The 5 Most Horrific Ways People Have Tried to Discourage Sex

5 Infibulations

Male infibulation is the technical term for a procedure that basically wires your dick shut to prevent sex or masturbation. It was usually done by pulling the foreskin over the head of the penis and clamping it to the other side using a metal ring or stitches. Wait, was this something they did on purpose, or was it like a fraternity prank they pulled on passed-out dudes?

Who Did It (and What in God's Name was Wrong with Them)?

In Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the last thing a slave owner wanted was to have his slaves fornicating and masturbating when they could be out picking grapes or being killed by lions for entertainment. Thanks to infibulations their penises were rendered useless as it kept them from even thinking about sex since just getting a semi chub would have hurt like hell.

The practice branched beyond the slave trade towards the fine arts as well. Greeks and Romans enjoyed their live shows but hated big, floppy cock head. This was an issue since most public performances were done in the nude. The solution? Rather than something sensible like tiny hats or a fig leaf; musicians, athletes and comedians opted to do the least logical thing possible and infibulated themselves. Thus the head was obscured allowing for the modesty of these ancient cultures to not be tarnished as they made their way to the state-run orgy.

Then in the 1870s, masturbation became a popular scapegoat for most forms of physical and mental anguish such as insanity and epilepsy--which makes sense if you think about all the times you jerk yourself into a fit of seizures. A Welsh physician named David Yellowlees thought he would set up shop as a male infibulator in an effort to stop these masturbators.

While this sounds like almost as bad of a business venture as pets.com, Yellowlees actually found himself with a number of volunteers for the procedure. We're going to guess they were responding to some ads with very unclear wording.

4 Chastity Belts

A chastity belt is a harness that is made to fit around the waist, blocking access to the naughty parts, thus preventing sex. Kinda like wearing a Star Trek belt.

Who Did It (and What in God's Name was Wrong with Them)?

The chastity belt is by far the most romanticized and exaggerated of all the sexual suppressing devices, and romanticizing a rusty crotch locker is harder than you'd think.

They have often been portrayed as elegant devices voluntarily worn by a devoted if insatiably horny and untrustworthy wife waiting for her husband to return from the crusades. In reality they tend to look pretty horrifying.

Outside of a few rare cases, chastity belts were typically used as a measure of self-defense against medieval crotch warfare rather than as a means to subjugate women. The term "chastity belt" has been used since the Crusades in a metaphorical way to mean the chaste vows between a man and wife, but the literal metal cooch barrier is much rarer.

The first recorded usage of an actual chastity belt was in Florence in 1405 on what we assume was a slow news day.

The use of chastity belts to prevent consensual sex did not exist until the 1700s and lasted until about 1930. They were typically fitted on teen girls in order to keep them virgins until marriage. It was also handy to keep them from masturbating, which of course was a leading cause of infertility and demonic possession of the vulva.

The only other area that chastity belts have found a sex-preventative use was in England, in the 19th century, as a way to avoid sexual harassment in the workplace. From this we can assume that 150 years ago, men were a lot more direct with their sexual harassment, apparently opting to forgo a "your tits look great in that sweater" morning greeting for some surprise coitus by the water cooler.

3 Proof of Virginity (Or Else)

History teaches us that virgins are valuable, if for no other reason than angry volcano gods all seem to find them delicious.

The perceived benefits to a prospective husband would lead to larger dowries and the chance to marry a wealthier man. Hell, the British Royal Family blatantly came out and said that the "virginal status" of Diana Spencer was a huge factor in their selection of her to marry Prince Charles. But all of this amounts to nothing if we have fake virgins running about all willy nilly. Someone needed to devise a test to make sure.

Who Did It (and What in God's Name was Wrong with Them)?

The basic virginity test was proof of a hymen. Old timey people used to prove a bride's status as a virgin by displaying the bloodied wedding sheets the day after the marriage (though that also seems like it could be the sign of a chastity belt penis mauling). Yes, nothing shows your husband that you love him more than flying your hymen sheets at his in-laws house for a few weeks.

