The Electric Corset
Imagine yourself as a woman during the Victorian Era…
Imagine its year 1885. You are a 19-year-old woman, weighing around 135 pounds. You consider yourself too big to be skinny, but too small to be fat. However, the main goal you have is to shed a couple of pounds and have a model-ready figure. You are willing to wear tighter clothes to show off your figure, yet stay modest. You are living in an era where diseases such as Typhoid, Tuberculosis, and Cholera, are going around. Installments such as clean water, whole foods, antibiotics, and vaccinations are implemented, however, they are not enough to fully contain and treat diseases that are being spread. You want the perfect man and the perfect marriage proposal. You will be known as a “spinster” if you don’t get married in your early twenties, so you are on the hunt for the perfect man. You are getting better at household duties such as cleaning and cleaning, with little to no education. Lastly, if the pressure of being a woman in the Victorian era wasn’t enough, these obligations may have just shown that. Due to the lack of education, and knowledge of marketing techniques, you seem to believe almost what every advertisement claims to do.
The electric corset featured in newspapers:
“Dr. J. A. NELSON, M.D., & ., London, “earnestly recommends “all Ladies suffering from any bodily ailment and those “who are well to adopt these corsets without delay. They perform “astonishing cures and invigorate every part of the system.”
This quote specifically reaches out to those women who feel like they’re suffering any sort of minor illness. It specifically claims that the corset is the best cure for this.
Below is a theater commercial advertisement.
Along with newspaper advertisements and magazines, there was also theater commercial advertisements. Above is a video about Warner’s corset. The corset claims it, is “guaranteed not to rust.” The advertisement shows two kids fighting over their mother’s corset. However, the mother of the commercial is not upset, because due to it being Warner’s corset, it definitely would not rust. The use of these fictional commercials would help bring the idea of the corset to life. By showing the “actuality” of damage that can be done to the corset, and how strong the corset is to not be damaged.
These claims did exactly what you’d think they’d do. They intrigued women. The many things that these corsets could do almost seemed unreal!
So what were women exactly persuaded by? The electric corsets claimed too…
- The electric corset will make women appear more attractive
- The corset includes a medical battery, a device used by medical professionals which cures diseases
- The corset helps preserve a woman’s good health
- There is a significant improvement in enhancing a woman’s figure
- Increases weight loss
As a woman in 2022, if one piece of clothing could provide me with all these benefits, I’d be pretty much set. However, with the increase in technology and knowledge of how medication and diseases work, I can understand one piece of clothing is not going to solve these problems. With the use of technology, I am able to look up real journal articles and physician notes to see what the myths versus facts are for weight loss. As well as there is so much information on marketing techniques, that I am not easily convinced to believe everything that is in an advertisement. So why were women so easily persuaded during this time period? Let’s take a deeper look into the historical and cultural context of women during this time period.
Historical and cultural context
Women’s rights were a huge issue during this period. There was a concept of the idealized relationship between a man and a woman, for which society demanded high expectations. Specifically for women, if women did not have what Victorian Society expected them to look like, they may be seen as unfitting partners. Such unrealistic expectations included the long skinny torso and wide hips, which was a visible effect of the corset. Victorian society deemed women of one role, which was to get married and serve their husbands, meaning engaging in their interests and doing the household chores.
The Great Social Evil and The Industrial Revolution
As well as women during this time were not typically allowed to be educated or gain knowledge besides the primary household duties. Cooking, cleaning, having kids, and being of interest to their husbands were their main focus. The cultural norm during this period was to look good, get married, and continue your household duties. This also relates to “The Great Social Evil” that was born during this era. This was the practice of prostitution. Due to the difficulty of women trying to find the more desirable type of work, women were working in jobs such as agricultural gangs, factory workers, and basically professions that included long work days with little to no pay. As well as the Industrial Revolution was stirring, meaning an increase in labor and a decrease in wages. Therefore for women, prostitution came to be the only answer when dealing with this unfair treatment.
