript dated 1405 dealing with military equipment, written by Kyeser von Eichstad le Bellifortis. The illustration makes it very obvious that the device could effectively prevent even the most enthusiastic of men from sexual relations with the wearer. But here, the women of Florence in Italy wore this piece of metal to discourage possible attacks on their virtue, rather than keep them from illicit liaisons while their warlords were away.

The three vows monks make on entering a seminary are those of: obedience, poverty and chastity. The belt they wear around their robes is symbolic of the last vow, that of chastity. The belt, even today, represents chastity and purity. During the Middle Ages, it was thought that sexual secretions were produced by the kidneys, so the monks fiercely avoided sleeping on their backs, and wore a belt around their nightshirts to hamper the manufacture of semen, and to prevent the nightshirt from billowing out. Another theory goes that, over time, this symbolic belt acquired sexual connotations that were not originally intended.

Pierre de Bourdeilles, Abbé de Brantôme, a witty and brilliant writer of the mid-16th century listed anecdotes in his Les Vies des Dames Galantes of the eccentric sexual customs and habits of his time. Brantôme tells a story of the introduction of girdles of chastity into France. During the time of King Henry (probably Henri II, 1547- 1559), there was a merchant who brought some of these belts to the fair of Saint Germain. Some jealous husbands bought them, but the saner people of the land drove the merchant out, and threatened him with dire consequences if he came back with them. But Brantôme's writings are taken somewhat lightly, as he had acquired a reputation for savouring sexual scandal.

In the modern world, the chastity belt has found different uses apart from being a part of fetish sexual play.

In 1998, in Indonesia there were widespread rapes during riots in May. An enterprising businessman began to sell "anti-rape" corsets that resembled the Victorian chastity belt. Later, the same year, there were models in Bangkok displaying underwear that didn't look like a chastity belt, but could be worn as one. These were also marketed as anti-rape underwear. They were reinforced with metal wire, and their locking mechanism could only be opened with a combination code, much like the self-locking boxes most of us tote around these days.