The Bad Corset: A Feminist Reimagining

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Both a translation and critique of an early 20th century seminal French text on the physical effects of corseting, The Bad Corset explores contemporary anti-woman bias to challenge the commonly accepted assertions about corsetrys contribution to disease, disfigurement, and disorders of the female body. The original 1908 French book, Le Corset by Ludovic O'Followellwith its graphic illustrations, some of which are reproduced heretells a story, familiar to anyone interested in popular culture and fashion history, of women suffering for fashion, tormented by and subject to their corsets. However, a close reading of the texts tells a very different, and more complicated, story. This fascinating exploration, approaching the topic from a scientific perspective, and reproducing facsimiles of the original text, with translations and annotations, critiques the presumptions and anxieties of male medical professionals on the damage caused by corsets to the female body and psyche. Rather than seeing the women who wore these perceived instruments of torture as victims or dupes, The Bad Corset confidently asserts the agency of the women who wore them and highlights the way in which seminal texts can continue to influence our interpretation of the past, and womens lives and histories. The Bad Corset is a remarkable resource for scholars and students of fashion, medicine and gender history, taking a feminist approach to female agency and choice, and helping us reconsider the way we think about the shaping of womens bodies, and their lives.

Author Bio

Rebecca Gibson is Assistant Professor in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. Her published works include Desire in the Age of Robots and AI (2019), The Corseted Skeleton (2020), and Gender, Supernatural Beings, and the Liminality of Death (2021). She holds a PhD in Anthropology from American University, USA.