#the Thumb-Width Stick is an old old myth about the Middle Ages

[marzipanandminutiae]

Okay the person stating that going outside dressed slightly differently would lead to a public beating has to explain to me how then fashion evolved, like from the crinoline to the crinolette for example. Because not wearing a crinoline would mean that you would be escorted to the town square and beaten by all men in town according to this person, so how could you possibly make the switch to a crinolette?

oh no no, I imagine they mostly assume like...your husband would beat you in private, I figure. or something. so, you know, after he brings home your Government-Issued Crinolette (since he leaves the house and you never do), if you don't put it on right away, he's legally obligated to wale on you

but only with a stick the width of his thumb!

(seriously, though, to be fair, I've never encountered the SPECIFIC belief in Beating As Punishment For Women Dressing Outside The Fashion. I more meant that I've seen people who seemed to think social pressure to look a certain way worked through direct, immediate consequences or explicit/official rules- eg. a Quora question asking why Victorian women were "required" to wear their hair up)