#corset rant

[herbirdglitter]

I don’t know who needs to hear this but just because it has boning in it doesn’t mean it’s a corset

[marzipanandminutiae]

in view of Netflix and a few other networks apparently announcing that they are no longer requiring actors to wear corsets/stays, but framing it as the ultimate in feminist allyship against an Oppressive Historical Torture-Garment (and presumably typing their press releases one-handed, if you catch my drift), I have a few things to say:

1. I presume they will also be condemning Spanx, dieting, weight loss surgery, obsessive exercise, breast or pectoral or ab implants, Flat Tummy Tea, editing actors’ bodies in post, etc. since this is all about promoting healthy body image. ...right?

2. Okay, this one is not tongue-in-cheek: if a costume designer forces you to wear massively uncomfortable stays or corsets and tells you your discomfort is an inherent feature of that garment type, they are lying. All the articles on this cited reports from actresses saying they threw up because of Regency stays or couldn’t eat in Edwardian corsets. And while  I’m sure some of that is giving interview audiences the sensationalism they want to hear, I believe them in general. 

Someone needs to tell them that that’s not normal.

I have worn corsets and stays a lot in my life. I know people who wear them as everyday support garments. And neither I nor anyone I know has been seriously hindered in normal activities by them. There are even photos and videos of women from corset-intensive eras climbing glaciers, playing sports, having snowball fights, doing manual labor...living their lives

 Sure, there have always been and will always be people who find corsets or stays inherently uncomfortable- that’s why it’s good to have many support garment options available for people who need them. And there have always been and will always be ill-made, ill-fitting, or extreme examples of the type- I’m not  saying corsets are always The Most Comfortable Thing Ever For Everyone, because that’s not universally true of any garment.

But these production companies have been hurting actresses under the guise of “historical accuracy,” and this latest pronouncement is just another attempt to shift the blame. 

Don’t let them get away with it.

EDIT: Apparently the Official nature of the source for this announcement is in question, but the gist of the post still stands, so I’m leaving it up. Will edit further if new developments arise.

[ogachukwu-the-freak]

Can't fucking stand Black Butler antis, YES my favorite scene was the fucking asthma scene bitch AND???? I'M WEIRD? WHY DID YOU WATCH AN ANIME WITH CLEARLY SUGGESTIVE SCENES LIKE THAT HUH???

SPEAK UP.

[ghouljams]

It’s fun to watch you converse about old clothes. I have zero knowledge or interest in the topic but I am absorbing facts like a sponge and it is glorious. - ☀️

Historic fashion is really interesting!! I think so at least. I find it to be one of the "lost" parts of history because usually men don't care about it. That's the reason it took us so long to figure out the Greeks and Egyptians were literally sewing their hair to get some of those styles. And roman dodecahedrons!!! Those are finger knitters for gloves, but people didn't realize that for ages! How cool is that?

I have a lot of feelings on corsetry and old support garments, I think corsets and stays have been given a bad name because history is written by men and men fucking HATED corsets. I could talk about historic fashion for hours

[shimenchus]

it's so telling when someone says radical feminism is "white woman shit" and you bring up the fact that in many places such as africa or asia, the only feminism that prominently exists is radical feminism, and for those places it's just considered regular feminism that you get told those women live in places that aren't progressive enough for them to understand their actions properly. to say these women are too dumb to realize that their beliefs are "bad" simply because they don't align with western mainstream liberal feminism is rooted in xenophobia and racism, not to mention a lack of understanding of the struggles and violence women from these countries regularly go through, which can range anywhere from fgm to men rubbing and wiping their cum on the back of women's clothes in trains. but of course, as usual, there's no intelligent response to this so you just end up getting blocked or get rape wished on you.

[lovelycureaestetic]

Imagine being a death note fan and trying to say even a word about kuroshitsuji. The sheer audacity.

