Corsetry - Shaping the waist

Tight-lacing is defined as the conscious and visible process of artificial constriction of the waist. The act of tight lacing is as important as the end result.

The binding and loosening of belts and corsets often have the ritual significance of the release or suppression of sexuality associated with them. The state of being tightly corseted is felt by some to be a form of erotic tension which demands erotic release.

Both men and women are taking up the discipline of tight-lacing. The process may take up to six months to reach one's goal size, as it requires constant wearing of the corset and the gradual rearrangement of internal organs and body fat. Mr Pearl has trained his waist to reach a circumference of 42.5 centimetres. In the 1950s Ethel Granger, with the active support of her husband, tight-laced down to a 13-inch (about 33 centimetres) waist.

The familiar image of the Victorian corset with laces and whalebone has its origins in the European Middle Ages. This kind of garment, worn on the outside of the clothing rather than as an undergarment, remained in use until about the 18th century. The corset included the busk, the wooden central piece of stiffening (which kept the front of the corset rigid), and flexible whalebone stiffening all the way around the garment. Up until the late 19th century, both men and women regularly wore variations of this corset. Army officers wore corsets and tightly tailored uniforms to emphasise their straight backs and rigid discipline.