{"id":12738,"date":"2017-12-04T11:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T05:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak?p=12738"},"modified":"2019-01-30T17:08:34","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T11:38:34","slug":"the-nightmare-of-shapewear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/the-nightmare-of-shapewear\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nightmare of Shapewear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caging the Free Body into a Sexual Silhouette<\/em><\/p>\n

At school, roughly in the 7th<\/sup> grade, we learn about tissues, veins, nerves and other organs that keep our body functioning. It is this knowledge that helps us visualize our insides for the first time, things we couldn\u2019t see in the mirror. We make sense of our sensations and discover a whole world underneath our skin.<\/p>\n

Biology may not be everyone\u2019s favourite subject, but by simply having a body, it is the closest we come to experiential learning. We experience the world through our bodies. We experience freedom. Not just the macro freedom to move wherever we want at whatever time and to love\/consent to whoever and whatever we like, but also at the micro level, to breathe and to make sounds. To jiggle and wiggle, to expand and contract, to simply be<\/em>. Several freedoms, those of food, clothes, sexuality and more are intimately related to that of the body.<\/p>\n

When used in the context of our bodies, verbs like nip, tuck, cinch, trim and constrict are alarming.The makers of shapewear, also called \u2018compression wear\u2019, use exactly those verbs to make women\u2019s bodies sound like they have an acute and urgent need to be controlled and various parts of women\u2019s bodies, concealed. Shapewear includes a whole range<\/a> of expensive items: tummy tuckers, thigh shapers, waist cinchers, full-length bodysuits. If this was not enough to rein our bodies in, new inventions include arm-tights<\/a> and booty bras<\/a>. Determined to give you a \u2018perfect silhouette\u2019, shapewear has been best described as \u2018Photoshop for your living, breathing, three-dimensional body\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shapewear originated in the West, following the legacy of the Victorian corset. In India, several brands sell these items, especially in the online space. Recognizing the nature of the market, Indian brands have also launched sari shapewear<\/a> that promises to give you a \u2018Mermaid Fit\u2019.<\/p>\n

Perhaps theyforgot that we have to walk in saris, not swim in them.<\/p>\n

All shapewear restricts free movement. Sweating, chafing and blood clots are common after-effects of wearing it for long. By squeezing internal organs<\/a>, it can cause nausea, acid reflux and heartburn.Women wearing shapewear, especially full bodysuits, are less likely to go to the bathroom to relieve themselves, leading to irritable bowel syndrome.It also induces shortness of breath and even panic attacks<\/a>. A common piece of advice given in the context of shapewear is that you should never wear\/remove it when alone, as you might get stuck and suffocate.<\/p>\n

This sounds like a total nightmare. What has led us to treat our own bodies as objects to be stuffed into and contained forcefully within \u2018shaping\u2019 garments? What if, in the event of an apocalypse, waist-shapers and tummy-tuckers are amongst the few objects that survive to tell the tale of our times as humans? What would it say about our society?This is not a judgement on the individual buyers of shapewear but of a society that pressures them to do so.<\/p>\n

This parody<\/a> of Spanx, a leading shapewear brand, captures the bizarre obsession to \u2018shape\u2019 our bodies. Before weexplore why shapewear exists, let\u2019s take a look at its marketing terminology. This is how shapewear is described by brands:<\/p>\n

The \u2018flexible\u2019 and \u2018seamless\u2019 fabric is resolved to \u2018smoothen\u2019, \u2018sculpt\u2019, \u2018iron out\u2019, and \u2018streamline\u2019 all of the \u2018stubborn inches of cellulite\u2019 that you, \u2018busy\u2019, \u2018confident\u2019 woman haven\u2019t been able to shed by exercise due to lack of time. Thus, shapewear vouches to \u2018empower\u2019 you to wear any outfit of your \u2018choice\u2019! Also, that tightness that everybody keeps frowning upon, it\u2019s nothing but a \u2018firm hug\u2019 your body deserves so that you look sexy and \u2018curvaceous\u2019. <\/em><\/p>\n

If you are still not convinced about this \u2018magical\u2019 garment, let\u2019s explore the \u2018science\u2019 behind it. This is not just a tummy tucker; this is a waist \u2018trainer\u2019. Waist training is proven to get you in your best shape* (*if coupled with diet and exercise), by \u2018strengthening your core\u2019 and \u2018improving your posture\u2019. That ugly amount of sweating, don\u2019t worry, that is just you \u2018perspiring\u2019 out all the \u2018toxins and impurities\u2019. And that acute discomfort, it\u2019s a boon really, as it will ensure you have \u2018smaller intakes of food\u2019 making you slimmer. <\/em><\/p>\n

