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The Cult Of Domesticity Of A Corset

1690 Words7 Pages

Corsets have been one of the most controversial garments in the history of fashion to date. As they have been worn worldwide, women of all ages evoke the sole intention of suppressing or placing physical and emotional limitations on the standard of them during that era. According to the Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion, a corset is a rigid bodice that is laced together and usually incorporates vertical and diagonal boning. According to Thorstein Veblens’1899 article ‘The Theory of the Leisure Class’ a corset is "a mutilation undergone for the purpose of lowering the subject's vitality and rendering her permanently and obviously unfit for work." The word corset is derived from the Old French word corps, which itself derives from corpus, …show more content…

During the early nineteenth century up until the Civil War, a new ideal of womanhood arose out of the latest attitudes concerning work and family called the Cult of Domesticity, which was found all throughout popular culture in journals, books, magazines, and news papers. According to the Cult of Domesticity, the ideal good and proper woman had four characteristics; piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. Piety is the quality of being religious or reverent. This was an important ideal because it was believed in the nineteenth century that women had a particular predisposition for religion. During this day and age, the modern young woman sought after an image of Eve working with God to bring the world out of sin through the aspects of her suffering, and the pure and passionless love offered. Women were subject to the image of staying in the home and abiding by the roles and morals that were given to them. They aimed to fulfill this sense of piety and purity, when in reality they were stuck to the customs that were given during this era. Domesticity, according to the Godey’s Lady’s Book deemed housework, childcare, decorative sewing and embroidery as uplifting tasks that maintained and fulfilled a woman’s purpose and place in the world. Purity was another characteristic that was held as a high standard that women had to live by. Without sexual purity, a woman was considered to be a “fallen woman” such that you were believed a lesser being compared to others. Women were supposed to uphold a brave and chaste image, despite any attempts of men to make others see her differently. Lastly, the most feminine of virtues was submissiveness, and a womans’ passive demeanor emphasized this concept. This meant submitting to fate, duty, to God, and to men. Undergarments such as the corset,

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In her article, “Three Inventories, Three Households”, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich argues that women’s work was crucial not simply for subsistence but that “women were essentials in the seventeenth century for the very same reasons they are essentials today-for the perpetuation of the race” (Ulrich 51). She believes, women were expected to do everything. They were not only to take care of the children, but they were also cook, clean, raise the greens and ranches. Mainly, women plays important role for the survival and continuation of life.

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These roles were extremely stereotypical as anywhere one looks the same picture is painted. For example, Gunnhildur Magnusd describes this social expectation as: “Their duty, as a woman, along with having children, was to create and sustain a serene and relaxing environment within the home, where the husband could be at leisure after a day at work”(7). Another portrayal of these expectations is shown through Jennifer Levine’s article, “The Reclamation of the Monstrous Female”, in which she describes: “The concept of the Angel in the House—the pure, virtuous, non-sexualized female—is one of the most monolithic and immobile depictions of the Victorian womanhood” (1). As one can see, the descriptions are not different at all as females had a rigid characterized perception from society. Both depict the Victorian woman as the perfect, compassionate, wife that takes care of the children and covers up.

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They started exposing more of their bodies, like their ankles and then their legs. Corsets were common among women. They were a type of body suit laced in the back, which was worn to enhance women’s hips and breasts, while making their waists seem as thin as possible. The use of corsets started in the 1800s and continued until the 1920s. (Cohen,1984).

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During the nineteenth century, corsets were really common among women. They were a type of body suit laced to the back, which was worn to enhance a woman's hips and breasts, while make her waist seem as thin as possible. The use of corsets continued till the 1920s, as it was later attacked for its restrictiveness, both in breathing and movement.

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