On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:32:51 GMT, "romanyroamer"
wrote:

It was not unknown in the latter part of the Victorian era for Woman to have
lengths of their "innards" removed

This is a myth (counter-examples welcome). Abdominal surgery of this
seriousness in Victorian times wasn't a reliably survival process, let
alone cosmetically viable.

I've never heard of intestine resection for this purpose. It's pointless
anyway (intestines are small and squishy - just keeping them less full
will have the same effect).

What's usually reported is removal of the lower floating ribs. Apart
from the recent tabloid reports of Cher / Pamela Anderson / Marilyn
Manson having had them removed, this is the usual "corset surgery myth".
It appears that it began in 1900 with Anna Held, actress and wife of Flo
Ziegfeld - theatrical promoter and all-round charlatan publicist. It's
no more likely that she had any ribs removed than she bathed in asses'
milk (as Ziegfeld also reported for publicity purposes).

Of course ribs are sometimes removed. It's a rare operation, but it is
done today - almost entirely for male-female transexuals. In the absence
of the right pelvis to give feminine hips, removing the ribs is the next
option.

In Victorian times, bodies were certainly re-shaped by corsetry. But
this was corsetry, not surgery. Ribs weren't removed, but they culd be
displaced so as to overlap the lower ribs.

I work in Bath, where the costume museum has one of the finest
collections of such corsetry. Looking at historical corsets we find that
the waist goes down to 24" and only in the rarest of case do they go
below this. I have friends today who wear corsets smaller than this.

If you want a really detailed and accurate history of the corset, read
Valerie Steele's "The Corset: A Cultural History"



--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.