The word girdle originally meant a belt. In modern English the term "girdle" is most commonly used for a form of women's foundation wear that replaced the corset A corset is a garment worn to mold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes . Both men and women are known to wear corsets, though women are more common wearers in popularity.
Contents |
History
Historically and in anthropology, the girdle can be a scanty belt-shaped textile for men and/or women, worn on its own, not holding a larger garment in place, and less revealing than the loin-cloth, as was used by Minoan The Minoan civilization, a Bronze Age civilization, arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans. Will Durant referred to it as "the first link in the European chain." pugilists.
Constructed of elasticized An elastomer is a polymer with the property of viscoelasticity , generally having notably low Young's modulus and high yield strain compared with other materials. The term, which is derived from elastic polymer, is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, although the latter is preferred when referring to vulcanisates. Each of the monomers fabric and sometimes fastened with hook and eye closures, the modern girdle is designed to enhance a woman A woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights"'s figure. Most open-bottom girdles extend from the waist to the upper thighs. In the 1960s, these models fell from favor and were to a great extent replaced by the panty girdle. The panty girdle resembles a tight pair of athletic shorts. Both models of girdles usually include suspender clips to hold up stockings A stocking, sometimes referred to as hose, is a close-fitting, variously elastic garment covering the foot and lower part of the leg. Stockings vary in color, design and transparency. By analogy, the term is also used to describe a type of horse marking in which the white coloring extends from the horse's hoof to just above the knee.
Girdles were considered essential garments by many women from approximately 1910 to the late 1960s. They created a rigid, controlled figure that was seen as eminently respectable and modest. They were also crucial to the couturier A couturier is a person involved in the clothing fashion industry who makes original garments to order for private clients. A couturier may make what is known as haute couture. He or she usually hires patternmakers and machinists for garment production, and is either employed by exclusive boutiques or is self-employed Christian Dior Christian Dior , was an influential French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior's 1947 New Look, which featured a voluminous skirt and a narrow, nipped-in waistline, also known as a wasp waist Wasp waist refers to a silhouette, given by a style of corset and girdle, that has experienced various periods of popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries.
A woman's girdle (in pink).Later in the 1960s, the girdle was generally supplanted by pantyhose Pantyhose are sheer, close-fitting legwear, covering the body from the waist to the feet. Traditionally considered a woman's garment, pantyhose appeared in the 1960s and provided a convenient alternative to stockings. Like stockings, knee and ankle-highs, pantyhose are usually made of nylon. Pantyhose are designed to:. Pantyhose replaced girdles for many women who had used the girdle essentially as a means of holding up sheer nylon stockings. Those who want more control purchase "control top" pantyhose. Some women forgo wearing girdles, stockings, and pantyhose entirely.
Girdles and "body shapers" are still sold to women who want to shape their figure with a garment. Some of these garments incorporate a brassiere A brassiere is an article of clothing that covers, supports, and elevates the breasts. Since the late 19th century, it has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting a woman's breasts and thus become functionally equivalent to a corset. However, they do not incorporate boning and hence do not produce the constricted waistline characteristic of Victorian-era corsets.
Girdle in literature
In literature Literature , is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word literature means "acquaintance with letters" (as in the "arts and letters"). The two most basic written literary categories include fiction and nonfiction, girdles are often portrayed as magical, giving power and strength if worn by men, and protection if worn by women. Several scriptures in the Bible make use of the girdle as a symbol for readiness and preparation. Ishtar Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte, a Babylonian Goddess, wore a fertility girdle, which, when it was removed, rendered the Universe The universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all physical matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space, although this usage may differ with the context . The term universe may be used in slightly different contextual senses, denoting such concepts as the cosmos, barren. Hercules Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek demigod Heracles, son of Jupiter , and the mortal Alcmena. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italic shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength, who dedicated the Ara Maxima that became associated with the earliest Roman wrestled with the Amazon The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia (modern territory of Ukraine). Other historiographers place them in Asia Minor or Libya queen for her girdle in his Greek myth. Aphrodite Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. According to Greek poet Hesiod, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the aphros (sea foam) arose Aphrodite, or Venus Venus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths. Venus is analogous with but not identical the goddess Aphrodite of Greek mythology in Roman mythology, also wore girdles associated with lechery in later poetry.[1]
For men a girdle was often used to hold weapons. It also gave them freedom to move in a fight, unlike other types of clothing. both of these are thought to carry the connection of power to the man's girdle in literature. For example, Odysseus Odysseus or Ulysses (pronounced /juːˈlɪsiːz/; Latin: Ulyssēs, Ulixēs) was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle wears a girdle which allows him to swim for three days straight, and a girdle worn by Thor In Norse polytheism, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, destruction, fertility, healing, and the protection of mankind. The cognate deity in wider Germanic mythology was known in Old English as Þunor and in Old High German Donar (runic þonar ᚦᛟᚾᚨᚱ), from a Common Germanic *Þ doubles his strength.[1]
Later on, for women, the girdle became a sign of virginity, and was often considered to have magical properties. Monsters and all types of evil are recorded as being subdued by girdles in literature, a famous one being the dragon slain by Saint George Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier and priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Western and Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. He is immortalized in the tale of Saint. Marriage ceremonies continued this tradition of girdles symbolizing virginity by having the husband take the wife's girdle, and prostitutes were forbidden to wear them by law in historic France. Often in literature, women are portrayed as safe from sexual or other attack when wearing a girdle, but suddenly vulnerable if it is missing or stolen.[1]
Non-clothing uses in literature include Tolkien's "Girdle of Melian", a magical, protective "wall" surrounding an elven kingdom, and the metaphorical "girdle of righteousness" mentioned in the Bible, representing righteousness as a protection as well as something to be worn constantly.