[tell-them-the-north-remembers]

If I hear the word "broodmare" used in a 3rd wave feminist, anti-patriarchy speech by a female character who is supposed to be from a time where bicycles aren't invented yet in one of these "historical" dramas I am going to lose my mind.

Like yes, feminists existed before the late 19th century! Good job! But am I supposed to believe that every single 16 year old princess had the exact same "I don't want to be sold off like a broodmare and bear children for my husband!" reaction to the news that they were going to have an arranged marriage, y'know the thing they have been prepared for their entire lives because children of monarchs in a pre-modern world were (and knew that they were) practically political bargaining tools?

Like showrunners of period dramas need to dial it down on the #girlboss juice and instead put more energy into historical costume research beyond typing "old timey dress" to Pinterest and running with the first five results.

[mysticfemme]

my butch bought me a new dark red satin button down shirt and some fitted black trousers and I look so hot in them

[intimidating-fettuccine]

Toby… Looks positively splendid in a corset.

You’d mentioned the idea of him wearing a corset as an off handed comment one day, and the idea had stuck with him more than he wanted to admit. Without telling you, he’d actually gone out and purchased a few, and one day as a surprise when you’d come home… He’d shown you.

And damn, did he look amazing. His already slim waist perfectly cinched, the corset clinging to him in all of the perfect places, and the bashfully teasing look on his face had you at a loss for words. Needless to say, Toby wearing a corset had become a thing between the two of you.

Corseted vests with his suits. Wearing a corset on private nights alone between the two of you, wearing them under his work uniforms as a way to tease you. He pulled them off effortlessly, and the look of him in them had driven you crazy.

You were torn between wishing you’d never made the comment at all and being thankful you did, because on one hand, holy shit your boyfriend was hot, and on the other hand, he knew that and relentlessly teased you with that fact. You never knew when you’d spot him wearing one, not until your arms were slipping around him and you could feel his waist smaller than normal hiding underneath, not unless he lifted his arms and revealed the black fabric underneath, not unless he teasingly lifted his shirt to wipe some sweat from his forehead, not unless he flashed it to you during a mission.

Toby looked fantastic in corsets, and he would make you remember that fact for the rest of your life, even if it killed you. For how addicted you were to the sight of him in one, he was just as addicted to the looks you’d send him when you saw him like that, and he’d do whatever it took to make you continue looking at him like that.

Even now, as he glances at you with a slight smirk from across the room, his fingers drifting over the bottom of his shirt… You can’t help but feel he’s got something planned, and you also can’t wait to find out what.

[marzipanandminutiae]

The Snark Is Real This Morning

Oh no! Some patriarchal shill just had an Illegal Corset Thought on the Internet!

Maybe they said "corsets weren't invented by the patriarchy" or "comfort was actually often a prime concern for most women's day-to-day corset-wearing, as evidenced by mid-late 19th century advertising" or "women didn't go around fainting constantly because most of them didn't tightlace most of the time."

Maybe they brought up "survivorship bias in extant clothing" or "rampant photo doctoring in the 19th/early 20th century" or "treating satirical cartoons and fashion plates as gospel" or "museums displaying corsets laced entirely closed when wear patterns and primary sources indicate that lacing gaps were more common in many times and places" These concepts are actually conspiracies invented by Big Misogyny to sell more booze to depressed history workers!

Maybe one of them said that she'd worn corsets, or even that she and/or her friends actually found them more comfortable than bras! Clearly she believes this is representative of all women throughout history and in the present day. Besides, she is suffering from Femininity Poisoning and nothing coming out of her silly, weak little brain can be taken seriously. Remember, it is Peak Feminism to dismiss what a woman says because of her gender presentation!

Don't be fooled! All of these statements mean one thing: they are saying that corsets were and are, always and forever, universally feminist and empowering. That no woman in the past ever found them uncomfortable, and that GNC women didn't exist before 1960 and also are icky. Did they actually say that? Doesn't matter! You know what she Really Meant- you've seen P*rates of the Caribbean and Br*dgerton! Corsets were always torture devices meant to oppress women, and any statement contradicting that clearly means the extreme opposite.

