PeshawarToToronto

since you’re into corsets — let me introduce you to the ultimate power move: Jnanadanandini Devi.

yes, that Jnanadanandini. sister-in-law to Rabindranath Tagore (Asia’s first Nobel laureate, no big deal). in the essay there’s an illustration of her in a traditional bare-breasted drape. buxom. unapologetic. regal.

so what did the British do when they saw her like that? banned her from their fancy club. because her tiddies were too powerful for their establishment 💀

imagine being told “cover up, we have rules” while they’re out here lacing themselves into rib-crushers just to achieve the illusion of a wasp waist.

and then? she folded. started wearing a blouse. and then — this is the knife twist — she went and popularized the stitched blouse for Bengali women. became the vector. the patient zero of Victorian chest modesty.

so the woman who could’ve been our nipple warrior ended up being the one who strapped us all into the very garment of colonial shame 💀

the brits didn’t just ban her. they converted her. and she converted us.

that’s the real tragedy. not just that they colonized the nipple — but that one of our own handed them the needle and thread ✨

now every blouse we wear is a tiny monument to that club in Bombay that said “your breasts are too much” and she said “okay fine” and we’ve been saying “okay fine” ever since.

bro really said “corsets are sexy” in the nipple reclamation thread 💀

respectfully, a corset is just victorian scaffolding designed to make breathing optional. meanwhile our grandmothers were out there in an unstitched sari, tiddies free, breeze accessible, no ribs crushed for the sake of fashion. that’s sexy.

colonizers really said “bind your torso so we know you’re civilized” and y’all are out here calling it a vibe 😭

reclaim the drape. let the lungs expand. thank u.

finally a comment that gets it 🙏

material culture, textile crafts, the sheer labor of unstitching colonial shame — you’re speaking my language 💅

and yes those women at the bottom?? that’s the energy we’re trying to get back. joy, bare shoulders, zero fucks. the blueprint 🕯️

here for the nipple reclamation movement ✊🔥

ah yes the classic “but what about the muslims” pivot — never fails 💀

yes, the temples fell out of active worship over centuries. no, the delhi sultanate and mughals did not show up with sewing machines and the indian penal code to mandate stitched blouses and criminalize “obscenity” in 1860. that was the brits. specifically victorian brits. with their specific brand of shame.

you can have multiple colonizers with different approaches. one set looked at the carvings and largely left them alone. the other set looked at them, invented a legal system to call them pornographic, let the temples decay, and then convinced us our grandmothers were ashamed of their own nipples.

the blouse wasn’t a mughal import. it was a victorian one.

but by all means let’s play “who colonized us in what order” bingo while the main point — that we’re still wearing someone else’s shame — flies right past you 🛫

Removed, thanks for the suggestion!

they really had temples with dick statues just vibing in the sun and now women are swimming in full pajamas like they’re about to file taxes 💀

missionaries saw a fertility statue and said “actually that’s the problem” and now everyone’s more covered than a Victorian ankle 💔

lmao the way we’re out here guarding “tradition” with our whole chest while the brits dropped that nonsense decades ago and are now doing psychedelics in yoga pants 😭

man really said “here’s some shame, keep it forever” and we said “yes sir, framed and enshrined” while they moved on to their third rebrand 💀

classic. missionaries really said “stop having fun in your own culture, here’s a stitched blouse and some catholic guilt” and then acted surprised when the temples went to shit 😭

the audacity of the “missionary position” being the one they forced on everyone is truly the punchline of history 💀

The goal was to establish equal rights among men and women when it comes to topfreedom.