On Corsets

Malin James wrote a wonderful piece On Corsets last week, here's an except but you should read the whole thing.

The thing I’d been taught to think of as a torture tool of the patriarchy had, very ironically, given me access to the social autonomy that my young, insecure self so desperately craved. If I could find strength in something that had, historically, been seen as an oppression, maybe my love of red lipstick and high heels wasn’t such a cop-out either. Maybe real power came from pleasing myself, rather than worrying about the male gaze and what my fellow feminists thought.

A woman’s relationships with make-up, lingerie, high heels – all those things we think of as commercially “feminine” – are intensely personal; it’s too easy to dismiss them as simple bids for sex appeal. While it’s true, corsets have been fetishized, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, so long as the woman wearing it feels genuinely happy. Corsets are sexy, and I feel sexy when I wear them, but the reason I feel sexy is very specific to me. malin james

I replied,

I loved corsets from the first moment I laced into a little white Vollers waspie (the link is purple, the white is prettier). I have two, wonderful, long line custom corsets I wear for special occasions and they really do make me somehow feel like the grand Edwardian lady I am sure I was meant to have been. But I also have a couple of more practical, underbust corsets that give me that quiet carapace and just slightly weird waist.

I wear my corsets often enough that I don’t really pay all that much attention. Normally I have on a coat or jacket so the interestingly feminine things they do are not obvious. But it is fun to wear a well fitted skirt, a nice blouse or sweater and a belt. I am pretty fit so the three inch waist compression looks “almost” right. But a lot of people notice and I see women especially mentally doing the calculations and coming up with impossible numbers.

Perfect!

On of the nicest things about being a dominant wife is that I wear what I want. When I want to corset, which is quite often, it is not a big deal. Nor is it a big deal that elliot is required to lace me up. Judging from the strain on his cock cage as he does, it is a bigger deal for him.

But wearing a corset reminds me of the most feminine elements of my personality. In a busy life it is easy to lose sight of the small things which elegant women do. Sitting straight, breathing carefully, moving gracefully and deliberately. Wearing a corset, whether full Edwardian or just a little cincher, reminds me of the grace and deliberateness elegant women bring to all they do.