Rape was sometimes the prelude to matrimony as the crime was viewed more as an instance of premarital sex than a violent, unwanted attack. If it was viewed as an attack at all, it was seen as an attack on a maiden’s good name and reputation. Victims were married off to their rapists for, most likely, a lifetime of abuse.
Rape was not only an assault on a lady’s reputation; it was also viewed as an attack on her father or her husband, whichever man was in “possession” of her and her vagina. After all, the woman was the property of a man; therefore the rape was seen as damaging the man’s property.
There were cases, though, in which medieval rape was given its just punishment, but these cases all had extenuating circumstances. For instance, if a child was raped, a pregnant woman was raped, or if the act of rape caused a woman to miscarry, the rapist met with harsher penalties. If the rape was violent enough that the victim was rendered barren and thus unable to provide her husband with heirs and a free labor force, the perp was severely punished.
Of course, this chapter contained only a brief overview of the numerous documented and undocumented crimes of rapes during the Middle Ages. The attitudes and punishments resulting from assaults varied from region to region and decade to decade. However, the general supposition we want to leave with you is this: a medieval maiden may own a vagina, but she did not own herself–a man did. And who were the rapists? Men.
Going Medieval on that Vagina
“Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.”
There were plenty of sociopaths in the Middle Ages who exercised incredible ingenuity to inflict pain onto others. The fairer sex was not immune to this affliction. Capital punishment was often gender-specific. For example, convicted men could face the gallows while convicted women were sentenced to the drowning pit. For medieval women accused of serious crimes, such as adultery, heresy, or witchcraft, the punishment was often torture. The focus of assault for women was often the breasts and genitalia as sadistic male torturers took particular pleasure in mutilating feminine body parts. In this time period, torture was not only legal and sanctioned; it was public entertainment. Bored townspeople turned out in droves to gawk at hapless torture victims. Special mocking and ridiculing awaited female criminals.
The Pear of Anguish was one of the most heinous of all female torture devices (although this implement was sometimes used on men accused of engaging in homosexual acts). The Pear of Anguish was a pear-shaped metal bulb that was fashioned out of four sections joined at the top by a hinge. Picture a fresh pear cut into symmetrical lengthwise quarters and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what this object looked like. The bottom end of the Pear of the Anguish had a crank that, when turned, expanded the four quarter sections outward. Imagine a shoe stretcher, but in four pieces instead of two.
The Pear of Anguish was inserted into the female convict’s vagina and the crank was turned… s-l-o-w-l-y. Not only was this terribly painful, which of course, was the point, but it could cause massive internal damage, such as ruptures and tears in the vaginal wall. The closest modern equivalent to the Pear of Anguish is the speculum that gynecologists use to sneak a peek inside the nether-region for the always-thrilling pap smear. Now imagine the speculum ramped up on steroids. With a large bulb at the end. Roughly inserted by a sadist. And with no pleasantly warm KY jelly. And in public. While naked. And lasting for days. And days. Now you have a pretty good idea of the joy that is the Pear of Anguish.
Another medieval torture device targeting the medieval vagina was the Judas Cradle. This was a pyramid-shaped metal block mounted on a post. The woman’s va-jay-jay was positioned over the Judas Cradle and she was lowered on top of it by ropes until she, herself, mounted the block. The weight of the woman bearing down on the pyramid caused her vagina to stretch more and more over days and days. Sometimes, the torturer would speed up the process by hanging weights on the woman’s ankles. Of course, the accused was naked during her impalement, which could be conducted in a public venue, so she faced humiliating taunts and embarrassing jeers in addition to the extreme physical pain. She was probably so centered on the excruciating injury to her most tender locale that she was oblivious to the emotional bullying.
The vagina is a remarkably elastic organ; it has to be to expel something as large as a newborn baby. Medieval torturers were no doubt aware of this essential and life-giving feature. It is peculiar then that they would think to take a natural function of the vagina — stretching to accommodate the passage of an infant or a particularly well-endowed male friend — and amplify it; to take a naturally painful experience — childbirth — and duplicate as a means of torture.
The worst part is, neither the Pear of Anguish nor the Judas Cradle were a guaranteed death sentence. Death was a side-effect. These torture devices were almost never cleaned and sterilized between uses so the wounds they inflicted could quickly become infected. Raging, oozing vaginal infections, in the pre-antibiotic Middle Ages, was the true cause of death.
As this is a discussion on the medieval vagina, we won’t get into breast mutilation devices. Suffice to say, the aptly-named breast ripper was a triumph of medieval torture ingenuity. Owww!
The takeaway from this chapter is that grotesque torture methods were commonly used by men to control, punish, and shame women for their crimes. Women usually died from infections and injuries sustained by the torture methods. The Pear of Anguish and the Judas Cradle were two sadistic torture methods used on women during the Medieval Era.
THE SEX
Chapter Overview
Sex, like women, virginity, and the vagina, was a paradox in the medieval world. Christian doctrine, that was so deeply ingrained in the culture of England in the Middle Ages, said that sex was sinfully wrong, something to be avoided at all cost. Yet sex is necessary for procreation. And it’s fun. To compromise, the church conceded, stating that sex would be allowed under certain circumstances — if the couple was married, had sex in the church-approved position, avoided sex on holy days, and if they didn’t enjoy it.
This section doesn’t just focus on heterosexual sex within the confines of marriage, though. Rather, it touches on other aspects of sex and the vagina, including medieval lesbianism, female masturbation, and prostitution.
Medieval Whores, Hookers, and Harlots: Take Your Vagina to Work Day
Ah, prostitution… the oldest profession. We give props to ladies in antiquity for understanding the basics of supply and demand. They knew the economic value of a high-demand commodity — the vagina — and found ways to use their “gift” for monetary gain. Prostitution existed well before the Middle Ages and continues, of course, to this day, but a look at how this controversial career choice was viewed in medieval days also provides us with an important overall view of women and sex during this slice of time.