Chemise cagoule explained

A chemise cagoule (in French ʃəmiz kaɡul/, "cowl shirt") was a heavy nightshirt worn by pious Catholic men and women during the Middle Ages in order to permit a husband to impregnate his wife without having to endure any unnecessary physical contact with her.^[1] The chemise cagoule covered all sexual areas, but left an opening for necessary contact.^[2] Pious couples were expected to use chemise cagoules at every lovemaking session, and thus would never see each other naked.^[3]

A similar concept was allegedly employed in one or more unspecified Native American cultures as the "chastity blanket", an item of similar design held by tribal elders until requested for use by a man, according to anthropologist Gordon Rattray Taylor.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Book: Browne, Ray Broadus. Glenn J. Browne. Laws of Our Fathers: Popular Culture and the U.S. Constitution. Popular Press. 1986. 139. 0-87972-338-6.
2. Web site: Chemise Cagoule. Probert Encyclopedia. 2008-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20080503033414/http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Chemise+Cagoule&offset=0#. 2008-05-03. dead.
3. Book: Grosz, Elizabeth A.. Elspeth Probyn. Sexy Bodies: The Strange Carnalities of Feminism. Routledge. 1995. 91. 0-415-09802-5.
4. Taylor. Gordon Rattray. 1973. Sex In History. Modern Morality. (This is at best a secondary source, and does not, itself, identify the source of its data regarding a so-called "chastity blanket" having been used by any indigenous American people.)