@kisa24 I'm going to send a link to you from a person more informed on this topic than myself: https://youtu.be/rExJskBZcW0
I will say, women could choose how tightly they wore their corsets. There wasn't a law saying how small their waist had to be. Working women wore corsets but not tightly, just enough to keep their "ladies" in place, and could do manual labor just fine. Some women, probably young ones, were foolish and wore them too tight. Just like some women today will become puke after meals to "stay thin". Unhealthy behavior in the name of beauty and fashion isn't new, modern problem.