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"A lot of people have the courage of one's convictions pretend in the 16-inch waist being typical when, of course, most corsets were no smaller than in the 20s," Steele says. "Most people would lower to a couple of inches. You can reduce it 4 inches or so, but most women were not going to be doing any more than that."
2. Corsets did not engender misshapen livers or life-threatening diseases.
Over the years, corsets have been credited with causing a whole petition of health problems. It's been said that they misshape internal organs and effect cancer. Other illnesses attributed to corsets were fake, sexist conditions, like "hysteria." There's also no record of a missus having a rib surgically removed so she could better fit into a corset, which is a particularly incongruous myth, given how deadly surgery was in the 1800s.
Of course, they weren't bang on the healthiest things to wear every day, either. They did force organs to shift around, engender indigestion and constipation, and eventually weakened back muscles. And they didn't exclude a lot room for pregnant women's fetus-incubating bellies. But excruciating they were not. They also didn't prevent women from doing their work-any more than, say, stiletto heels do.
Source: Jezebel