Fainting room
A fainting room was a private room, common in the Victorian era, which typically contained fainting couches. Such couches or sofas typically had an arm on one side only to permit easy access to a reclining position, similar to its cousin the Chaise longue, although the sofa style most typically featured a back at one end (usually the side with the arm) so that the resulting position was not purely supine.
There are also accounts that mention fainting rooms in eighteenth-century America.[1] These rooms, which were also referred to as bedrooms (bedrooms were called chambers), were located in the ground floor and contained a day bed that allowed occupants to rest for brief periods during the day.[1]
Theories for prevalence
One theory for the predominance of fainting couches is that women were actually fainting because their
Victorian fainting rooms are associated with a claim that they are part of the legacy of female containment where such rooms served as a deeply female space meant to force women to remain indoors and inactive under the guise of ensuring privacy, class, and interiority.[4]
See also
- Corset controversy
- Social aspects of clothing
References
- ^ ISBN 9781467136914.
- ISBN 9781591810797.
- ISSN 0890-5738. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- ISBN 9780415728676.
- Greene, Bob (1998-12-12). "Let's all retire to the Fainting Room". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
- Kibbel, Bill. "The Little Room Upstairs". OldHouseWeb. Retrieved 2011-09-03.