Excerpt from a discussion of physiology, written by factory workers in Lowell Mass, and originally published in The Lowell Offering, a magazine published by women factory workers in Lowell between 1840 an 1845. This is a short tangent from a discussion of the functioning of the respiratory system, to complain about corsets:

...

Ann: To me there is not the weakest motive for tight lacing. Everything but pride MUST revolt at the habit; and there is something positively disgusting and shocking in the wasp-like form, labored breathing, purple lips and hands of the tight lacer.

Ellinora: They indicate such a pitiful servitude to fashion, such an utter disregard of comfort, when it comes in collision with false notions of elegance! Well for our sex, as we could not be induced to act from a worthier motive, popular opinion is setting in strongly against this practice. Many of our authors and public lecturers are bringing strong arms and benevolent hearts to the work.

Ann: Yes; but to be perfectly consistent, should not the fashions of the "Lady's Book," the "Ladies' Companion," and of "Graham's Magazine," be more in keeping with the general sentiment? Their contributors furnish essays, deprecating the evils of tight lacing, and tales illustrative of its evil effects, yet the figures of the plates of fashions are uniformly most unnaturally slender. And these are offered for national standards!

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For reference, a fashion plate from one of the magazines mentioned (Godey's Lady's Book), from the May 1845 issue:

#History #Fashion #MillWorkers

https://www.auraj.net/

#Auraj #Bangladesh #Dhaka

Auraj has shown solidarity with recent labor struggles (movements of #garmentworkers, jute #millworkers), student movements, and civil rights movements in Bangladesh.

https://www.iclcit.org/peoples-uprising-against-an-autocratic-state-the-present-past-and-future-of-bangladesh/