The twentieth century women's girdle attracts various references in literature, often in a disparaging way. For example, Marilyn French Marilyn French was an American author. She was born in Brooklyn to E. Charles Edwards and Isabel Hazz Edwards in her classic book, The Women's Room, is very critical not only of the girdle itself, but also of the virtual compulsion to wear one, a compulsion which existed until the late 1960s. In John Masters's Bhowani Junction, once the mixed-race Victoria Jones decides to opt for an Indian rather than British persona, she rejects her girdle as a "western garment".
Eroticism
Like its predecessor garment A feature of all modern human societies is the wearing of clothing, a category encompassing a wide variety of materials that cover the body. The primary purpose of clothing is functional, as a protection from the elements. Clothes also enhance safety during hazardous activities such as hiking and cooking, by providing a barrier between the skin, the corset A corset is a garment worn to mold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes . Both men and women are known to wear corsets, though women are more common wearers, the girdle attracts a degree of eroticism. Some men like to wear female girdles, and/or find women attractive in them. In addition, the Australian feminist Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements seeking greater, equal, or, among a minority, superior rights and participation in society for women and girls. These rights and means of participation include legal protection and inclusion in politics, business, and scholarship, and recognition and building of women's cultures and writer, Beatrice Faust Beatrice Faust Is an Australian author and women's activist. She was a co-founder of WEL (Women's Electoral Lobby) and President of the Abortion Law Repeal Association of Victoria, in her book Women, Sex and Pornography refers to a "slight but sustained feeling of arousal" when wearing a "moderately tight" girdle. The subject is discussed in the Web site Zona: The Girdle Zone.
Sports
In American football American football, known in the United States simply as football and often as gridiron outside the United States, is a competitive team sport. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. The ball can be advanced by carrying it or by throwing it to a teammate (a passing play). Points can be, a girdle is a piece of clothing that is worn under the football pants to keep the hip, thigh, and tailbone pads in place, making the process of putting on the tight football pants easier. Older girdles resembled chaps Chaps are sturdy coverings for the legs consisting of leggings and a belt. They are buckled on over trousers with the chaps' integrated belt, but unlike trousers they have no seat and are not joined at the crotch. They are designed to provide protection for the legs and are usually made of leather or a leather-like material. They are most commonly, in that they covered only the front of the leg with pads, that snapped on. Modern girdles are essentially a tight pair of compression shorts Compression shorts are undergarments usually worn by athletes. They are form-fitting and when worn cover the athlete's waist to mid or lower thigh. These garments are often made from a spandex-type material, similar to cycling shorts with pockets for the pads. The girdle was also used in the Mesoamerican ballgame The Mesoamerican ballgame was a sport with ritual associations played for over 3000 years by the pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the local indigenous population and is used in hockey (National Hockey League The National Hockey League , often abbreviated to the NHL, is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which six are located in Canada and twenty-four in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is widely considered to be the premier).
