Corsets and the Female Reproductive System

This entry is a summary of the video “Corsets and the Reproductive System” which you can watch on YouTube here:

(Note: this entry is on the female reproductive system; male corseters don’t need to worry about this.)

I have received many questions by women on how corsets may affect the uterus, birth canal and other parts of the reproductive system, so I’ve compiled the most popular questions and answers here.

Will my uterus be compressed or fall out by wearing a corset?

There can be some small amount of uterine compression if you wear corsets. When the uterus begins to drop from its normal position, it’s called uterine prolapse. Uterine prolapse cannot with any certainty be tied to corseting because the risk of prolapse increases with several events:
Age (especially after menopause when estrogen levels drop)
Atrophy of the pelvic floor muscles
High number of vaginal deliveries (especially if you receive trauma like ripping of the birth canal)
Anything that creates pressure on the organs, including heavy lifting and straining when having a bowel movement.

Can wearing a corset decrease your chances of conceiving a child?

There is a large mis-conception (pun made in bad taste!) about corsets “squeezing out” fetuses and so many corseted ladies woudl not be able to get pregnant. In truth, there is no proof that corsets cause infertility. Many women in the 18th and 19th centuries managed to conceive 10-15 times (or more!) easily within their lifetime. Of course, miscarriage and stillbirth statistics were much more prevalent than they are now, but when you factor in less access to medical care, no prenatal screening, poorer nutrition  overall (consider the fact that shipment of produce was largely impractical until airplanes were used), not to mention lack of education in terms of drug/alcohol abuse during pregnancy, there is no way to prove that corsets are to blame for not being able to conceive.

Can you corset when you’re pregnant?

Victorian women were always corseted, even during pregnancy. It was considered indecent to go out without a corset at any time in one’s adult life. However, when pregnant they used special maternity corsets that had laced panels which expanded as their bellies grew. Ultimately this corset was used for support for the back and core, since 24/7 corseting since childhood often caused weakening of the back and dependence on the corset.

Today, it’s true that in the first trimester you don’t tend to show a baby bump, and many women can still do crunches and sit-ups without harming the fetus. Many women in the Victorian era still laced with their normal corsets in their first trimester of pregnancy, but I still strongly recommend not wearing a corset at any point during pregnancy. . Just as any responsible woman would immediately stop drinking and smoking once she discovered she’s pregnant, a woman of today should immediately remove the corset upon realizing she’s with child. If you are pregnant and find you have a weak core, back support still exists in the form of more flexible maternity support belts or “belly bands” which won’t harm the baby.

Post-partum Corseting

What causes belly pooch after childbirth?
Distended uterus
Other organs moved out of place by the growing baby
Subcutaneous fat (the “squishy” feeling fat underneath the skin)
Visceral fat (the fat surrounding the internal organs)
Diastasis Rectus (diastasis recti for plural) 

 After the baby is born, when the mother is nursing her newborn baby, release of the hormone oxytocin makes a woman’s mammary glands contract to help the milk flow (called “let-down” reflex), and the uterus contracts in response to the oxytocin in order to shrink down close to its original size and improve muscle tone (which is why new mothers may nurse their newborn babies and experience pelvic cramps). Along with this process, the other organs more or less move back into the position they held before pregnancy. (A woman’s organs never fully goes back to the way they were before their first pregnancy, but the body tries as much as it can).

Belly binding has existed for many hundreds of years

Many women of the past wear compression gear to help their organs move back into position. Although compression gear is not necessary, it can help quicken the process. In fact it’s nothing new. Civilizations have been using it for centuries before tightlacing corsets appeared in the west.

The Mayan women in central America bound their torsos after childbirth. In Spanish this is still called a “faja” which literally translates to “strip of fabric” or “belt” (wound around the body many times to achieve the compression) but now the term is used for any corset or cincher.

In South India during Bananthana (or post-partum) there is a strict protocol including belly binding to put the uterus and intestines back into place, keep the body warm, and help purge the “bad blood” accumulated during pregnancy.

Japanese women wore an obi (“sash”) most of the time, which was a piece of cloth about 1 foot wide by several meters long  tightly bound around and around and around the torso. Later in pregnancy, many of these women switched to a sarashi which is again a long strip of cloth that binds the midriff and also the chest.

I want to wear a corset after childbirth. How do I know if it’s right for me?

Check with your doctor before wearing compression gear after labour. Your doctor may or may not recommend compression gear for you, depending on your size, your level of health, the difficulty of your labour (and/or the damage you’ve received during childbirth). The largest factor is whether you delivered naturally or by caesarean, as a natural delivery can increase the risk of prolapse, but caesarian involved cutting into your abdominal wall which can be painful or damaging if you put too much pressure on it. However, if you get the go-ahead from your doctor to use compression gear to hasten the process of recovery after childbirth, it should be okay to lace down lightly (2 inches or so) in a well-fitted corset.

Next time, I’ll share with you the common skin issues that may arise when you waist train on a regular basis.

*Please note that this article is strictly my opinion and provided for information purposes. It is not intended to replace the advice of a medical doctor. Please talk to your doctor if you’d like to start wearing a corset.*