--- title: Woman Asks Firefighters to Cut Her Free From Chastity Belt description: A woman in Italy recently showed up at a fire department with an unusual request. canonical: https://time.com/4185715/womans-chastity-belt-cut-off-by-firefighters/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-19T20:48:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:28:56.910Z og:title: Woman Asks Firefighters to Cut Her Free From Her Chastity Belt og:description: "I lost the key" og:url: https://time.com/4185715/womans-chastity-belt-cut-off-by-firefighters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ad4515e389a971a/698879accd1bbac53a6ff016/chastity-belt-italy.jpg?branch=production&width=508&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 508 og:image:height: 286 og:image:alt: 504375062 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Woman Asks Firefighters to Cut Her Free From Her Chastity Belt twitter:description: "I lost the key" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ad4515e389a971a/698879accd1bbac53a6ff016/chastity-belt-italy.jpg?branch=production&width=508&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Woman Asks Firefighters to Cut Her Free From Her Chastity Belt > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 19, 2016 8:48 PM UTC  Female chastity belt Female chastity belt clubfoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 19, 2016 8:48 PM UTC A woman in Italy recently showed up at a fire department with an unusual request. The 60-year-old, who has not been named due to Italian privacy law, walked into a station in the city of Padua and asked firefighters to help her remove her chastity belt, according to [local newspaper Il Messaggero](http://www.ilmessaggero.it/primopiano/cronaca/padova%5Fprigioniera%5Fcintura%5Fdi%5Fcastit%5F60%5Fanni%5Ftemo%5Fdi%5Fstuprata-1490054.html). She [reportedly](http://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/cronaca/padova-chiama-i-vigili-del-fuoco-aiuto-apritemi-la-cintura-di-castita-%5F2154761-201602a.shtml) told the crew: “I lost the key, please help me open the chastity belt.” **Read More:** [The Medieval Chastity Belt Started as a Joke](http://time.com/4061117/medieval-chastity-belt-myth/) The woman then surprised everyone when she pulled up her sweater to reveal the contraption, complete with iron padlock. The firefighters helped break the lock before asking her if she had been forced to wear the belt by someone. However, the woman told them she was not a [victim of domestic abuse](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/10/10/man-arrested-for-forcing-his-girlfriend-to-wear-a-padlock-on-her-jeans-so-she-couldnt-cheat/), but was instead wearing the device because she had seen [frightening incidents of sexual assault](http://healthland.time.com/2013/11/06/introducing-rape-preventing-panties-with-locks/) on the news, according to [Italian news outlet TGCOM24](http://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/cronaca/veneto/cintura-di-castita-60enne-rimasta-prigioniera-temo-di-essere-stuprata-%5F2154963-201602a.shtml). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4185715/womans-chastity-belt-cut-off-by-firefighters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4185715/womans-chastity-belt-cut-off-by-firefighters/"},"headline":"Woman Asks Firefighters to Cut Her Free From Her Chastity Belt","datePublished":"2016-01-19T20:48:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:28:56.910Z","description":"\"I lost the key\"","url":"https://time.com/4185715/womans-chastity-belt-cut-off-by-firefighters/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Italy","firefighters","Weird News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ad4515e389a971a/698879accd1bbac53a6ff016/chastity-belt-italy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ad4515e389a971a/698879accd1bbac53a6ff016/chastity-belt-italy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"504375062","caption":"504375062","creditText":"clubfoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4185715/womans-chastity-belt-cut-off-by-firefighters/","name":"Woman Asks Firefighters to Cut Her Free From Her Chastity Belt"}}]}] ```