Corsetry: Empowering or Belittling

Back in December, I wrote a blog post that compared corsetry and anorexia, saying that they were both drastic and unhealthy means to alter one's body to fit the ascribed beauty standards of the times. While it is true that corsets were a requirement for women in Victorian society, that certainly is not the case today. I realized that my previous post completely ignored the corset wearers of the present, and why they do it. I wanted to know if they lace up because of low self-esteem, pressure to be pretty, or if there is a more wholesome reason. So what did I do? I bought a corset. A real life, steel-boned, waist training corset, the CS-426 longline brocade underbust corset from www.orchardcorset.com.  .

It arrived Thursday morning. I eagerly tore open the package which contained the aforementioned garment. I had ordered it 20 inches wide, because the website recommended ordering a size 5-7 inches less than your waist. I swiftly unlaced the back in order to loosen it enough to fasten the busk in front. This was with some difficulty because I failed to see the instructions that said to unlace it all the way for the first wearing. I sucked in my tummy, struggled for a few minutes, skooting and a shimmying until Voila! It was on. I then tightened the laced as tight as I could, and attempted to breathe with little success. I looked in the mirror. There was a huge inch space between the laces.The hips were too loose, and the middle too tight. Maybe I ordered the wrong size? I looked in the packaging wrappings for the return policy, and instead I found the instructions.

It turns out that corseting is a tricky science. There are actually rules to wearing one. You can't just lace it as tight as you can. I read the instructions and I had pretty much done everything wrong. I was lucky that I hadn't killed my expensive torture device. There's this thing called "seasoning" your corset, which involves wearing it for only an hour the first time you try it on loosely tightened. Then you can increase the time you wear it as well as the snugness by a little bit over the course of two weeks. This is so that the corset can mould to your body, and your body can get used to being laced. Not doing so risks bruising your organs and shortening the lifespan of your corset. Turns out that the reason it was ill-fitting was because I hadn't gone through the proper seasoning phase. Seasoning your corset is like courting it; you have to get to know each other in a safe, controlled way.

The next few days I spent seasoning it. I wore it for one hour on Friday, an hour on Saturday, and an hour in the morning on Sunday, and an hour in the evening. Today it was already significantly easier to put on. The gap at the hips is minimized, and I can tighten it tighter without much resistance. This is because the corset is breaking in and becoming more pliable, not because my bones are deforming and my organs are shifting.

On that topic, I was rather curious about the longevity of my organs. I had completely fallen in love with my corset, but I didn't want there to be an long term health risks. I conducted some research, and it seems that there are very few risks if waist training is done right. Here are the general health facts:

• If it hurts, you're not doing it right. It should never cause pain or shortness of breath. If this happens it means you have laced it too tight, or you're wearing it too long.
• Sure, it can shift your organs, but only a little bit, and they will most likely shift back after not wearing a corset. Women's organs shift a whole lot in pregnancy, and they mostly move back afterward. The human body is made to bounce back to its natural shape. 
• It can take years of wearing a corset 23/7 to get a significant waist reduction that will stay when you take off your corset.
• A lot of the health problems from wearing corsets in the olden days were from wearing corsets when children were still growing. This caused all kinds of deformation.
• The corsets of today are much safer for your back than the corsets of the Edwardian era, which caused a sway-back, which leads to back pain. The corsets of today do the exact opposite for your back; they keep it straight. Some reviews on Orchard Corset even said it even improved their pre-existing back pain. 

Thus, health problems can most likely be evaded by corseting at an appropriate full grown age, and by not pulling the laced too tightly too quickly. But don't take my word for it and sue me if something happens to you...

Those are the health issues, but what about the emotional and psychological issues? I was expecting that I would feel like a slave to patriarchy beholden to an unattainable body image, but that is not the case (at least in these first five days I've worn it). On the contrary, I feel empowered and as fancy as a queen in a palace filled with fine art and a harpist playing at breakfast as I sit on a baroque chaise lounge, sipping tea with my pinky curled. But what is empowering about sipping tea and feeling like royalty? Well, nothing. The empowering part is the feeling of wearing a corset; It feels like armour; I feel protected in a calming embrace that gives me the confidence to know that I am fabulous and no one can hurt me or tell me otherwise.  I look forward to every morning when I get to wear my beloved garment and experience its comforting hug. My posture is improved; I can only stand tall, proud, and confident.

Emotionally, I do not feel demeaned by wearing it. However, that may be simply because I am wearing it out of choice. The ladies of the past might not have had a choice. They might have simply wore it because they had to. I can take it off whenever I want, but if I lived in a world where I was forced to wear it day and night, I would probably loathe and despise it, rather than obsess over it as much like I obsess over my books or my dog. Now, I wonder if I could get away with wearing my corset with a tiara in public...