Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s from some iconic movie or something, much like the way the first pirate movie forever set audience expectations of the way pirates talked, even though the actor made it all up on the fly.
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https://nines.org/exhibits/Fainting_in_Victorian_Novels_a
I haven’t dug into this super deep yet, but it’s really interesting so far. Not sure how reputable of a source it is. Just an interesting read. But I do wonder if the frequency of the representation in literature and art is where it comes from? And there seems to be legitimate discussion as to whether sainting was kind of a feminine behavior groupthink issue, or a legitimate Health and wellness issue?
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I think it’s from commedia dell’arte! It’s an old Italian style of theatre that created a lot of the archetypes of storytelling and theater still used today (many Shakespeare comedies/characters were based on commedia stories/characters). Physical comedy and poses to indicate emotion were a big thing, which eventually influenced vaudeville and early film.
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This is an interesting read! I think the corsetry discussion is off-base and focuses only on intense tight lacing practices when honestly most people used corsets as support structures for heavy petticoats (the weight sits on the boning of the corset rather than the waist/hips so is distributed) and for bust support-- it was a bra. Many examples exist of people’s waist measurements actually not being impacted by corsets.
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Yeah I would think the lead induced anemia would be more of an issue lol.
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This seems Extremely Likely lolol.
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I find it amusing the piece ends on bicycling meaning that the swooning era had come to an end (essentially) and includes a magazine advertisement of a woman very clearly still in a corset. 
Sport corsetry was more flexible (often most of the boning was replaced with elastic) but it was still corsetry.
Soooo. That argument is an odd one to end on.
eta: The “all underclothing” in the ad that the author of the piece seems to think means no corset, actually just means that the chemise and petticoat should be wool. There was 1000000% still a corset. It was just… sort of required for any women’s style fashion to function. Like I said, that’s where all the weight of these garments hangs from and without it things would be really really heavy and uncomfortable.
ETA: SORRY NOT SORRY FOR ALL MY OPINIONS. I DON’T EVEN SEW OR WEAR WOMEN’S WEAR. But via osmosis I know a lot about regency and vicotrian era clothing.
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What about the weight of all the layers? And the heat of ballrooms. I have read regency novels
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I feel like that article was the old timey version of dudes on the internet now who are like “I don’t like when women wear makeup! I like natural girls like her:”
And then all the women are like…um, she’s wearing concealer, foundation, brow powder, eyeliner, eye primer, eye shadow, mascara, cream blush, lip pencil, and lip stain.
It’s like that.
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Legit! But most fabrics were wool, silk, or linen. Aka they actually breathed.
But i bet those ballrooms STANK and were very hot and still air.
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Talk to me about giving via mutual aid societies please. I know basically nothing as a starting point. How does it work?
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It probably depends on your specific location/affinity group. Our city’s mutual aid group is a Facebook group, and the mods post PayPal pool fundraisers for specific people. Others operate kind of like strike funds where you give money to a centralized person or Venmo account and the group leaders have a request or application process that they fund out of the big pool. My sisters union emergency assistance mutual aid fund works like that. They mainly fund it through union dues but also accept individual donations.
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I was volunteering for one in the Bay Area before I left, and they would raise money that would go into a general fund. People would fill out a simple Google form to ask for support, and the fund would either pay for specific things (utilities, grocery bills, etc.) or give the requester a set amount of cash each week: I think it was $200/person. The fund would also organize transportation or grocery drop-off for people who requested it, so it wasn’t just cash. When they talked about the fund, they mentioned that their mission was to support one particular population, but would give to anyone who reached out. They didn’t do any screening or have criteria to verify eligibility, which I believe is common.
One interesting dynamic about the mutual aid fund I volunteered for is that they had a significant amount of money that was unaccounted for (this is why I’m being vague about the affinity group it supported). In volunteer meetings, there was a tension between people who thought this was worth looking into and people who said that that was replicating the nonprofit industrial complex, and calls to look into it were offensive. I was new, so I wasn’t getting involved! I do think it was mismanagement and a series of unlucky events, but I was glad I got that peek under the hood.
That’s my long explanation to say, if I were to get involved with a mutual aid fund again beyond making small donations, I would want to volunteer as well.
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A question: what do childless/childfree people in their 30s do for fun in the winter, excluding going out to restaurants and bars?
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Skiing. Hiking. Before it was a good time for lives stage/orchestra etc
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I went to lectures and museums, events at the local university. I may be a nerd.
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and snow shoeing and visiting hot springs! Or in our case now, sitting in our backyard hot tub. We are not childless/childfree but this is a childfree activity.
My sister and BIL play a lot of board and card and video games
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Travel to warm places. Travel to cold places. Stay in cabins in the snow.
We hiked, snow shoed, and I actually love the coast in winter. Good outdoor gear is a very worthwhile investment IMO.
I also like driving to new neighborhoods and going for walks.
ETA inside stuff- trying new recipes, reading a lot, we always used to pick a new video game with a compelling story and play together over “winter break” (even when we didn’t have a winter break, there’s still that “vibe”)
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Brew beer. Experiment with making charcuterie. Video games. Hiking, bird watching. Plus training for me. Garage gym is cold but I warm up fast enough. Long cooking recipes. (Winter food is my fave)
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Obviously we go skiing for the hot tub and wine. I mean I used to. And I’d like to
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