So what's a right-thinking and concerned Internet Citizen to do? You have a few options:

See point above re: femininity. Feminine-presenting women are basically brainless, so if a woman talking about dress history Wears An Skirt, you can just write off whatever she says. Easy peasy! Be sure to say something derogatory about her appearance, so others know why they shouldn't take her seriously.

Accuse them of not knowing their history. Any degrees, professional experience, publications, academic accolades, etc. they may have are irrelevant. Their primary sources are...idk photoshopped or something? Best to ignore them altogether. You have Feelings on your side, and that's far more valuable than any research!

Accuse them of accusing you of being a t*rf. Works especially well if they've said anything about the preponderance of t*rfs expressing your True and Correct views- that just means they're calling everyone who thinks like you a transphobe, duh!

Tell them they're not believing women. If they have cited so-called "realities of historical women's lives," well, that's clearly just the rich elite of any given era (who were also brainrotted by Femininity, natch). If you're a woman, and you say corsets were the spawn of Beelzebub, that should be enough ~evidence~ for anyone!

Appeal to common knowledge. Everyone KNOWS corsets were evil; can they really be DEFENDING a KNOWN HATEFUL OPPRESSIVE HELL-GARMENT?! What is the world coming to! If they ask how exactly everyone knows that and where that collective belief comes from, reply with a snarky GIF and block them. There's just no reasoning with some people.

Call them a tradwife. Are they a tradwife? Irrelevant.

With all these tools in your arsenal, you are now well-equipped to fight the horde of vile corset apologists online. Remember: It's Only Real Oppression If The Oppressed Group Is Miserable 24/7!

[ecrivaine-musings]

personally, I'm really tired of seeing modern stories about female characters in a historical setting, turning up their nose at the fashions of the day, and assuming that anything to do with frills and corsets is inherently vapid and vain

thinking that if you cared about any of that, there's no way you could be intellectual and forwards thinking for your time

like, this modern attitude that we are somehow inherently above or have wildly progressed from the lives that our ancestors lead, especially when it comes to historical costuming - is overly simplistic, lazy, and downright frustrating

[sins-of-the-sea]

“DON’T YANK OUT THAT ARROW IN YOUR SHOULDER, YOU IDIOT!! You’re going to damage some nerves or cause fatal bleeding! Let a doctor or surgeon handle that!! Also, arrows are not just little sticks on your skin, they fucking HURT!! And they tend to have hooked arrowheads that can do even FURTHER damage if you pull it out like a splinter! There is a reason we didn’t just yank it out of Giovanni when he got one near his fucking HEART in the Battle of Mactan!!”

Giovanni runs a finger along his sternum. “Don’t remind me.”

“Sorry.”

[quetiapinnapark]

I feel that one of the crimes of image-based social media is that everything is compressed to absolute shit and zooming in can't tell you some crucial details when youre like looking at like fashion pictures or makeup

[raydioactivegeorg]

THE FUCK R U DOING AWAKE

being ANGRY and MAD and a bit of a LITTLE SHIT

[ladystrallan]

Ugh I’m so frustrated right now! So I’m watching Dangerous Liaisons (the show on starz) and I was really liking it, the costumes and hair (which often I have the most problems with in terms of accuracy) look really really great like you can tell the costume designers did their research, but then in episode 6 they went and put in not one but two corset lines!!! CORSETS WEREN’T A THING IN THE 18TH CENTURY!!! THE SUPPORTIVE GARMENTS WERE CALLED STAYS!!! One line was about tight lacing and the other was about how it makes it difficult to breathe 😭😭😭 I was like nooooo it was going so well! Do better and hire a historical consultant :(

[artschoolglasses]

Television/Movie writers learn to write female characters as nuanced and complex human beings instead of just reducing them to a “FeMiNiSt GiRl BoSs” stereotype challenge!