Bound to Please : A History of the Victorian Corset, Hardcover by Summers, Le...

by Summers Le...

£150 · Offered by eBay

Bound to Please : A History of the Victorian Corset, Hardcover by Summers, Leigh, ISBN 1859735304, ISBN-13 9781859735305, Like New Used, Free P&P in the UK Corsets, and the corseted body, have been fetishized, mythologized and romanticized. This Victorian icon has inspired passionate debate that is unrivalled by any other article of clothing and surpassed as a means of body modification only perhaps by foot binding and female circumcision. Summers' provocativ dismantles many of the commonly held misconceptions about the corset. It focuses on how corsetry punished, regulated and sculpted the female form from childhood and adolescence through to pregnancy and even old age. The author reveals how the "steels and bones," which damaged bodies and undermined mental health, were a crucial element in constructing middle-class women as psychologically submissive subjects. Underlying this compelling discussion are issues surrounding the development and expression of juvenile and adult sexuality. While maintaining that the corset was the perfect vehicle through which to police femininity, the author unpacks the myriad ways in which women consciously resisted itsrestrictions and reveals the hidden, macabre romance of this potent Victorian symbol.

• ISBN: 9781859735305
• Condition: Fine

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