Oppressive Fashion Device Not Just For Women Any More . . .

In the transgender community, binding is often a big concern for those identifying as FTM (female to male). Whether the breasts in question are large or small, altering or hiding their appearance in order to look traditionally male-chested is not only a fine art, but it is also a giant pain in the ass. Many FTM folks are always keeping one ear to the ground to hear about new methods and materials available to help make binding more manageable.

Someone we know here in Tucson passed along a website via e-mail for Romantasy Exquisite Corsetry, suggesting they might offer some new options in the world of binding. After a brief (and horror/hilarity-filled) review of the offerings from Romantasy, it is quite obvious they this proprietor has something else in mind entirely.

Up until recently, wearing corsets has been a body-deforming, health-harming tradition relegated to those of or an identifying as the female gender. But Romantasy Exquisite Corsetry is looking to change all of that by suggesting men should wear corsets as well! While this is different from binding in many, many ways that I feel should be immediately obvious to most people, the two differences I'd like to point out are:
1) Binding is not meant to alter the shape of your body long term, but is just for hiding or adjusting the shape of your body for the short term and
2) corsets don't really hide breasts or help give a more traditionally masculine appearance, which is typically the whole point of binding.
The failure to understand these points sort of shows that I think Romantasy misunderstands the FTM community.

Regardless, I am actually most horrified that people are still trying to alter the shapes of their bodies with corsets, which have been shown to cause (among other things) internal organ damage. I understand corsets when it comes to fetish stuff or SM play, but Romantasy seems serious about making it part of an everyday lifestyle (for folks of any gender). Creepy!