Design by Yosef Phelan 

When I posted to my Instagram Story that I was looking to speak to people who wear a chastity cage for an article, the most common response back was “I’m surprised you don’t wear one yourself” which, to be honest, gagged me a bit. My writing for Gay Times has clearly procured a reputation. However, I was also surprised at just how many people I knew replied sharing they were locked, had been previously, or held a key to someone else's cage.  

The locked, it seems, walk among us. Taking each step of each day with a cage hanging between their lubed up thighs. Evolving from the anti-masturbation belts of the prudish Victorian era into the chastity fetish of the BDSM community, in 2004 Gines Sanchez Gomez patented the modern cage with its metal, tubular design for the shaft. In the mid-2010s, the device gained greater notoriety when kink communities on social media dubbed October as Locktober: a month dedicated to the challenge of wearing a chastity cage. While it’s hard to tell just how many caged cocks there are in the world now, estimates argue around 2.5% of the US population own one. Additionally, the Cellmate scandal of 2020, which saw 40,000 hi-tech, digitally-controlled chastity cages be hacked and clamped shut globally, showcased how prevalent the device had become for couples in the midst of the pandemic. Brings a whole new meaning to lockdown, huh.