Another type of virginity test used in some parts of Africa involved a group of women deemed "virginity testers," who would examine girls of marital age and determine if they were virginal or not. Brides-to-be that were declared certified, grade A virgins were not only worth the extra dowry, but came with the bonus knowledge that they'd been groped by a group of creepy old ladies. Sometimes the exam consisted of a search for a hymen, sort of a vaginated Where's Waldo, but other times it would be determined by the sound of the woman's urine stream, as it's well known that brazen hussies have very splashy pee.

Speaking of urine, another type of virginity test was put forth in Pliny the Elder's History of the World, in which he claimed to have invented a virgin potion. All a woman had to do was drink it and then not whiz. He believed that the more sex a woman had, the shorter amount of time she could hold her pee. Remember this next time you are at the bar and see a girl going to the restroom every 10 minutes.

2 Publicly Outing Virgins and Sinners

When wanting to either stop someone from engaging in a shameful activity, or encourage "correct" behavior, an effective method is public acknowledgment and/or humiliation. Shame motivates almost as well as the promise of free tacos. Imagine if you had to always wear a shirt that displayed on it a tic-mark for every time you have masturbated; you'd either stop masturbating or, more likely, just never go outside again. At least not without a team of guys to help you drag around a shirt the size of one of those advertising banners they tie to airplanes.

Who Did It (and What in God's Name was Wrong with Them)?

The Scarlet Letter, though fictional, does detail the real Puritanical practice of sewing an "A" on the breast of women that fornicated outside of wedlock or, as the Puritans called it, "fucking like badgers. Outside of wedlock." In fact, this punishment became law in Puritan society in 1694 as a measure of leniency, since the punishment up to that point was either public whipping or death.

These days, where massive public shame is slightly less tolerated, abstinence rings have taken over as the unnecessarily and voluntary public method of displaying one's sexual predilections, narrowly beating out Abercrombie and Fitch's "I enjoy fisting" shirts. Generally worn on the ring finger in place of a wedding ring, abstinence rings let the world know you plan on humping absolutely no one until you're married. The world, in turn, continues to not give a shit.

While this appears fairly innocuous at first, it seems obvious that the goal is to make wearing of the rings so universal that not displaying one becomes the scarlet letter of slutdom.

It also seems rather questionable that you have teenagers publicly broadcasting the status of their respective dongs and vaginas when the only people apt to care are the sort that you probably don't want knowing about your teen's sex life.

1 Castration

When all else fails, remove the testicles. And not in a metaphorical Guy Ritchie-way. Like literally taking the balls off. Which may have actually happened to Guy Ritchie, come to think of it.

Who Did It (and What in God's Name was Wrong with Them)?

Sometimes monks did it voluntarily to stay celibate, sometimes it was done as punishment for crimes and sometimes it was done over the course of an entire day with knives and pliers to torture dudes who really pissed someone off. However, when wanting to read the most metal story about castration you need to look no farther than Boston Corbett.

Boston Corbett was a hatter in the 1850s. After becoming a born-again Christian, Corbett felt conflicted about his past life which included a deep rooted love of whores. Moving away from a major city, exercising will-power and vigorous fapping were all ideas that never occurred to Corbett, who decided the solution was to remove his own balls. With scissors.

After giving the twins the closest shave ever, Corbett did what any batshit crazy and newly balless man would do and headed out to prayer group, perhaps to send his nuts off to the great beyond with a kind word. Then, since self-castration works up an appetite, he had dinner. Then he took a walk to enjoy the breeze on his gaping crotch hole. By now it had been a few hours since the castration and it finally struck Corbett that maybe he should have a doctor take a look at the massive scissor wound that now existed where his scrotum used to connect to his body. We assume the session consisted of the long silences interrupted by the doctor shaking his head and saying, "Dude... " every five minutes or so.

Corbett went on to join the Union army as soon as the Civil War started and re-enlist three times as the Milky Way in an army full of Snickers. Eventually, he became a part of the squad assigned to find John Wilkes Booth and was the one to put a bullet in his spine, ending the life of Lincoln's assassin.

You know, it's not easy for us to say this, but it totally looks like it was his balls that were holding him back.

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For fetishes where the practitioners should try one of the above methods, check out 5 Incredibly Impractical Sexual Fetishes. Or find out about some sex toys that might make a person abstinent after one use, in The 25 Most Disturbing Sex Toys.

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