You Don’t Need to Worry About Corsets
Corset-wearing can be a feminist expression, so please spare me the lecture
At the Met Gala “The Garden of Time”, Kim Kardashian did exactly what Kim Kardashian does: get a lot of attention and launch another moral panic. In this case, the outrage is over corsets, and I’m here to assure you that it’s not worth your (unrestricted) breath to join in.
Relax. Despite the theme of the gala, Kim Kardashian is not time-traveling us back to the gardens of the Victorian era. You’re not going to be forced into waist training. Young women are able to discern the difference between a tabloid celebrity dressing up for a costume competition and real role models (and, by the way, you’re allowed to have actual conversations with them about what’s happening in media if you are concerned). Corset-wearing is not going to cause an epidemic of medical problems. Of course, anything related to even temporary body modification like this can be taken to a dangerous extreme, but the scary health concerns you’ve heard about corsets are myths.
Yes, Kardashian’s look was extreme, painful to her, and brought uncomfortable fetish elements into the public sphere. That was the point.
