Corsets Victorian Women

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Body modification, in all forms, has always met opposition in Western society, and the modification of the human body through corsetry has historically been no less challenged. But tight-lacing is not the same as tattooing. The belief was that it not only altered a person’s figure, but it deformed her bones, compressed her viscera until they could not function properly, and interfered with her purpose in life: to become a mother. These concerns plagued the minds of female dress reformers and men alike from the corset’s advent in the fifteenth century until World War One began in 1914, when corsets were no longer mass-produced due to the military’s need for steel. The vast majority of European and American men and a percentage of middle-class Western women were those who opposed corsetry, causing those who accepted and enjoyed corsets to be the minority, and yet the undergarment persevered. …show more content…

The investigation will begin by addressing the myth of rib removal in Victorian women and proceed to analyze the effects of tight-lacing on the organs and spine. The psychological benefits, drawing heavily on Temple Grandin’s research on “deep touch pressure” will also be considered. The investigation will conclude with an examination of corset in relation to women’s role in Western society, culminating to answer the question of why the majority of Western society has sustained a negative attitude toward corsetry throughout history. An analysis of the opinions of those opposed to corsetry reveals primarily medical misinformation and secondarily a misogynistic view of women to be at the heart of the distrust of

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