Three Sides: What She Says About Corsets, What He Says About Corsets, and the Truth About Corsetry

== Introduction ==
What is a corset? Doesn't it make women pass out? Men used them to control women and uphold the patriarchy right? Corsets would be metal and super uncomfortable right? Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong again. In this article, women's and men's view on the corset will be examined and then popular myths about the corset will be discussed and then debunked. 
So what is a corset then? If there is so much to discuss on the subject of corsets, what are they? Corsets are a form of undergarment that was popular during the mid 1800's and till the mid 1900's. In this period the corset did undergo some pretty drastic changes in their style, making, material composition, and popularity. The corset is traditionally underwear, similar to a bra. It is designed to support and shape a woman's abdomen. Corsets give structure through the shape of panels sew together, cording, or boning. A corset is closed using lacing that is tied to the wearers preference. There are many styles of corset, and the vast range of patterns available show that. For example, there is the Pretty Housemaid's Corset, the Truly Victorian corset, the 1890 Symington Corset, and many others. 
== What She Said: ==
=== Emma Watson ===
In 2017, Disney produced a live action version of The Beauty and the Beast; the movie starred Emma Watson as Belle.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_(2017_film) In post production of the movie, Watson made several comments on how she never wore a corset during filming. Watson claimed that, "Really, I was open-minded about doing anything, but the one thing I didn’t want to do was get myself into a corset, because I was worried I’d never get out again.”https://quotefancy.com/quote/802100/Emma-Watson-Really-I-was-open-minded-about-doing-anything-but-the-one-thing-I-didn-t-want
This refusal to wear a corset was an issue for several reasons: it perpetuates stereotypes about corsets and any period-based clothing she wore would not fit her correctly. Corsets are not designed to be worn so tightly that it is impossible to get out of one. The practice of lacing a corset down to extreme lengths was a rare occurrence, one akin to breaking out that one pair of heels you wear once a year because they hurt but look nice. This practice, commonly referred to as tight lacing, was popular with Gibson Girls. Being a Gibson Girl was an idea popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Gibson Girl was voluptuous in her hips and bust, but not sexy or promiscuous. She has a relatively small waist as to extenuate her hips and bust. Along with padding, tight lacing was used to achieve this "ideal" figure. However, it was very rare for the average person to regularly tight lace to emulate this figure. It was more common to use padding in the form of hip pads and very thing bustle pads. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Girl
While Disney has never claimed to be historically accurate in their making of Beauty and the Beast, it would be prudent to note that they got about as far away from 18th century French dress as one could get. Therefore, the lack of corset was actually not as bad of a happenstance because the dress Watson wore was designed to be worn without a corset. Bell's iconic yellow dress is admittedly lackluster in the live action film. It is gaudy and no where near the fashion of 18th century France, when Beauty and the Beast is set. The film's dress features cap sleeves, a basque waistline, and several tiers of ruffles. An 18th century dress was likely to feature an empire waistline, a decent length train, and a back side that would make use of a bustle. The New York: Cora Ginsburg Collection has guardianship of a yellow dress that fits this description. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1790-1799/
All in all, Watson portrays a common belief about corsets. The modern woman has no need for a restrictive, nasty corset anymore; we are much more civilized than that. Watson has a belief of corsets that has been taught to her by media portrayals of corsets, despite its falseness. 
== What He Said: ==
thumb
=== Vogue: Everything You Need to Know About the Corset in 6 Minutes ===
On November 23, 2021, Vogue posted a video to their YouTube channel titled "Everything You Need to Know About the Corset in 6 Minutes." The video sparked outrage amongst the historical recreation community on YouTube as the video was essentially 6 minutes of misinformation/misleading information or digs at women. Soon after the video was posted, Abby Cox, Karolina Żebrowska, Nicole Rudolph, Bernadette Banner, and Mina Le released a response video detailing the wrongs of Vogue's production. These wrongs include, but are not limited to: Catherine De Medici mandated corsets, Catherine De Medici brought metal corsets, corsets started off as fashionable clothing for the upper class, women were regularly tight lacing down to a 18 inch waist, corsets are made in a one size fits all scenario, and corsets would disfigure a woman's internal organs (supported by medical "Professionals"). After a disappointing expose on the ye olden days practice of corsets, the video moves on to corsets of the 40's and 50's. In this era, corsets did undergo a drastic change, being made out of more elastic materials, due to WWII; the video was doing pretty well with their information here. The video then goes on to describe "better" and more modern ways of naturally reducing a persons waist, such as exercise, diet, or surgically removing ones ribs ie. Cher. Clearly, major abdominal surgery is the best course of action. Mina Le brings up an excellent point in that corsets have had many different meanings over the years. Vogue's portrayal of corsets is one that shows them as unchanging in the public eye for the duration of their existence; they have not. Essentially, Vogue made a video that perpetuated easily disproved myths, stereotypes about women, and a very one sided portrayal of how corsets. 
