LGBT Project Wiki


5,085pages on
this wiki
Add New Page
Talk0 Share


File:Corset 16inch.jpg



The most frequent aim of tightlacing is a slim waist. Depending on the silhouette desired, the shape of the ribcage may be altered as well. Wearing a corset can also change the bustline, by raising the breasts upwards and shaping them, flattening the stomach, and improving posture. However, these effects are only temporary and will be lost on removing the corset. Indeed, excessive corset wearing has been claimed to weaken certain muscles, making it more difficult to maintain posture without a corset.

Although some tightlacers aim to get their waists as small as possible, others prefer to reduce their waists to a certain point and go no further as they consider that proportion and aesthetics are more important than achieving the smallest possible measurement. For example, cross-dressing males may seek to make a more feminine-appearing waistline through tightlacing, but do not want to make their waists too small, as this would look unnatural.

History of tightlacingEdit

File:ANatural - BTight lacing.png
See also: History of corsets

Corsets were first worn during the 16th century and remained a feature of fashionable dress until the French Revolution (1789). These corsets were mainly designed to turn the torso into the fashionable cylindrical shape although they narrowed the waist as well. They had shoulder straps; they ended at the waist; they flattened the bust and, in so doing, pushed the breasts up. The emphasis of the corset was less on the smallness of the waist than on the contrast between the rigid flatness of the bodice front and the curving tops of the breasts peeking over the top of the corset. There are no records of tightlacers at this time.




As it was accepted that a corseted waist was the ideal, it is hard to define tightlacing strictly, or to say what proportion of Victorian women practiced it. Today's waist measurements are unacceptable as a guide, since:

  • Women's bodies have increased in size since the nineteenth century, so waist measurements that seem small today might not have been considered so by Victorians.[citation needed]
  • As corset wearing was the norm in the nineteenth century, it is likely that women tolerated proportionally greater reductions as a matter of course, without thinking of themselves as tightlacers.[citation needed]

Young and fashionable women were most likely to tightlace, especially for balls, fashionable gatherings, and like occasions for display. Older, poorer, and primmer women would have laced moderately – just enough to be decent.




Corsets were no longer fashionable, but some people still felt that they were sexy. Corsets entered the underworld of the fetish, along with items such as bondage gear and vinyl catsuits. In the 1980s and 1990s, fetish wear became a fashion trend and corsets made something of a recovery. They are often worn as top garments rather than underwear. However, most corset wearers own a bustier or two for evening wear; they do not tightlace. Historical re-enactors also wear corsets, but few tightlace.

Tightlacing today Edit

Modern tightlacing is a minority interest, often associated with fetishistic interest in the corset and BDSM. The majority of tightlacers are women, although some men also tightlace quite extensively.

Tightlacers typically wear a corset for at least 12 hours a day, every day, when they are most active, although more serious tightlacers (particularly those trying to achieve the smallest waist they can) wear corsets for up to 23 hours a day, taking the corset off only in order to bathe.

Tightlacers sometimes have a partner, called a trainer, to help and support them. However, it is possible for somebody to tightlace without a partner.

File:Toleration of the corset1028fig7 .png
File:Toleration of the corset1037fig19.png

Effects of tightlacing on the bodyEdit

A typical training routine begins with the use of a well-fitted corset (most serious tightlacers have at least one custom-tailored corset) and very gradual decreases in the waist circumference. Lacing too tight too fast can cause extreme discomfort and potential short-term problems such as shortness of breath and faintness, indigestion, and chafing of the skin.





The compression of the stomach reduces its volume, and tightlacers find that eating too much gives them indigestion and heartburn; foods like carbonated drinks and beans can easily cause trapped wind. The compression of the intestines can cause constipation. Many tightlacers will alter their diet in order to avoid these problems.

Theoretically, it is possible to fracture the ribs through tightlacing, although the necessary pressure would be brutal and the tightlacer would feel acute pain.

See alsoEdit


External linksEdit


Against tightlacingEdit


v  d  e  
Human sexual behavior > Paraphilias > Sexual fetishism
Fetishized subjects
and categories
Fetish society

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


Ad blocker interference detected!

