A01=Rebecca Gibson
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
annotations
Author_Rebecca Gibson
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=ACX
Category=ACXD
Category=AK
Category=AKX
Category=JBSF1
Category=JFSJ1
Category=MBF
COP=United Kingdom
corseting
culture
Delivery_Pre-order
disease
disfigurement
disorder
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
female body
identity
Language_English
medical
PA=Not yet available
perception
physical effects
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Forthcoming
softlaunch
women’s lives
Product details
- ISBN 9781350295186
- Dimensions: 189 x 246mm
- Publication Date: 31 Oct 2024
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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Both a translation and critique of an early 20th century seminal French text on the physical effects of corseting, The Bad Corset explores contemporary anti-woman bias to challenge the commonly accepted assertions about corsetry’s contribution to disease, disfigurement, and disorders of the female body.
The original 1908 French book, Le Corset by Ludovic O'Followell—with its graphic illustrations, some of which are reproduced here—tells a story, familiar to anyone interested in popular culture and fashion history, of women suffering for fashion, tormented by and subject to their corsets. However, a close reading of the texts tells a very different, and more complicated, story.
This fascinating exploration, approaching the topic from a scientific perspective, and reproducing facsimiles of the original text, with translations and annotations, critiques the presumptions and anxieties of male medical professionals on the ‘damage’ caused by corsets to the female body and psyche. Rather than seeing the women who wore these perceived instruments of torture as victims or dupes, The Bad Corset confidently asserts the agency of the women who wore them and highlights the way in which seminal texts can continue to influence our interpretation of the past, and women’s lives and histories.
The Bad Corset is a remarkable resource for scholars and students of fashion, medicine and gender history, taking a feminist approach to female agency and choice, and helping us reconsider the way we think about the shaping of women’s bodies, and their lives.
Rebecca Gibson is Assistant Professor in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. Her published works include Desire in the Age of Robots and AI (2019), The Corseted Skeleton (2020), and Gender, Supernatural Beings, and the Liminality of Death (2021). She holds a PhD in Anthropology from American University, USA.
