In 1789, a farmer used the device to silence a woman who was not well-liked by her neighbors because of her “clamorous tongue.”
He also forced her to walk around a field while children taunted her. Scolds weren’t the only victims of the torturous bridle.
In 1655, a Quaker woman named Dorothy Waugh was placed in the iron mask for preaching in the marketplace.
Finally, this form of punishment started to decline when the Victorian Era began. People started to view the Scold’s Bridle as ridiculous and outdated. The last mention of a Scold’s Bridle was in 1856.
Unfortunately, there were punishments for scolds that were even more barbaric than the Scold’s Bridle. During the Middle Ages, women were also tied to chairs or toilets and paraded around town.
Around the Tudor Era, a similar punishment was created. It involved tying women to a chair and dunking them in water. The women would often die of shock or drowning.
As you can see, the practice of silencing women’s voices goes way back. While these devices no longer exist, the policing of speech still occurs today. It raises the question of how far we’ve really come in terms of women’s rights.
