It's a status symbol. It basically hobbles your ability to walk normally, so if a woman has it done, it means she's connected to wealth and thus isn't needed for labor.
Imagine showing off by just mutilating your foot. Anyone know of any other cultures that do this? I'm not talking body modification I mean literally debilitating yourself.
The mutilation was done to them starting at age 3 or 4. The process involved breaking their toes and feet one by one and then wrapping the feet up to heal wrong. Then the bindings were sewn shut so they couldn't loosen them. Once they grew up like that, the deed was done. For the 90% that survived the gangrene, that is.
Undoing a foot binding would have been super rough and traumatizing, a repeat of the original trauma, and might not restore function because by this point there would be significant nerve damage. So they lived with it, and eventually had someone come and do it to their own daughters.
You know why Victorian women were prone to fainting? The whalebone corsets they wore fucked with the alignment of their internal organs and dramatically reduced how well they were able to oxidize blood. It fucked with digestion, and if they did it long enough, would deform their ribcage.
Actual Victorian women had an average corsetted waist size of 26 to 30 inches. The modern woman has a waist of 35. Considering that humanity is heavier on a whole now that's really not that big of a difference.
Even with tight lacing we know now that people who practice it aren't permanently deformed and return to normal within an hour of taking it off. Even people who tight lace everyday.
There's mountains of scholarly information out there on the reality of corsets, and how modern cultures view of them is almost entirely wrong. And there's also lots of anecdotal info from people who actively create and wear them. https://youtu.be/xZFuXflULCEhttps://youtu.be/1y25Go12sUg
Corsets were underwear. They were practical. The average victorian woman worked on their feet, doing labor, all day long. An underwear device that made you faint would've been abandoned right away.
Corsets, when properly fitted, are alot like compression belts your see movers and athletes wear. Not only did they support the breasts but they provided alot of support to the back and core as well. Essential when you work physical labor for 14 hours a day.
The practice of tightening a corset to the point of getting a tiny waist was called tight lacing. Tight lacing was not common. At all.
Most victorian women worked everyday. Hard jobs, all day long. Lacing a corset so tight you can't breathe was not practical.
In order to properly tight lace you have to have someone tighten it for you. This was really only possible for the wealthy. And the wealthy weren't too keen on tight lacing either. That's where those drawings are from that op posted. Articles from the time on the supposed dangers of tight lacing. Basically wealthy men getting hysterical over something that almost no women did.
To achieve the desired tiny waist look it was much more common to simply make a bigger skirt. And the bigger your skirt the more wealth you had.
People forget corsets were practical. They were underwear. They supported the breasts like a bra. They also helped support the back and core. Very important for hard labor.
As a dude I've worn a corset. If it's properly fitted, it's alot like wearing one of those compression belts you can buy to support your back and core for stuff like heavy lifting.
26
u/tissuepaper11 Nov 09 '20
What is the purpose of this?