# Did 19th century women frequently faint? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881 "2006-02-10T17:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/41 "2006-02-11T17:19:02Z")
> [@deevee](#): > > You ever been to one of those? Boooooooring. Yeah. You’d probably chuck a fainting fit just to get out of one. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/42 "2006-02-11T18:04:21Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Was it true that women wore corsets while pregnant? Again, back to _Gone with the Wind_, once you began to “show” you were kept confined at home to avoid parading your “delicate condition.” I wonder how many babies were born deformed or were miscarried because their mothers squeezed into a corset to go to a party when they were six months pregnant. Yes, but mostly they had special “maternity” corsets, which had extra panels and mostly they seemed to be for “support”. [The Costumer’s Manifesto](http://www.costumes.org/) might have some links on corset history. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/43 "2006-02-11T18:10:32Z")
1. It is possible that the tight-lacers are the ones who are portrayed as fainting all the time. 2. Heat plus layers of clothes plus “vapours” plus the generalized self-imposed dehydration, in order to minimize the need to eliminate, would predispose anyone to faint. 3. Don’t discount the subconscious factor in fainting. In my family we “know” that sometimes when a loved one is injured or ill–near death–people will faint “out of sympathy.” I did it this summer, actually, at my great-aunt’s death bed. I was very calm and enjoying talking to her, then boom–I was out on the floor. 4. If we are getting the fainting thing out of books, we should remember that they are just books. They aren’t real, but they are about fantastic, dramatic events–thus, refer back to my third point. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/44 "2006-02-11T18:13:59Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Was it true that women wore corsets while pregnant? Again, back to _Gone with the Wind_, once you began to “show” you were kept confined at home to avoid parading your “delicate condition.” I wonder how many babies were born deformed or were miscarried because their mothers squeezed into a corset to go to a party when they were six months pregnant. In “Gone With the Wind,” it’s stated that “no lady went outside when she first suspected she was pregnant.” Anything that even implied you had sex was taboo. Going to parties would have been impossible. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/45 "2006-02-11T18:47:45Z")
I have another additional factor. Anaemia, vegetables and meat in those days were boiled to hell, so dietary iron deficiency was probably an issue. Added to which there were no effective cures for heavy menstruation, women were often pregnant very soon after giving birth and so forth. Fainting is also relatively common in early pregnancy, I would imagine even more so in someone in the early stages of pregnancy wearing a corset! Add tight corsetry to social acceptability for fainting, anaemia, arsenic and all the other things mentioned, and you have lots and lots of reasons for fainting to be more common. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/46 "2006-02-11T19:26:31Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > In “Gone With the Wind,” it’s stated that “no lady went outside when she first suspected she was pregnant.” Anything that even implied you had sex was taboo. Going to parties would have been impossible. Well, when Aunt Pitty wanted a party, she told Melanie to hike her hoop skirt up higher, since she was so flat in the chest people could pretend she wasn’t “in a fix.” Maybe they made exceptions for family get-togethers. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/47 "2006-02-11T19:49:29Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > Okay, well the last time I checked, and the last time I wore one of my several corsets made from 18th-19th century patterns, and the last time I asked any of the many women I know who regularly wear corsets, physical work was not extremely difficult. Your perception of difficult must be different from mine. That’s fine. What about the[S-bend corset](http://www.fashion-era.com/edwardian_corsetry.htm)? Ever worn one of those? (Scroll down) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/48 "2006-02-11T20:15:51Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > What about the[S-bend corset](http://www.fashion-era.com/edwardian_corsetry.htm)? Ever worn one of those? (Scroll down) I mentioned those already. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/49 "2006-02-11T20:34:51Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > And yes, we do have a few fainters now and then. In really generic terms, first aid step one is try to keep their head from hitting anything when they go down, and step two is cut the lacing. As someone who wears a pair of bodys a fair amount, _don’t_ CUT the laces. Loosen them slowly with the person lying down or at least sitting comfortably. If you abruptly cut the bodys, you uncompress the torso, and the blood tends to want to flow back into the torso, which can make them pass out again. As I said, get them comfortable, and loosen the laces a bit, until you can fit a finger under easily in the armscye under the arm. Give them about 5 minutes, then loosten it further until you can slide your hand in flat in the same area. After about another 5 minutes you can unlace it and remove it. Think of it as mast trousers on the torso. You woulnt just pop off mast trousers, you deflate them gradually. [http://www.geocities.com/aruvqann/img14.jpg](http://www.geocities.com/aruvqann/img14.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Genaddict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/54ee81/32.png) [@Genaddict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genaddict)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/50 "2012-10-22T01:20:41Z")
I am currently asking the same question and came upon your post. Why was this? Am reading the replies now… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/51 "2012-10-22T01:34:32Z")