Shapewear is packaged as a piece of age-old wisdom, now verified by \u2018science\u2019 and peddled with\u00a0post-feminist<\/a> terms like: confidence, empowerment and self-love. The messaging doesn\u2019t reveal upfront the ugly culture that gave birth to it.<\/p>\n

In her book \u2018Unbearable Weight\u2019<\/a>, Susan Bordo opens with a poem<\/a> by Delmore Schwartz. In the poem, Schwartz uses the metaphor of the body as a \u2018heavy bear\u2019, \u2018a\u00a0lumbering\u00a0fool\u00a0who\u00a0trips\u00a0me\u00a0up\u00a0in\u00a0all\u00a0my\u00a0efforts\u00a0to\u00a0express\u00a0myself\u2019. Bordo also refers to the \u2018tyranny of slenderness<\/a>\u2019 as defined by Kim Chernin to describe the culture that led to eating disorders. Shapewear is a physical manifestation of our culture, in which we view the body as an unruly object with bumps, lumps, folds and bulges. We give these things names like \u2018love handles\u2019, \u2018bingo wings\u2019, \u2018thunder thighs\u2019, \u2018food baby\u2019, \u2018beer belly\u2019 and then look for ways to \u2018fix\u2019 these \u2018aberrations\u2019. We sacrifice the well-being of our inner organs to express our outer selves as what society designates as \u2018sexy\u2019.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the elastic material most commonly used to make shapewear, Spandex, is an anagram for \u2018expands\u2019. We use Spandex to reduce ourselves into an\u00a0hourglass figure<\/a>, or the colloquial \u201836-24-36\u2019, that we see in advertising and media, and now even in a Class 12 textbook<\/a>! Jokes and stares from our peers as well as the need to have perfect pictures on Instagram push us into buying shapewear despite its side effects.<\/p>\n

Fat-phobia and fat-shaming is a reality which affects women much more severely than men. Fat women are seen as less desirable (unless one has a specific attraction to them) and less respected at the workplace and at home.There is a high probability<\/a> that the weight gain that triggers discrimination is much lower for women than for men. This means even \u2018flab\u2019 and \u2018chubbiness\u2019 in women is more susceptible to ridicule than obesity in men. Shapewear for men<\/a> exists, but it appears more like a follow up\/secondary sector with completely different marketing, like fairness creams for men, ensuring that women are the main target group for any beauty products.<\/p>\n

The fact that we are already comfortable with physical discomfort makes it quite easy to sell shapewear to us. The norm of hairlessness turns pain into a familiar acquaintance. We are used to wearing layers in summer to prevent exposing our skin to the world: camisoles over bras, shorts under skirts and solid fabrics or \u2018astar\u2019<\/em> under translucent fabrics. Sold to the myth of the \u2018free size\u2019, we are used to elastic that causes disruptions in blood flow and red-blue marks on our skin.<\/p>\n

We are particularly well-adjusted to the notion that comfortable and sexy are two mutually exclusive options. The lingerie, jewellery and fabrics we choose depends on what we can compromise that day: comfort or sex appeal. We never demand both, or redefine them in a way that they overlap.<\/p>\n

Shapewear pushes us to prioritize our sexuality by sacrificing comfort and the freedom to breathe and move. But how is this type of sexuality defined? Going back to the messaging around shapewear: they say \u2018bring attention to your curves\u2019, or \u2018fat is good only at the right parts of your body\u2019. Which parts are these?Why are some curves more sexually appealing than the others?<\/p>\n

While we restrict and conceal bulges and folds around our belly, we enhance our breasts with padded and underwired bras. Spanx has also designed a \u2018booty bra\u2019: a garment that will keep your butt \u2018perky and separated\u2019. What this means essentially is that our sexuality is being shaped around specific parts of our body, suspiciously aligning itself with the male fantasies as seen in gaming, porn and cinema.<\/p>\n

Shapewear is symptomatic of a culture where women have to, consciously or not, discipline and cage our free bodies to suit men and their definitions of sexy. In our white\/brahmanical and capitalist patriarchy, the burkha has become a global symbol of women\u2019s oppression while shapewear masquerades as an empowering tool for women.Words like \u2018confidence\u2019, \u2018empowerment\u2019 and \u2018scientific\u2019 try to cover up layers of deep-seated prejudice just the way shapewear tries to hide our bulges. To enjoy micro and macro freedoms of cis and trans women\u2019s bodies, questioning such products is part of a larger feminist project that strives for micro and macro freedoms of cis and trans women\u2019s bodies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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