Corset Piercing - History and Culture

History and Culture

Although corsetry has a long history, the corset piercing is of contemporary origin, coming into practice with the establishment of the body piercing industry in the late 1990s. Like corsetry, it is associated with erotic behavior and aesthetics, particularly fetish aesthetics. Also paralleling corsets, most wearers of corset piercings are women.

There is some controversy regarding the publication and promotion of images of corset piercing. Almost all of the photographs of corset piercing are of fresh piercings, which have not had the time to reject, migrate or otherwise fail to heal properly. Images used in advertising or magazines may be photoshopped or airbrushed to eliminate indications of swelling, redness, or infection, further promoting the illusion that these piercings are easy, or even possible to heal. Photographs of corset piercings done with captive bead rings, which are inappropriate for permanent corset piercings, vastly outnumber photographs of corset piercings done as proper surface piercings. Usually corset piercings are photographed laced, also leading the public to believe that they can be worn laced at all times, which is not possible, even in a well healed, permanent corset piercing.