Does the world need a resurgence of chastity belts?

There is something about a woman’s body that is so mysterious, yet fatally desirable. Cultures all around the world recognize this, which is why so many precautions are taken to police, interfere with, abuse, and subjugate that same body. We have heard about faces (or maybe bodies because who else thinks Hellen of Troy did more than just smile at the Trojan prince?) That sailed a thousand ships. And I dare say that there is a reason so such wars have not been fought for the face (or body) of a male human.

From Chastity belts, female circumcision, Superstition, societal pressure and expectation, purity culture, rape culture and all the way to good old fashioned murder for women who don’t succumb to any of these, humanity have found ways to police women. But perhaps none sounds as ridiculous as the most recent as seen in the request of this husband who requests that his wife swear by a sacred traditional god in his culture, to prove that she has been faithful to him through six years of absence.

Apparently, it is not enough that she has stayed married to him, raised the children in his absence, borne his name in his absence, she needs to also have been deprived of all sexual pleasure for the entirety of his six years away because she is a piece of wood who just happens to be able to birth children and look after them.

The culture that demands this kind of chastity from women isn’t new, nor is it complicated. It is however a pretty outdated one because we have been seeing more of good old fashioned social pressure and judgement these days, who would think that a beloved son of the soil would go right to the pit of hell and drag out one of the oldest and dumbest purity enforcement methods ever.

The mentality behind what this man has demanded is rooted in the idea that men own their wives, much like property while women own and are entitled to nothing. She is therefore required to be faithful till whenever while he is allowed to frolic, and do whatever he pleases with Whoever. It is supported by believes that some African cultures hold that a man’s good fortune is tied to the faithfulness of his wife and that if she has sex with another man, he would run into serious financial and life problems, and would eventually die mysteriously. An offshoot of this belief is also that the children that the marriage has produced would die.

While there is no evidence to back up any of these cultural believes, it hasn’t stopped millions of people from circumcising their girls in order to reduce sexual urges, shaming and blaming women who experience sexual violence, and literally just coming barely short of putting actual chastity belts on women all over the world, especially in Africa.

Should a man who has been absent for six years be allowed to make these sorts of demand. This question stands not because there is any reason to believe in the superstition behind the practices. It stands because even the very idea of men making such demands is outrageous and inhuman. Apart from the fact that nobody holds him to a similar standard which speaks to the hypocrisy of the situation, it is also important to know that this is a fully grown human we are taking about. And while it makes sense to expect faithfulness from our partners in monogamous relationship, exceptions seem appropriate when they have been apart for six long years