ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Did 19th Century Corsets Really Kill Women?

The practice prompted a public uproar, with doctors penning articles and books decrying corsets as a health “plague,” one on the same level as tobacco, gambling, strong drink, and illegal speculation, wrote Charles Dubois. Physicians blamed corsets for causing tuberculosis, cancer, liver disease, heart damage, and a host of other ailments.

These more frightening claims haven’t held up under modern scientific scrutiny, but a few concerns have. Tight corsets did make it slightly harder for wearers to breathe, an impediment which almost certainly led to a reduction in salubrious physical activity. Moreover, they caused muscles of the mid and lower back to atrophy, leading to chronic pain and weakness.

Still, Corsets did not destroy the health of women, nor did they condemn longtime wearers to early deaths. In fact, as Dr. Rebecca Gibson, a Visiting Assistant Professor in anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, discovered when analyzing collections of 18th and 19th century female skeletons, anatomical signs of corset use were actually linked to a longer lifespan.

I had no idea. But getting into — or in a rush, getting out of — one couldn’t have been any fun at all.