Meg+Leckrone+(Waist)

> The total effect of an overlapping rib cage and compressed internal organs would be of extreme discomfort and of uncertain health.
 * 1) It is NOT necessary to "tight-lace" in order to wear a corset for fun, theater, or Civil War or SCA recreation activities. It is perfectly possible to wear a corset with no adverse effects, with the possible exception of being a little tired of having your body held in an unnatural position.
 * 2) There are also people who think the very notion of wearing a corset is barbaric, unthinkable, and symbolic of centuries of feminine subjugation.
 * 3) For centuries, society firmly held the belief that women were weaker of mind and body.
 * 4) Treatise upon treatise was written on women’s weaknesses: women are timid, women faint at the first sign of danger, women are prone to disease. The truth behind many of these assertions is that for centuries, women had been restricting their lung capacity with heavily boned corsets.
 * 5) Smelling salts became an essential household item because women whose reduced lungs could not support the body’s increased demand for oxygen in stressful situations would "faint dead away" at the first sign of excitement.
 * 6) It is amazing that women whose lungs had been unnaturally compressed by the tight-lacing process accomplished all that they did- and they did accomplish a great deal. The rights of women to vote, to hold property, to participate in higher education, and to hold public office were all won by women who, for the most part, had worn corsets their entire lives. Many of these women also realized how hindered they were by this inability to catch their breath, and loosened or cast off their corsets altogether to take better advantage of their freedom.
 * 7) The rib cage has a great deal of flexibility. This fact is one of the things which makes the "wasp waist" possible. To mold the body into the hourglass shape, the lower sections of the rib cage are pushed inward by the corset. The two sides of the lower rib cage, normally separated by a space, approach each other as the waist is progressively constricted. Eventually, of course, the twain must meet. It is erroneous to suppose that further body modification is then not possible, however, because the two halves of the rib cage can and will overlap with continued tight lacing.
 * 8) The internal organs are much softer than the bones in the rib cage, and can be forced to a much greater degree.
 * 9) The lungs, for example, can be crushed to the point where the miraculous little sacs that collect oxygen for the body’s use will not inflate.
 * 10) The stomach can be squeezed down to a flat little envelope that will accept very little food, resulting in heartburn and indigestion.
 * 11) The bladder can be kept to a very small size resulting, of course, in reduced capacity.
 * 12) All of the major organs in the torso are eventually affected by this phenomenon, and in every case their function will be impaired.
 * 1) Women who haplessly followed the fashion trends in the heyday of the corset often found themselves spending a great deal of time with their physicians.
 * 2) Many doctors tried unsuccessfully to convince their patients to loosen their laces as a way of relieving their aches and pains, but women were often as fondly attached to their corsets as some modern women are to their make-up.
 * 3) These women demanded pills, powders, and potions to relieve their discomforts. The effect on women of multiple medications on top of the existing difficulties caused by their corsets can only be imagined.
 * 4) Additional complications arise with pregnancy. Suffice to say that evolution has equipped us with powerful means of continuing the species. For that reason, women’s bodies will strip themselves of essentials to provide for the growing life inside them.
 * 5) The infant receives first claim to oxygen, nourishment, and abdominal space. Women with compressed abdominal and chest cavities have fewer reserves in these areas.
 * 6) Pregnancy in a woman who is or has been practicing body modification is likely to result in significant complications that may endanger the mother’s life as well as potentially harming the child.
 * 7) It is not impossible to exercise in a corset. It is, however, nearly impossible to exercise in a corset which is laced tightly enough to compress the waist. It is also extremely painful to do so.