Furthermore, "fashionable women's corsets, when tightened could exert pressure from twenty to nearly ninety pounds [. . .] a lady was not to walk the streets alone like a prostitute [and] not to scrub floors like a servant" (Payne 4). ... The Western Woman would be able to take up and defend her husband's cause because she undoubtedly had forfeited her corset, (the main cause for swooning), for bandages or firewood. ...

• Word Count: 1651
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate