Corsets: Retro-Cool or Completely Insane?

 I just stumbled upon an ABC news clip about the growing trend of women wearing corsets, not just for dress-up, but every day...full-on waist training. I'm aghast!

x-ray of corseted waist and rib deformation

Here's a link to the abc news clip

I do think corsets can be beautiful, and who wouldn't love a tiny waist? But every day? Aren't we taking a major step backward here ladies? What's next, Chinese foot binding?
Here's what wearing a corset does to your anatomy, when you do it to the extreme level that these ladies are doing it:

drawing showing displaced internal organs

 ((not the most up-to-date illustration, but it gets the point across)))


 I did a bit of quick poking around on the old interwebs and found that opinions abound on this subject...I found lots of corset-enthusiasts who swear up & down that there is no medical reason that extreme corset training is bad for you...many of them say that "it's the same thing that happens to your internal organs during pregnancy"...um, it's not?

In my opinion, wearing a corset for a special event, like a costume ball, or for stage performances and things like that seems OK. It really does create a dramatic look, but at what cost? I recently came upon a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, who said, "be the change you want to see in the world". Is this really the change we want to see? A giant step backward into pre- women's rights times? A world where looks matter more than health? Where freedom of breath and movement is less important that image? No thanks!

I think one of the real reasons this bothers me so much is that it hits me on a personal level. You see, I have a weird little medical condition called Idiopathic Gastroparesis. What that means, in a nutshell, is that my stomach empties more slowly than the average person's. I have to eat small meals, and I have to avoid certain foods like carbonated beverages and hard-to-digest things, or I get really, really sick. No-one knows what causes it, and there is no cure. It's not the end of the world, and I'm leaning to live with it, but why someone would do this to themselves intentionally is beyond me. Because, in effect, that's one of the "side effects" of corset training: a person wearing a super-tight corset is basically giving themselves this condition. The "corset expert" in the video even says (a wearer) is going to get really bad heartburn. Lovely! What do these people think heartburn is? It's the acidic contents of your stomach burning away at the sensitive lining of your esophagus. Yeah, that's healthy!!

OK, enough ranting for now...
what do you wonderful readers think? Is this a trend that needs to go away, fast, or something you like?
Id love to hear your opinions :-)