Cilice

OK, now I’m worried. We were talking about cilices last night at work. According to www.cilice.co.uk, motto How Luminous is Darkness, a cilice is a spiked metal belt or chain worn strapped tight around the upper thigh. It hardly needs saying that this is a Catholic thing, in particular they are worn by members of Opus Dei. The idea is, I think, that the discomfort caused is a penance for your sinfulness. The thing that’s worrying me, though, is that I find the idea of a woman wearing one so very intriguing! The concept of someone thinking she’s so sinful that she needs to atone for it by wearing a spiky metal garter-belt, it’s so weird, so revealing. That was what I always used to find so attractive about Catholic girls; they knew so much about sin it was always at the front of their minds. And let’s face it, the upper-thigh, strapped tightly, contrasting with the delicate metal-work wrought by Italian nuns, it’s a compelling image. Mama Mia, Agent Provocateur should be selling them!