I think it was the zombies. And maybe corsets. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/52 "2012-10-22T01:44:21Z")
I know this is a zombie, but overcooking wouldn’t do anything to the iron content of food. A lot of nutrients are broken down by overcooking, but iron is an element, and so won’t break down at anything short of supernova temperatures. I suppose it could break down some of the vitamins that help with iron absorption, but I wouldn’t expect that to be enough to cause widespread anemia. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/53 "2012-10-22T17:22:47Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > There’s a lot of misinformation in that link. Not sure where the author got her facts, if they are facts, or opinions. I can say there are many different styles of corsets and most of them are not uncomfortable, and don’t make anyone gasp for breath, and certainly don’t make anyone faint. > > If 19th century women were fainting, my opinion is that it could have been caused by a number of factors: possibly the corset, or possibly because they were trying to portray themselves as “delicate flowers,” or possibly because anyone might faint if wearing 5-6 layers of clothes and then be expected to walk around in the heat, or worse, do hard work dressed that way. Might frequent pregnancy have also contributed? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/54 "2012-10-22T18:57:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I know this is a zombie, but overcooking wouldn’t do anything to the iron content of food. A lot of nutrients are broken down by overcooking, but iron is an element, and so won’t break down at anything short of supernova temperatures. I suppose it could break down some of the vitamins that help with iron absorption, but I wouldn’t expect that to be enough to cause widespread anemia. Apparently untrue, cooking can denature the usable iron in meat [(PDF)](http://jn.nutrition.org/content/116/9/1720.full.pdf), and iron can also leach out of vegetables during boiling [(table 14)](http://chestofbooks.com/food/science/Experimental-Cookery/Chapter-IV-Fruits-And-Vegetables-Losses-In-Cooking-Vegetab.html). Maybe not enough to cause widespread fainting though. Regardless though, the overcooking of food would not explain the fact that only upper class women are portrayed as constantly keeling over, while everyone else just got on with it. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/55 "2012-10-22T19:34:45Z")
Regarding the OP, fainting was also faked, just for effect. Franz Lizst is known to have swooned after having played one of his fabulous concerts, and the ladies are said to have been terribly impressed with the extent of his emotional exertion. He was known as quite the dandy, in part because of this part of his act. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/56 "2012-10-23T14:32:53Z")
Lady Macbeth faints in Macbeth, presumably to distract people from suspecting her/her husband. I have a copy of _Grimm’s Fairy Tales_ in which the wicked queen shows up in disguise at the seven dwarfs’ house trying to kill Snow White three times. She disguises herself as three different old ladies. First she gives Snow White a poisoned comb, but when the dwarfs return, they take it out of her hair and she wakes up. Next the queen laces Snow White’s corset up too tightly. Snow White appears to die, but regains consciousness when the dwarfs loosen it. (The apple is the last thing.) BTW, the dwarfs repeatedly warn Snow White about not opening the door to strangers. Makes me wonder if she’s stupid or suicidal. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/57 "2012-10-24T14:57:16Z")
Hmmm. Off the top of my head, I can only think of two contemporary (19th century) accounts of people fainting, swooning or generally being so overcome by emotion that they simply had to lie down. In both instances, it is _men_, not women, who swoon. The first is Jean-Francois Champollion in 1822, after deciphering the Rosetta Stone: > [@](#): > > Filled with excitement, Champollion went to his brother’s house and ran into his office shouting, “Je tiens l’affaire!,” meaning “I’ve got it!” Champollion then fainted and spent the next five days in bed recovering. The second is Georg Brandes in 1874, after hearing, for the first time, Shelley’s _Ode to the West Wind_ read aloud: > [@](#): > > [When the poem ended] he broke out with fierce and undistinguishable noises, as of an enthusiasm no longer to be held within the bounds of utterance, and, throwing his head back against the sofa, lay there stretched in a sort of trance, so entirely overwhelmed had he been by the enchanting beauty. No word on whether the gents in question were wearing corsets at the time… Anyway, does anybody have any further old-timey accounts of 19th century fainting, outside of fiction? From letters, journals, diaries, medical literature or what have you? After all, we have yet to establish that it was really as common as all that. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/58 "2012-10-24T15:30:19Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Anyway, does anybody have any further old-timey accounts of 19th century fainting, outside of fiction? From letters, journals, diaries, medical literature or what have you? After all, we have yet to establish that it was really as common as all that. You might want to check out Stendhal syndrome, or Lizstomania, conditions that were evoked, apparently, by exposure to art or artistic events, and that included fainting spells. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/59 "2012-10-24T15:49:57Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > … and step two is cut the lacing. To remove their shoes? ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881/60 "2012-10-24T16:41:07Z")
I see that the “s-bend” corset has been mentioned several times. That must have been where H.L. Mencken got his description of the female form. “They jut out beneath the neck by the bow, and beneath the waist by the stern, and look like nothing so much as a drunken dollar sign”. The man was a genius. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-19th-century-women-frequently-faint/343881.md?page=2)