Fashion and Fetishism

Is the use of the corset sexually repressive or sexually expressive? Is it a matter of men forcing women's bodies into the shapes that their fantasies desire? Or is it a matter of women rejecting their traditional passive, family-centered and child-bearing role? In this fully-documented study of corsetry and tight-lacing, David Kunzle shows how this neglected and misunderstood phenomenon is central to the history of female emancipation and repression. Drawing on sources from Minoan Crete to modern California, he delves into fundamental aspects of social history, the history of costume, and anthropological, sexological and feminist elements in western culture.