So, While Scarlett O’hara Did Demand That Her Corset Be Laced To Make Her Waist 18 Inches, She Was Probably In The Minority.

Corsets come in several various styles designed to fit various physique varieties. Don't rush lacing yourself up tighter ... don’t hurry this. The boning will take on your shape as the training corset adjusts for your body.
It also produced fainting spells. Admittedly, the theoretical fashion magazine ideal for women of the time was to be married with a waist whose inches were not larger than their age — and to be married by their very early 20’s. But look, the theoretical fashion magazine ideal now is to be 5’10 and a size 0. Neither ideal is really a reflection of the majority of women. So, while Scarlett O’Hara did demand that her corset be laced to make her waist 18 inches, she was probably in the minority. 19th century corsets might measure 18 inches fully closed, but you were supposed to keep a little room in the back open with the laces, kind of the way you do when lacing your shoes. Which is to say, you don’t force the fabric sides of the shoe to close over one another, because that would be crazy. A lot of stories, about say, a "whalebone academy" where young women’s corsets were laced so tightly that their waists didn’t exceed 13 inches are thought to be apocryphal, made up by guys who were really turned on by the idea of a woman having a waist only slightly larger than an orange. Some women even claimed they loved the sensation of being laced so tightly they could barely breathe, probably because a lack of oxygen produced feelings of euphoria.
For the original news article visit https://www.racked.com/2015/8/7/9097813/history-of-corsets-not-as-bad-you-think-but-still-bad