4. Sears sold ladies “safety” belts well into the twentieth century
The safety belts in the 1908 Sears catalog and in many other years were marketed for and to ladies, sold (in 1908) for thirteen cents (plus two cents postage if shipped by mail) and had nothing whatsoever to do with safety. Sears claimed the belts were “easy and convenient” and recommended that customers order them one size larger than their actual waist measurement. The belts were offered in sizes ranging from 22 to 36, and the customer could order the belt in any color they wished as long as their wish was for white. The safety the belts offered was the same as similar belts which dated to medieval times – the chastity belt.
Although the story of the knights off to fight in the crusades – and thus away from their lady for years – equipping them with chastity belts is a modern myth (scholars date the use of chastity belts to the fifteenth century) there is no denying their existence. By the nineteenth century, they were an accepted medical device prescribed for the purpose of preventing self-stimulation, as it were. The device became so widely accepted that as late as the 1930s the United States Patent Office accepted applications for patents on new designs. They were never intended to be worn for extended periods of time as legend suggests, as numerous infections and other issues would be the inevitable result. Up to the 1930s physicians and moralists recommended their use to prevent what was considered an unhealthy activity, which led to mental and physical disorders.