Corsets Growing Up Myths

Corsetry has been routinely used by women of all ages for centuries. So why does it have such a stigma today? In this paper, I will be analyzing the history, the modern-day myths, and the way that corsets are portrayed in the media. Many Feminists, Feminist thinkers, and women in academia have unwittingly fallen into the stereotypical mindsets that purport that corsets were used so that women would have less movement, corsets broke ribs, corsets encouraged an unhealthy bodily ideal, and so many more. These myths surrounding corsets hinder growth; the beliefs associated have cast an unfair light onto feminism for over a century. The point of this essay is not to dissuade the groups mentioned above, but to help re-frame these stereotypes into

It’s important to note that outrage against corsets and the ‘fancy dress’ of the time wasn’t just from the budding feminist movement, “but also doctors and educators, deplored fashionable dress, moaning that women were courting sickness and death, and were becoming unable to perform normal housework and to bear healthy children.” (Riegel) Even further than that, the women championing this movement were also against the new fashions at the time because of their supposed immorality– women were to be “pure and sexless” so as not to be pursue This caused the early feminists to create new clothing; one of these garments was the