Kink Spotlight: Men in Corsets

There have been periods in history, such as the Regency Era in Great Britain (1795-1837), in which men in corsets was a well-respected high fashion. These corsets shaped the body in sought-after ways, aligning with the style of the day. 

And while today, many folks still have an ideal (for better or worse) of men with slender waists, that's quite different than the extreme cinched effect a corset offers. Even here in these selection of images you may have different reactions to the macho guys in rather loosely applied corsets versus the more extreme cinching.

So you see the visual transition from fashion to fetish, and the blending of the two. While the practical shaping element is more commonly experienced via relatively mainstreamed shape wear for men. 

Thus we have product names of: High Waist Stomach Shaper with Boxer Brief, Belly Buster Zip & Trim Support Brief, and Abs Slimming Body Shaper with Back Support. "Abs Slimming" is an interesting turn of phrase, as I don't think folks with tight abs are interested in slimming them, so it's like they want the wearer to imagine they have defined abs and are just wearing a garment to match. 

Meanwhile, Spanx uses the word "girdle" in its Google entry for men's shapewear but there is no use of "girdle" for men on the site at the moment. Rather they have Cotton Compression Tank. That's one way to hold the girdle up. Pardon, I mean compression garment.

And it's fine that men's shapewear is out there and companies can market it how they choose. It's just interesting that the word "corset" is the realm of fetish and high fashion versus the practical.

There is such male privilege in being topless in public and media in a way that does not cause sexual chaos and political consternation. Possibly this is because a topless man is wearing his body as armor, or has the option to. And a corseted torso can challenge the shape of that armor to something less practical and potentially more self-absorbed, solitary, yet also sexually inviting.

So if this intrigues you, or you already are into corsetry, know that you are part of history and that as constricting as they can be, corsets have shown a dynamism and flexibility in how they are seen and used over the years. You are a part of that.