=== Weird History: History of the Corset ===
thumbThe YouTube channel Weird History would inspire the hope in many people that they were about to be receiving a truthful education on an odd piece of history. While that could generally be the case for the channel, it is not when the topic is corsets. Weird History "History of the Corset" is just plain wrong; Bernadette Banner, Abby Cox, Karolina Żebrowska, Natalie, Rudolph, and Samantha Bullet created a video discussing these inaccuracies. The video has numerous inaccuracies such as: Catherine de Medici banning women from court if they had a thick waist, corsets as we know them today existing in the 16th century, iron corsets being for regular usage, bits of fabric with some random boning could make a corset, crinolines were a layer-able underskirt, and C.J. Dickinson was a reputable source. In addition to this, images were constantly used in the wrong fashion. for example, at one point, the video speaks of Catherine de Medici whilst showing an image of a 1830's woman. At another point, the video is talking about the 16th century whilst using images from the Edwardian period. All in all, Weird History presents a discussion on corsets that portrays them as evil tools of the patriarchy, rather than a piece of clothing, while having very little historical accuracy in the information they are presenting. 
== The Lies and the Truth ==
=== Medical "Professional" ===
It is a well known fact that the people of ye olden day had many an idea about medical care. Ignaz Semmelweis, the man who proposed washing ones hands as a way to prevent the spread of germs was laughed out of the medical community. https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-figures/the-man-who-discovered-that-handwashing-saves-lives/ Heroin and cocaine were once a perfectly acceptable ingredient to see in your children's cough syrup. The Four Humors; blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm; controlled whether a person got sick.https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/funny-science-hippocratic-medicine-and-four-humours Essentially, these people knew very little when it came to medicine and held many erroneous beliefs. It is common practice now a days to laugh at old medical beliefs due to their ridiculousness. So why is it then, that any medical advice given on women and corsets is believed without a second thought? Why do we believe that men who used leeches to cure the flu knew anything about how a corset affected the body? 
Despite all this, we still rely on medical "Professionals" such as Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring to tell us that corsets cause health problems such as cancer, tuberculous, and "curvature of the spine".https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222278/ First of all, cancer is a disease caused by changes in a person's DNA. The DNA will tell cells that it needs to create more and more cells, which makes a tumor. Eventually the body cannot survive with all the extra cells being created.https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer#how-cancer-develops Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection, which has literally nothing to do with corsets.https://www.who.int/health-topics/tuberculosis#tab=tab_1 Finally, scoliosis occurs when the vertebrae do not do what they are supposed to and get wonky; scoliosis has many different causes: genetics, comorbid neuromuscular disorders, or the vertebrae are misformed. .https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/scoliosisNone of these issues are ones that could be caused by a corset. 
=== Catherine De Medici ===
Catherine De Medici (1519-1589) was the Queen Consort of France; she was married to King Henry II. Catherine was highly influential in the politics of her country and assisted in the avoidance/resolution of many conflicts. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-de-Medici/The-Massacre-of-St-Bartholomews-Day Additionally Catherine is falsely credited with bringing the corset to France from her home country of Italy. Some state that Catherine held disdain for women with thick waists and therefore mandated corsets be worn in court. That is a bushel and a half of lies. For starters, in the 1500's corsets did not yet exist; that is where this should have been called out as myth. An undergarment called stays, while similar to the corset, was the fashion. Corsets would not exist until about the mid 1800's.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_corsets This myth that corsets were introduced by Catherine de Medici comes from the book The Corset and The Crinoline written by William Barry Lord. Lord was a veterinarian and soldier. He published eight other books, such as Shifts and Expedients of Camp Life, Travel and Exploration which was a wilderness survival guide. His other books detail how to best catch an prepare seafood. Clearly, this is a man who is qualified to write on corsets and the crinoline. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barry_Lord
=== Everyday Corsets were Made out of Metal ===
"Many of the original metal bodices that have survived are now believed to have been intended for medical purposes as orthopaedic support garments and back braces. Such garments were described by the French army surgeon Ambroise Paré in the 16th century as a remedy for the "crookednesse of the Bodie." Some of the more extreme examples of metal corsets that have survived are now generally thought to be later reproductions designed to appeal to fetishists, rather than garments intended for fashionable wear."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_corset
As stated by Wikipedia, metal corsets were not a normal thing for a person to wear; they were for medical purposes or sex. A metal corset would function like a brace for back injuries in which the spine needed to be heavily supported. Famously, the Mexican painter Frida Khalo wore a metal corset after suffering injuries from a car crash in her teens. Medical grade corsets are not an uncommon thing to see even today, for example, a medical corset made of plastic can be used to correct severe cases of scoliosis. https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/service/c/spine-center/scoliosis-care/scoliosis-treatments?utm_campaign=[Scoliosis]&&campaignid=824103802&adgroupid=39311677370&extensionid=&loc_physical_ms=9014668&matchtype=p&device=c&gclid=CjwKCAjw-O6zBhASEiwAOHeGxaMgWPAPvMmmz4WpCiU02n43Cski2snFeoo7VK-SX1asxy96iqv8dRoC0VAQAvD_BwE&keyword=treatment%20for%20scoliosis&ignore=&gclid=CKrEuuLE-YYDFdHNwgQdHmwD0A&gclsrc=ds Otherwise metal corsets were used for fetish purposes. A modern day equivalent would be a leather bodysuit; a piece of clothing that exists for the purpose of fantasy. 
== References ==