During the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1910), prudery was at its height.  Ironically, during this time underwear never ceased to be of interest, usually in the form of censure.  Its invisibility made it mysterious, rendering it all the more erotically appealing than ever before.  The Petticoats, the drawers, the hoop skirt and the corset were seemingly forever on people’s minds so that the years from 1840 to 1900 were both the period of greatest sexual repression and the heyday of underwear fetishism.        

 

The ideal Victorian woman had a severe, wasp-like waist. The more tightly laced her corset was, the more virtuous she was thought to be.  Every part of the Victorian woman was covered.  The slightest peek of an ankle or glimpse of the lower part of her neck was considered to be unmentionable.  Middle and upper-class married couples were meant to engage in sexual activity for the sole purpose of procreation.  Men were encouraged to satisfy their urges with the increasing population of prostitutes in order to keep their wives “pure and untainted”.  By having dispassionate sexual intercourse with a stranger rather than with their wives, men were in fact regarded as being respectful toward and dutiful to their spouses. Including their tightly-laced corsets, Victorian women wore an average of eleven pounds of underwear.  Undressing a woman for sex was so long and complicated with all the layers and laces, that by the time the female was ready, the male might no longer be in the mood.  It was so much simpler with scantily-dressed prostitutes.   

 

At the turn of the century, in reaction to the Victorians, the Edwardians swung toward a more “natural” silhouette.  Natural, perhaps, in appearance, but completely artificial in structure.  The rounded and voluptuous “ideal” look of the Edwardian woman was soon corrupted into the S-curve “Gibson Girl” fashion.  The Edwardian corset was heavily boned down the front to create a straight line with sloping shoulders, a full, overhanging mono-bosom bust, a protruding posterior and distended, rounded hips.  Although not as severe as with the Victorian era, the waist was still tightly cinched. The medical profession continued its denunciation of corsets but, as usual, their protests had little or no effect on fashion.  Despite their increasing demands for female emancipation and the right to vote, women as a whole had a difficult time in relinquishing tightly-laced corsets, a symbol of elegance and class.