UPDATE: Success! We have been contacted by Armagh County Museum who accept that the description demeaned violence against women and girls and have agreed to reword it. They said the original description dated from an exhibition 20 years ago. We will keep you up to date.
The petition is now closed.
In the beautiful Georgian building housing Armagh County Museum sits an object with a very ugly history. The Scold’s Bridle is an iron object resembling a small birdcage, it locks at the back and has a metal spike projecting inwards from the rim. It was used to punish women, ‘who had been found guilty of speaking too much, too loudly’ or of being ‘nagging wives’ in 16th and 17th century Ulster. The torture device was placed over the heads of convicted women and the spike held down their tongues, painfully preventing speech. The punishment was conducted in public with the intention of humiliating the victims as well as causing them physical pain. The Scolds Bridle is part of the history of domestic violence and modern museum visitors should expect the museum to reflect this. This is not the case.
This artefact is presented using a jocular and dismissive tone. On the museum’s website the subtitle of the exhibit is, ‘Gossiping women meet their match!’, and whilst the display raises the question of ‘why the torture was reserved for women’, it refuses to engage with it claiming, ‘in the modern era of political correctness it is perhaps best not to pursue the matter further!’ .Political correctness is a dog whistle term used by those who benefit from the status quo to avoid engaging with the experiences and rights of marginalised groups whilst simultaneously accusing them of going too far. The matter needs to be pursued further. The museum must clarify that this is a torture device and that it fits into a gendered pattern of discrimination aimed solely at silencing women which continues in NI today. The Scolds Bridle was reserved for women because they had transgressed a gendered behavioural norm that women were silent and speaking was the preserve of men. The fact that there has been no outcry regarding the presentation of this artefact in 2019 indicates how accepted and mainstream casual attitudes to violence against women are.
The age of the item does not excuse its comedic presentation because the attitudes embodied by the Scold’s Bridle are still very present in Northern Ireland’s culture today. Sixteen Thousand domestic abuse crimes were reported in NI between June 2018 and July 2019, the highest rate in 15 years. Since violence against women is such a prevailing problem Armagh County Museum’s decision to present a weapon used exclusively to control women in a jovial manner is extremely irresponsible and demonstrates the contempt our society has in general for the rights of women.
Please take a few moments to sign our petition (the petition is now closed) to make Armagh County Museum rephrase the description of the exhibit known as the ‘Scolds Bridle’ so that the item is acknowledged as a torture device and placed within the context of violence against women.
If you have you come across any other examples of exhibits being presented in a way which disregards the experiences of women, please let us know by emailing info@wrda.net .
UPDATE: Success! We have been contacted by Armagh County Museum who accept that the description demeaned violence against women and girls and have agreed to reword it. They said the original description dated from an exhibition 20 years ago. We will keep you up to date.
