CHASTITY belts went out with the Dark Ages? It seems not.

Today, far from being relegated to the annals of a sinister chapter of history, devices to lock away genitalia are still in business in Britain.

Most are flimsy things, designed for "fun" games in more adventurous bedrooms and costing as little as L 50. But a significant number have a far more sinister purpose. Eminently practical, designed to be invisible under clothing, they are made to guarantee female fidelity. At least four British manufacturers make sophisticated devices for export to the Middle East and parts of Europe. No-one will give figures for sales, but they say business is thriving.

"Justin" - he will not disclose his real name - is typical of the businessmen cashing in on a lucrative sideline. He prefers to remain anonymous and runs a small mail order business from a PO box number.

At a recent Rubber Ball, an annual jamboree held at the Hammersmith Palais in London and the high point in every rubber fetishist's calendar, he was prepared to reveal some of the secrets of his trade. He explained that he first got involved through the sado-masochism scene but soon realised that there was a demand from overseas clients for chastity devices that are infallible but discreet. He considers himself to be a craftsman.

His chastity belts are handmade and minutely adjustable to allow for greater comfort. Made of welded metal lined with leather, the belts have perforations in appropriate places to allow for bodily functions.

Each takes a week to make and costs around L 400. There is only one key.

Justin, dressed in PVC from head to foot, is unconcerned about the uses the belts are put to when they reach their destination. "Some do go to the Middle East but it's not my business what clients do with them. If they are prepared to pay, then I will supply."

Louise MacIver, an artist who wore a chastity belt for ten weeks as part of an art installation The Pledge of Fidelity, The Pledge of Self-Discipline, has no doubts that a sinister trade is in full swing. "I found out about it quite gradually, although I was cynical enough to feel that things like this happened.

The man who made my belt implied that women were wearing these things for real but, ultimately, he does not know what happens to the product when it leaves his hands. The whole business is very shrouded."

Her struggles to cope with a L 300 stainless steel device lined with neoprene were captured on film by fellow artist, Karen F, and MacIver recorded her thoughts and feelings on tape. The resulting installation, which shocked and mesmerised viewers in Glasgow's CCA venue, consisted of three looping films showing MacIver going to the toilet, washing and putting talc on her bruised skin.

"Sometimes I hated it and saw it for the barbaric thing it was. It was messy and you had to relearn how to use your body. At other times I could actually cope with it," explains MacIver, who got the idea of exploring the mechanical prevention of sexual infidelity after seeing a postcard of a medieval chastity belt from the Cluny Museum in Paris.

In a world where issues of body ownership, control over women and sexual power are still very much on the agenda, she felt that wearing a chastity belt would be a good way to explore the psychological and physical effects of being in someone else's power. Her male partner had the only key and chose when to use it. "I cannot actually experience 'not owning my own body' but I can create an environment where I do not own the rights to my body sexually, the entire point of the chastity belt in the first place," explains MacIver. "I was curious and I wanted to know more."

The work was part of Amnesty International's Freedom Festival, commissioned by the CCA in collaboration with Hull Time Based Arts.

Those who treat the belts as so-called leisure items would prefer to distance themselves from the export trade. Michelle Olley, features editor of glossy fetish fashion magazine, Skin Two, is horrified at the idea that chastity belts can be inflicted on unwilling 20th-century women: "If they are still being used for that purpose then I have been wasting my time for the last seven years. Skin Two is about consent, playing games and having fun with sex. If you are wearing a chastity belt because your partner insists, then that is very worrying."

Steve Beech, of Westward Bound Kinky Clothing Collection, who runs a mail order service in Cornwall, agrees that consent is everything. Although his best-selling chastity belt range look pretty terrifying, they are essentially cosmetic. And he sells more male chastity belts than the female variety. "Women tend to be dominant in the scene, which is very emasculating for men," he explains. "Little boys never grow up from their mothers, ever."