= new reply since forum marked as read
What the fuck was she thinking!
Tell her to work at a Ren Faire for 16 years wearing a bodice (with boning) in 100° heat and 110% humidity for 10 hours a day. THAT'S self torture. 
Except, I'd be holding onto that post and my ex-husband would get way too much satisfaction out of tightening those laces.
Funny thing, for about the first 5 years after I quit working the faire, whenever the heat would become unbearable and the humidity was suffocating...I'd go through bodice withdrawals. 
I think it was some weird satisfaction that I didn't die. That I had the discipline to put myself, willingly, into a torture device and enjoy it. I had a phenomenal day job that paid extremely well, yet on my days off I would drive almost 2 hours to taunt heat exposure for minimum wage (and free food).
But, yes, when the gates closed...there was a ritualistic freeing of the boobies. You could hear women sighing and breathing everywhere. Later, we'd compare cool tan lines over hard cider.
