Inhuman Punishments for Women in History
The kind of inhumane punishment meted out to women throughout history is unthinkable in today’s society.
The basic idea of punishment is that there is evil and wickedness in human nature. It can only be remedied when severe punishments are imposed and people stop committing crimes out of fear.
Now that the woman is considered weak and also less intelligent than the man, in order to control her, the man has got the right in the patriarchal system to adapt the woman’s personality to his liking and he took away his identity and brought her under his control.
It started with domestic violence but some of the crimes were exposed which involved the whole society. Her biggest crime was having sex with another man. Strict punishments were imposed on her at all times because she was considered guilty of adulteration in childbirth.
For this crime, she was stoned, burned alive, killed, and in Russia, it was customary to bury her in half the earth and leave half of her body open. Where she would die of starvation and exhaustion due to the climate.
One of the allegations against the woman was that she spoke too much. Her husband also disliked her talking too much and some rules were made for her. In addition, in Europe, machines were set up to punish women in particular, who either crippled them or ended their lives by inflicting severe physical abuse on them.
For example, a machine called a ‘Spanish donkey’ was made on which a naked woman would be seated and her private parts would be cut into two pieces.
This horrible machine was also called a wooden horse. A naked woman was seated on this machine and a special pleasure was obtained by tearing her private parts.
Circumcision was also performed on women, which was not possible without torture. This was done to girls under the age of 15. This practice is still practiced in some parts of Africa and in Egypt, although it has been greatly reduced.
The Breast Ripper
Girls who became unmarried mothers were given very painful punishments. A machine called a ‘breast ripper’.
Through them, their breasts were separated from the body. To make it more painful, the machine was heated red and the breasts of the women were separated. Thus, even if they survived, they would have died without breasts and would have been ridiculed and humiliated in society.
Scold’s Bridle
Similarly, a device Scold’s Bridle was developed to stop women from gossip and slanders.
That is to say, this machine was made to curb this habit of a talkative wife. The husband would go to court or to a religious court and ask that my wife be controlled because she is more talkative.
The court would order her to wear the device. After that, if she moved her tongue, the iron nails in it would injure her tongue. The device was used in Ireland and England in Shakespeare’s time, and Shakespeare’s play “The Taming of the Shrew” is about that.
After that, the husband would take his wife out with him from place to place, and just to humiliate her he would tell the people outside that this is my wife’s big talk. The court has punished her so you should spit on her face too. In this way, his own wife would be so humiliated.The children walked with her, weeping over her mother’s disrespect. The law would allow a husband to humiliate his wife so much. Despite the cruel behavior of the men, the woman was forced to stay with her husband because of social pressure. Her fear of poverty and hunger forced her to keep the marriage.
The methods of punishing a woman do not end there, but she is severely punished in other ways, using many other machines, such as women who are called witches or women who are found guilty of adultery.
These women were cut in two with a saw. First, they were hung upside down or then saws were driven on their specific limbs which caused them to be torn to pieces.
The Pear of Anguish
Similarly, women who committed miscarriages were punished with a Pear of Anguish machine.
The machine was inserted into a woman’s vagina and then its cranes were slowly opened to cut the woman’s genitals and internal organs. The machine also punishes witches and homosexuals. Every woman who was punished by this machine was certain to die.The greatest revenge of the victorious nation in history was to rape the women of the defeated nation and celebrate the victory. In Algeria, when the war of independence was being fought against France, French soldiers would go to the village and rape the wives of the men who were fighting against them.
In Bosnia, Serbs systematically raped women and kept them in camps until they became pregnant. These women also left the hospital at the time of childbirth and disappeared.
Development of any society will not be possible unless society gives women equal status and eliminates prejudice, hatred, and revenge. These cruel punishments did not end the existence of women and today women are engaged in the struggle for their freedom.
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