The Invisible Corset

A book for women who were taught to hate their bodies and don’t know how to stop—in other words, all women.

Nine years old. That’s the average age when a girl puts on her “invisible corset,” knowing that going forward, her value is inextricably tied to her appearance.

According to author Lauren Geertsen, the invisible corset is a set of culturally inherited beliefs that make women feel insecure and anxious in their own bodies. “Women discarded their whalebone corsets in the early twentieth century,” she writes, “But there remained in place an invisible corset, just as limiting and uncomfortable, with its strings left in the hands of culture to tighten as it pleases.”

Geertsen teaches that the purpose of the invisible corset was always to keep women trapped: while society once limited women’s freedom by saying their place was in the home, it now restricts women with the message that their place is in a beautiful body.

By unraveling the false narratives that keep these invisible corsets in place, Geertsen helps women shift from controlling their bodies as burdens to trusting their bodies as lifelong partners.

Unlike other body positivity books, The Invisible Corset isn’t about celebrating your wrinkles or loving your butt—it’s about freeing yourself from a culture that puts so much emphasis on them in the first place. As the corsets come off, women will reclaim their time, money, and confidence so they can courageously do the work their souls came to do.