History will make us think that this was an instrument to ensure the fidelity of wives during the absences of their husbands, but testemonies say that women often locked themselves in their own iniciative and that it was used more as a barrier against rape during the times of the quartering of soldiers in town, during overnight stays in inns or journeys in general. This might make us ask one question: is the belt a torture instrument or not? the answer is of course yes, because this humiliation, this outrage to the body is imposed by the whim of the male, eternal rapist.

Private Collection

Museum of the Royal House of Portugal