The style of chastity belt that is called Florentine, is so called because
the earliest known specimen thereof, is the illustration of a chastity belt
in the Bellefortis (1405 C.E.) of Konrad Keyser von Eichstadt. This
illustration is reproduced, inter alia, as Plate II of Eric John Dingwall's
The Girdle od Chastity. The original caption of aforesaid drawing, assigns
its use among the people of the city-state of Florence.

In this style, the GIRDLE encircles the wearer's body at most usually her
waist, although a later specimen (item #40133 of the 1904 catalog of the
French orthotic and surgical instrument firm, Maison Mathieu) was designed
to ride the wearer's body on a slant downward toward the front, at the line
between the superior (iliac) and inferior (trochanteric) pelvic crests (as
the girdle of the sui generis specimen in the Cluny Museum, #6598, does).
As the girdle encircles the trunk of its wearer's body, the lock is mounted
here. The lock is properly discussed below; but if the lock is placed at
the wearer's back, rather than at the front of her body, it need not be as
complex as are systems currently in use to mate the lock to the girdle and
shield together with the lock all in one.

Girdles in Florentine-style chastity belts made by the principal modern
makers, tend almost invariably to be a single flexible strip of stainless
steel 1.25 inches (approx. 30mm.) wide and one sixteenth of an inch, a.k.a.
sixteen-gauge (ca. 1.6mm.) thick. William A. Jones, proprietor of La
Ceinture de Chastete, tells me that, for a few very small women, he has
made Belts with girdles one inch (ca. 25.4mm.) wide.

In particularly the Florentine style, the SHIELD does join the girdle at
center front, and does descend to cover the wearer's external genitals and
cleft, thereby blocking access to the vagina; but particularly in the
Florentine style, the shield ends at the wearer's perineum, between the
floor of the vestibule of the vagina and the anterior part of the anal
orifice. Instead of the shield continuing to rejoin the girdle at center
back, as it is done in the Venetian style, the perineal end of the shield
is mated by means of a D-ring to two chainettes of equal length.
In the work of the four principal modern makers, this shield is of flexible
sixteen-gauge stainless steel. In the work of earlier makers of the
Twentieth Century, C.E., the shield was made of one or another screen or
grid.

These CHAINETTES ascend from their permanent anchor at the perineal end of
the shield, to diverge over the anus, leaving that unobstructed. Their
ascent continues over each of the wearer's buttocks, where their opposite
ends join the girdle by means of permanently-mounted D-rings offset
equidistantly from the center of her back. Depending upon the arrangement,
they are normally arranged as: Shield at zero=360, right-hand chainette at
120, left-hand chainette at 240, or something similar. Although with the
product of modern makers the chainettes are flattened twist-link chain,
their counterpart on the original (if Keyser von Eichstadt's illustration
can be trusted as a faithful rendition) were straps of narrow segmented
plate. Counterpart to the chainettes on the Mathieu #40133, would appear to
be rod-stock bent in a curve. Counterpart to the chainettes with the 1930
Allen & Hanbury (British) female masturbation shield, were rubber straps:
One must presume their security depended at least as much on continuity of
supervisory inspection, as it ever might have depended upon the material
itself. During his final illness, J.H. Higginbottom (founder of Tollyboy)
postulated a design using stainless steel webbing 25mm. wide as a
successor/substitute; whether he ever built such a design, I do not know.
Likewise, William A. Jones, of La Ceinture de Chastete, has built a few
specimens using 20mm.-wide thin stainless steel straps in place of the
usual chain; and he says that customer feedback is so-so, but all report
that these make the whole Belt more rigid. This negates the particular
virtue of the Florentine style, especially now that modern metallurgy
enables a flexible shield of hardened and tempered sheet stainless steel.

The products of four of the major makers (La Ceinture, Tollyboy, Access
Denied and NeoSteel), are alike in that both the girdle open at the front,
and that the shield joins to the girdle by meand of either a direct
in-built lock, or a specially-designed LOCKING BLOCK. We are ahead of the
outline, and shall return in due course. (Incidentally, so does Mr.
Goethals' design open in front and join the shield to the girdle at the
opening. However, Mr. Goethals is not currently known to market a
Florentine Belt.)

