http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/bound-and-determined-women-still-a-slave-to-fashion/Women's bodies are a frequent subject over here on Care2, from societal pressures to be perfect, to wonderful movements like the Body Image Project. But the "perfect body" is also symptom of fashion trends meant to try and not only paralyze women by forcing them mentally into one physical type, but often an attempt to physically bind them as well.
Reading this post at Pandagon about how the fashion industry pushes back on women's advances in society by introducing trends that limit women's freedoms instantly brings to mind other fashion trends made to subgecate and harness women. The most obvious case, the Chinese practice of foot binding, was outlawed in the early 1900's but continued in secret for longer. Corsets have been used for centuries to bind, regardless of the damage they caused to bone, muscle, uterus or nerves. In fact, there are people who still consider wearing overly constraining corsets as a perfectly healthy way to reshape the body and lose weight.
A properly designed corset will taper the lower floating ribs if it is worn religiously 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. The time frame depends on the sex of the individual, age, and commitment to the stay lace. In my experience, the reshaping of the lower ribs are permanent unlike the reshaping of the more fleshy areas of the torso. An hourglass corset will not do this as it allow space for the lower ribs. My corsets tend to follow an inverted cone shape.
Even now, when women and girls should know better, new, dangerous trends are taking hold. Cosmetic procedures such as skin lightenings now can cause permanent disfigurement, and in Thailand, wearing "fashion braces" has actually killed girls.
Reasons to avoid underground braces? Beyond the canker sores and sliced inner lips even legit braces offer, Thailand's Dental Council warns of blood poisoning, infected dental tools, nerve damage and swallowing dislodged fittings.
"We just think they're cute. Nice and cute!" said Supapich Konkayan, a 22-year-old art student in Bangkok. Her smile was laced with metal wiring and electric purple fittings. (The braces, she said, were real.) "Some of us have real dental problems. And for the others it's just, well, fashion."
But fashion braces are medically worthless and potentially deadly.
Last August, an amateur braces job left a 17-year-old girl in Thailand's northeast city of Khon Kaen with an infected thyroid, which led to fatal heart failure. Police in Chon Buri province have also connected an open-air, illegal braces stall to the death of a 14-year-old girl.
If women really need to be slaves to fashion, it might be nice if '80's shoulder pads returned. At least those were soft and non-dangerous.
Topic: Bound and Determined; Women Still a Slave to Dangerous Fashion Practices (Read 590 times)