I distinctly remember the scene in Titanic when Rose’s mother, Ruth, tightens Rose’s corset, while she urges her to marry a man for money. “It’s so unfair,” Rose said. “Of course it’s not fair,” her mother replied. “We’re women. Our choices are never easy.” Ruth continues to tighten the corset, Rose gasping for air.
Similarly, in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, maids dress Elizabeth in a breath-restricting gown. Later in the film during a battle scene, as she knocks a villain unconscious, Elizabeth says, “You like pain? Try wearing a corset.”
Beauty is pain, as the saying goes, especially if you’re trying to obtain the coveted hourglass figure, which women have been attempting in unhealthy, risky ways for centuries, and continue to do so today.
1886 ad for corsets. “FITS BABY TOO”
The corset, typically thought of as an archaic fashion garment, is now making a comeback with celebrities like the Kardashian sisters and Jessica Alba in the form of “waist training“- wearing a corset for hours every day to supposedly shrink your waistline permanently a few inches, especially in efforts to lose excess baby weight.
While celebrities post selfies in their girdles, many doctors are coming out and warning all the dangers waist training poses on women’s health. Doctor Oz, on his program, shows how applying a corset immediately shifts and compresses internal organs, crushes ribs, and causes acid reflux. The only way to slim your midsection, health professionals argue, is through exercise and a well-balanced diet.
Being fit and in shape is quite the trend nowadays, with artists like Demi Lovato posting pictures post-workout, studios for CrossFit and SoulCycle popping up and taking the country by storm, and “athleisure” fashion in style. Being healthy, or more importantly just looking the part, is a very important image to have in a country with obesity as an epidemic.
The stress to be curvy in the right places continues as well. Celebrities like Nicki Minaj, Kim Kardashian, Christina Hendricks, and Amber Rose are all notorious for their larger than life figures, despite how cosmetically or surgically enhanced they may be. In efforts to obtain bodies that resemble theirs, waist shaping may seem like an answer. If you want your butt to look bigger, why not make your waist smaller?
Liposuction was the most common plastic surgery procedure of 2013, increasing 371% since 1997, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. For those who don’t wish to go under the knife, slimming hosiery by the brand Spanx has amassed multi-millions in sales since its creation 15 years ago, with founder Sara Blakely credited as one of the youngest self-made billionaires.
Fashion trends change with the times, as do societal views on beauty, but the desire for an hourglass figure with a slim middle never seemed to disappear. The wish for this look has only exacerbated with the increase of surgical procedures, slimming apparatuses, and constant mediated images telling women this is what we should look like. Millions of women fall victim every year, spending thousands of dollars to look a certain way, even struggling with eating disorders and mental illness from the societal pressures of having to be perfect.
This “beauty” is not reality. Risking your health and finances to change your body’s natural shape poses many more risks than what it’s worth. Articles of women trying waist training and satirizing it have been posted online, and artists like Demi Lovato talk about their struggles with body image and urge women and girls to find self-acceptance.
Yes, feminine beauty pressures are unfair. But let’s make this choice an easy one- love your body just the way it is.
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