In the product of all makers mentioned, the girdle opens in front. But the
opening is slightly offset from center front, to one side of the median of
the wearer's body or the other. Also, the ends of the girdle do not
overlap: Rather, they butt flush with each other, and are joined by a piece
called the BRIDGE, which is riveted to the short-end offset of the girdle.
In the part of the girdle which covers the centerline of the front of the
wearer's body, the long-end offset, are set -- depending upon the maker
and/or the client's order -- three or four pins, perpendicular to the outer
surface of the girdle. Longest and thickest of these, is the MASTER PIN:
The locking block fits over this, in one way or another, in order to hold
tightly together the sequence of girdle, bridge and shield. (In some
variants of William Jones' work, so does even the secondary shield fasten
to the [primary] shield by means of the locking block and pins.) Flanking
the master-pin, are two GUIDE PINS, whose function is almost entirely
self-explanatory. (In all most recent specimens of the Tollyboy Chaperon
[F/B-100, F/B-200, even FGA-200], there is also a fourth pin, bored
perpendicular to its axis to allow introduction of a wire and crimped-lead
seal.) the axes of all pins meet the girdle perpendicularly at its
center-line. The entire array of pins goes through corresponding jig-bored
holes in the bridge, and another corresponding array of jig-bored holes in
the top of the shield. When the locking block is put in thace and, by
whatever means, locked; the pins rigidly align all parts they transfix in
the necessary order: Ends of the girdle butted flush and aligned straight,
and the shield at exact descending perpendicular.

The shield covers the wearer's external genitals, blocking access to her
vagina. In modern Belts, the shield is pierced with a longitudinal slit
over the cleft of the wearer's vulva. By this arrangement, the metal to
either side of that slit, presses gently but firmly, and invariantly
constantly, against her labia majora, and thereby the shield causes her
labia minora to protrude through the slit, whether naturally they are
protrusive from her cleft or not. Depending upon the maker, this slit is 15
or 20 mm. wide: This is wide enough to allow the labia minora to protrude
together, but it is narrow enough to hold them together. Not only is that
far and away too narrow to permit penele intromission; but it is narrow
enough to make release of the Belt necessary, in order to allow insertion
and/or removal of tampons for menstrual sanitation.

One might think this is fully adequate, for all that can reasonably be
asked of any chastity device, is that it prevent its wearer from taking
part in sexual intercourse while it is in place. More has been asked of
this device in other times and places; and accessory options that are means
to the end of attempting to fulfill such requests, ranging from the
culturally-specific realistic to the most wildly a-functionally
fetishistic, are discussed below.

For the sake of the wearer's safety and comfort while the Belt is locked
in situ, the edges and interior side of the girdles of all modern makers'
Belts are edged and lined, usually with neoprene or silicone-rubber.
Likewise, the outer edges of the shields are covered with neoprene or
silicone. (Access Denied's practice of dipping the entire shield in a thick
bonded covering of plastisol, is an innovation which bears watching as it
shows promise.) The edges of the longitudinal slit in the shield should be
radiussed, i.e.: Bevelled ROUND, because these come directly into contact
with some of the most sensitive of all parts of the exterior of the
wearer's body.

All modern makers offer as standard, something that is in fact an option,
namely the D-ring mounted at center back of the girdle. Here in the West,
this option lacks serious function. (Among role-players in theatrics in
context of the fetish-interest subculture, a.k.a. "the 'scene,'"
this can be used for mating artifacts specific to that context, to the
Belt; or as a tether for bondage.) Both Mr. Higginbottom and Mr. Jones have
told me that when a client specifies that the center back D-ring be
omitted, they recognize this as a sure sign that contemplated usage is
serious rather than as any kind of plaything.

In Arab culture, THIGH BANDS have the function of preventing the wearer
from engaging in exertions and/or exercises which can break a virgin's
hymen non-sexually; and they do this by limiting the spread of the wearer's
thighs while they are in place. Also, while they are in place, they prevent
the wearer from riding a male-pattern bicycle, a motorcycle or horseback
astride. Further, while these are in place, they may prevent the wearer
from also wearing any garment of trouser configuration. Furthermore,
considerations of concealment dictate skirt-length at least to near the
wearer's knee. Whether or not either or both of the immediately-foregoing
considerations have any serious functional utility, is left to the
individual reader to decide. However, the thigh bands mate to the Belt by
means of two side-mounted D-rings, one on either side of the outside of the
girdle, from which the array of both bands and the connection between them,
is suspended by a single chain on each side. Where construction is modular,
enabling accessory options to be added and/or removed at (the Key-holder's)
will, this is done with a very small padlock on either side, which joins
each top link of the suspending chain to its respective D-ring. For
permanent attachment, however, the d-ring is simply opened and passed
through the top link of its respective attaching chain, and then closed and
mounted on the side of the girdle.