The enlightenment period was going on during this time, which meant more freedom and growth. However, for women, this meant not much change considering that most enlightenment thinkers felt as if women should still just work on household duties. This situation proved how men were at an advantage, leaving women to still progress with the limited rights they already had. Although during this period philosophers began to develop their ideas based on reason and logic. However, philosophers such as Jean-Jacques, still recognized that different genders should still stay within society’s ideals. He stated, “always justify the burdens you impose upon girls but impose them anyway.” Basically explaining that the lack of women’s rights was a burden but it should still be implemented.
Specifically for the corsets, they began to receive more criticism from two separate groups, including women’s rights activists and male physicians. Women activists were supporting practical clothing, clothing that wouldn’t cause them excessive pain. However, male physicians were exaggerating skeletal and organ deformities.
For women during this era, it was so culturally focused on them to have a certain look and get married. So comparingly, for someone who was to see an advertisement for a corset, I would easily be persuaded by it as well. The corset gave women an attractive figure, it gave them an easy way to find a good partner, all of which were claims that pushed these women toward the cultural norm.
So let’s talk sensation.
How did the corset make a woman feel? Was that feeling good? Does she feel more alive, more attractive, and more confident?
- A symbol of modernism
Electricity had become the grand symbol of modernism. Therefore many advertisements took advantage of this symbol to claim that it could basically cure any disease. So women wearing something with such a high symbol of honor would make them feel high interest and excitement. The sickness that others were feeling, and the fact that these corsets would cure them of it would provide them with security and superiority.
- Symbol of a woman’s sexuality and femininity
Corsets are a symbol of a woman’s sexuality and femininity. The use of wearing them attracts men to their thin waists and wide hips. It makes women feel sexy, confident, and persuasive within their own bodies. It makes them feel alive and attractive, which was a huge sensation for them. Basic corsets as well as straighten a woman’s posture, with a straight back, shoulders up, and not shrugged, such as way that when a woman walks, she walks confidently. A look that seems to initiate respect and attention from them.
So how was the corset made? Why was electricity used so important and attracted so many people?
Why Electricity?
Electricity became a cultural obsession when it was first discovered.
Not only was there an electric corset, but there were also…
- electric rings
- hairbrushes
- towels
- toothbrushes, and more.
The use of electricity was told that it would cure many afflictions such as bronchitis, shortness of breath, constipation, asthma, weakness, and the list goes on. So due to this attraction, many people were intrigued by the use of electricity in items that are wearable.
The electric corset was originally made from material whalebone but was also made from wood, bone, and ivory. The corset needed human assistance to be tied in the back, however, by 1844 a machine was invented that was able to tighten the laces to extreme circumferences that didn’t need another person to do so. Electricity was then involved when Thomas Edison created the Edison Electric Light Company in 1878. The corset was specifically designed by Cornelius Bennett Harnes. The corset actually came to be magnetic rather than electric, which made Harness become a fraud in 1893. However, that wasn’t the only wrongdoing of the electric corsets….
Exposing the Electric Corset…
in other words, time to be a critique.
The electric corset was not all glamorous as it seemed. To be completely realistic, the electric corset wasn’t glamorous at all. Let’s address the claims…
So the electric corset cured diseases? Has positive health benefits?
NO! This was completely false.
The physical abuse the corset caused to women included crushing the organs, spine, and midsection, and gave women deep bruises and skin irritation. The tightening corset on the torso led to these extreme damages. The corset also did internal damage as well. That included kidney dysfunction, lung damage, compressed spinal discs, and slowed-down digestion. The damage went as far as causing premature death in women. As well as for those women who were pregnant, many miscarries occurred because a baby could not be produced in such a cramped area.
So anything about health concerns, curing diseases, and weight loss were all claims that were definitely false.
Although these claims were false corsets did significantly change the appearance of women. A type of appearance that men were attracted to, unrealistic body image of course. However, the overall claims were shown to be false, and basically did more harm than good.
The Modern World
Although many of the claims were proven wrong, women to this day still portray the corset as something good. Waist trainers are the more modern-day corset, to still fulfill the same claims women were falling for during the Victorian Era. To this day, women are still falling for the same false marketing techniques that prove the “easy way out,” for many of their claims.
However, the corset did give women a sort of empowerment. It made them feel alive and gave them a figure to which they felt much attraction in. The electric corset gave women a sensation in the way they were able to express themselves amongst men and other women. Although, as a critique, this was an object which provided much harm to these women as well.
Citations:
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