Things That Make My Blood Boil

Things That Make My Blood Boil

I was looking for some drawings illustrating strappado, one of the torture techniques of the Holy Office (popularly known as the Inquisition). I have seen woodcuts from the medieval period that illustrate it well enough to capture the cruelty of it. (That this, and other methods even more barbarous were approved and done at the direction of the Catholic Church should cause it enormous shame.)

It's disgusting--but what disgusts me even more is that when I searched for such medieval illustrations, what I found, outnumbering such, perhaps 10:1 or more--are images of strappado being done today, very clearly for the sexual excitement of people who find this exciting. (And yes, the text associated with the pictures, and that the women are all naked, leaves no question.)

When someone conflates torture, pleasure, and sex, they are profoundly sick. Yeah, I guess that I am just hopelessly old-fashioned and narrow-minded.