Vestment and iconography
Main articles: Cincture The cincture is a liturgical vestment, worn encircling the body around or above the waist. The term has two distinct meanings, the usage generally dividing along denominational lines. Where the context does not indicate which meaning is intended, ambiguity may be avoided by the use of the terms "girdle" and "fascia" and Zone (vestment) The Zone ; occurs in Homer as (Greek: ζώνην, zonēn) a woman's girdle and can even refer to her waist itself. Classical Greek had a verb (Greek: ζώννυσθαι, zonusthai) put a girdle around the loins, or "gird one's self."As a liturgical A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions. The word is sometimes rendered by its English translation "service", may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Roman Catholic Mass, or a daily activity such as the Muslim vestment Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among Latin Rite and other Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of vestments, but this was a point of controversy in the Protestant Reformation and sometimes since - notably, the girdle, also known as a cincture The cincture is a liturgical vestment, worn encircling the body around or above the waist. The term has two distinct meanings, the usage generally dividing along denominational lines. Where the context does not indicate which meaning is intended, ambiguity may be avoided by the use of the terms "girdle" and "fascia", is a long, rope-like cord tied around the waist over the alb The alb, one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Catholic, Anglican and many Protestant churches, is an ample white garment coming down to the ankles and usually girdled with a cincture. It is simply the long linen tunic used by the Romans. In Early Medieval Europe it was also normally worn by secular clergy in non-liturgical contexts. The.
In the Vajrayana Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle. Vajrayana is a complex and multifaceted system of Buddhist thought and practice which evolved over several centuries and encompasses much inconsistency and a variety of opinions. Its main scriptures are called iconography Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek εἰκών "image" and γράφειν "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the of the Hevajra Tantra Hevajra is one of the main yidams in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā (Tibetan: bdag med ma), the 'girdle' (Tib.: ske rags), one of the 'Five Bone Ornaments' (aṣṭhiamudrā) symbolizes Amoghasiddhi Amoghasiddhi is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. he is associated with the accomplishment of the Buddhist path and of the destruction of the poison of envy. His name means He Whose Accomplishment Is Not In Vain. His Shakti/consort is Tara, meaning Noble Deliverer or Noble Star and his mounts are garudas. He and the 'accomplishing pristine awareness' (Kṛty-anuṣṭhāna-jñāna), one of the 'Five Wisdoms The Five Wisdoms is an upāya or 'skillful means' doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism. The Five Wisdoms may be understood as the indivisible 'continuüm of bodhi ' (Sanskrit: citta santana), especially according to Yogācarā based Mahāyāna doctrines, ultimately derived from the Buddhabhūmi Sūtra' (pañca-jñāna).[2] The iconography of the girdle (or bone apron and belt [3]) in Vajrayana iconography developed from one of the items of vestment adorning the Mahasiddha of the charnel grounds.
Beer (1999: p.318) describes the bone girdle as the 'netted bone apron and belt' as vesture of the Dakinis A dakini is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker' and Heruka of the Cham Dance The Cham Dance, associated with some sects of Buddhism, is a lively dance which employs dancers wearing masks and ornamented costumes[citation needed]. The dance is accompanied by music played by monks using traditional Tibetan instruments. The dances often offer moral instruction relating to compassion for sentient beings and are held to bring and Gar Dance of Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan. It is also practiced in Mongolia and parts of Russia (Kalmykia, Buryatia, and Tuva) and Northeast China. Texts recognized as sacred ritual dance performances:
The bone ornaments worn in these ritual dances are exquisitely carved - especially the netted bone apron and belt, which are commonly adorned with intricately carved images of dakinis.[4]
References
- ^ a b c Friedman, Albert B., and Richard H. Osberg. "Gawain's Girdle as Traditional Symbol." The Journal of American Folklore 90.357 (1977): 301-15.
- ^ Kongtrul, Jamgön (author); (English translators: Guarisco, Elio; McLeod, Ingrid) (2005). The Treasury of Knowledge (shes bya kun la khyab pa’i mdzod). Book Six, Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra, The Indestructibe Way of Secret Mantra. Bolder, Colorado, USA: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-210-X (alk.paper) p.493
- ^ Beer, Robert (1999). The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs. Shambhala. ISBN 157062416X. Source: [1] (accessed: December 28, 2008) p.318
- ^ Beer, Robert (1999). The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs. Shambhala. ISBN 157062416X. Source: [2] (accessed: December 28, 2008) p.318
|
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:22:32 GMT+00:00
Daily Mail 'This is better than a girdle at working the transverse abdominis muscle that helps pull in your stomach.' Research shows that 41 per cent of alarms failed ...
FTS
ue, 08 Sep 2009 23:32:52 GM
The intermediary cylindrical . girdle. is the go-between for the sacroiliac. Since the sacroiliac does not have support, yet it permits a variety of turns and twists, it needs an intermediary to hold it up. The sacroiliac connects with the ...