With this solitary and highly conditional exception, D-rings mounted on
the exterior of the girdle, other than those to which the chainettes are
attached, are exclusively artifacts of "the 'scene;'" and are irrelevant to
the Belt's functional purpose.

The SECONDARY SHIELD is a strip of stainless steel 25mm. to 30mm. wide
(depending on the maker) which is perforated with three or four rows of
small holes. It covers the longitudinal slit in the primary shield, through
which the labia minors protrude, standing proud off the outer surface of
the primary shield and over the protruding labia minora. In the Tollyboy
Chaperon, it is permanently mounted with rivets; with all other makers --
and with Tollyboy models earlier than 1995 -- it is detachably mounted,
either by another pin and locking block arrangement like that with which
the girdle is closed, or by making it long enough to engage with the master
pin of the entire apparatus at the girdle.

The ostensible purpose of the secondary shield is to prevent the wearer
from experiencing orgasm non-coitally, while the Belt is in situ; whether
by masturbation with fingers, by masturbation with a vibrator, or by
stimulation with another person's tongue. Evidence as to how successful
this is, is divided: Louisa MacIver, quoted in the sidebar to the article,
"Lock Up Your Daughters," in Skin Two #27, says that she was able to
masturbate while her Belt, a Tollyboy Chaperon fitted by Mr. Higginbottom
himself, was in situ. On the other hand, the somewhat masochistic German
woman, nom de plume "Anni," featured in Jan Thor's site (English
translation on Altairboy's site), says that, while she wore one of Mr
Jones' Classics, she was not able to masturbate. As only one case was
presented for either side of the question, and as both were self-reports to
all intents and purposes anecdotal, evidence is insufficient here to reach
or sustain an analysis. Simple observation, however, does suggest that the
secondary shield would entirely prevent stimulation of the protruding labia
minora by another person's tongue. Louisa MacIver, loc. cit., reports that
the secondary shield did not prevent stimulation to orgasm with a vibrator.

A rather more pedestrian purpose which the secondary shield serves
completely, is simply that of hiding the protruding labia minora from view.
This is useful in cases wherein the Belt is part or all of a club-dancer's
costume and ambient lawful standards of "decency" mandate concealment of
the external genitals despite whatever else is allowed to be displayed.

The secondary shield magnifies problems of sanitation while the Belt is in
situ. It breaks up the stream of urine, and it prevents close placement of
menstrual absorbent napkins. As such, it significantly shortens the
invisible tether between wearer and Key-holder.

While this exhausts the inventory of seriously functional parts of the
Florentine style of Belt, it by no means exhausts the inventory of
accessory options offered by the various makers. These options, extraneous
to serious usage, have been created in response to demand arising from "the
'scene,'" and are props for theatrical enactment of different bondage
fantasies. The SHIELD EXTENSION, for example, is a detachably-mountable
upholstered strip of stainless steel which mates with the perineal D-ring
and the center back D-ring to cover the anus and cleft of the buttocks,
thereby temporarily converting a Florentine into a Venetian; and as it is
furnished with a longitudinal slit, its purpose is obvious: Compulsorily to
hold a dildo (plug) in the rectum. Whatever fantasy purpose this may or not
have, its mundanely-functional purpose is like unto antlers on a duck: Nil
to negative. The same can be said about each, all, any and every PLUG,
whether inert or vibrating, smooth or nubbly-surface: Exclusively artifacts
of "the 'scene,'" totally lacking serious functional utility in this day
and age in this culture.

I hope that by the foregoing essay, I have enabled a reader who has never
seen a specimen or picture of a Florentine-style Belt nonetheless
accurately to form an imaginative picture of one; and assisted someone
contemplating purchase of a Belt, more deeply to consider options.

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