Brief presentation on imagining the future of the female form and function of females, excerpted from much longer project Modifyme.info.

1. The Scientific Corset Lives. Long Live the Scientific Corset!
Outside Authority Conference, www.outsideauthority.org
Virginia Tech, October 15, 2011
Crystal Allene Cook, doctoral student, Virginia Tech

2. Why this presentation?
The focus of futurists is
often on a Utopian future,
especially one in which our
intelligence is increased and
our bodies become less
important.
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

3. Futurist Ray
Kurzweil
predicts that we
become
immortal and
that the
changes
through
technology to
what it means
to be human
are desirable.
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

4. Or someone like the futurist Ramez Naam
predicts:
Most of all, descendents of ours will be
fantastically diverse. Where we are all alike in
the basic forms of our minds and bodies, they
will exist in a plethora of forms. Humanity will
have given birth not to one new species, not to
a dozen new species, but to thousands, or
millions….our descendents will still look back.
They’ll look back at this moment in our history
and marvel. To think that such primitive
creatures as Homo sapiens could give birth to
whole new kingdoms of life! They could not
have understood what they were creating! Yet
we’re lucky that they had such a strong urge to
change and grow–this is why we’re here. (233)
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

5. Thus, to these futurists,
somewhere in a future
soon....among computers,
genetic engineering,
biotech, surgery, and
pharma.....at the very
least...
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

6. In the future,
we're all gonna be geniuses (if we aren't already!)
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

7. Hold on a minute,
what about the body?
Will we really embrace new ideals?
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

8. So, to counter this purported Utopian
future, I can build on my own
experience and the experience of other
women.
I can look to history and the now.
I can grab the authority to be
just as wrong about the future as
Ray Kurzweil and Ramez Naam!
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

9. Limited my scope
Female body (though male body also worth
examining)
Just the torso
History of scientific, pseudoscientific, or with the
use of tech products for modification the last 100
years
Examined a lot of stats worldwide on commerce,
science, fashion, medicine currently in use (can
see these at www.modifyme.info)
Predicted potential futures for the female
form/body and for the function of being female
that are far less utopian
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

10. Where
to
start?
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

11. An Anatomical Vindication of
the Straight Front Corset, Science and Discovery, 1910,
Current Literature
It is because of the fall of the viscera in woman when she imitated man by standing
erect that induced such profound physiological displacements…that the corset
is morphologically essential…Contour and the factors in evolution have never
harmonized until the introduction of the “Princess” gown effect in female
fashions. By flattening the abdomen, reducing the hips and emancipating the
bust, the French corsetieres—who in reality originated the prevailing female
form—have shown themselves anthropological in a very scientific sense.
…. Theorists such as Naomi Wolf have long pointed out
the move of corseting from an external technology to
an internal one vis a vis plastic surgery, dieting, etc. In
the article above we have a pseudoscientific apology
for the need for women to be corseted.
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

12. The “scientific corset” morphs, but is still with us. Left to right:
straight front corset (1910-1920), girdle (1920s – now), gastric
band (1950s – now), lower body lift surgery (1990s – now),
rebranding of girdle as empowering choice through Spanx (2000s
- now)
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

13. Okay. So what about the female form
of the future?
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

14. If the past and the now are any
indications, in the future we will be
using science, technology,
commerce, medicine, etc. for
MORE OF THE SAME
but just maybe worse.
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

15. More of the same
Did a search online for ”female + future + form”
Our collective
imagination
for the form
of the female
in the future
Glowing see-through is relatively
eyes, blue stripes,
limited. The
long tail, scarily long
torso ideal
fingers, as long as often remains
you're hot, who
the same.
cares?
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

16. Just maybe worse
European Union
Council Members, ages
43, 55, 70
US Attorney All women who can afford it start to look about
General, Age 64 the same... age, shape, ethicity... compelled to
do this for yourself, your children to ”get
ahead”...
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

17. If we look to the now, we can
imagine a future in which...

Female reproduction 
Females are pre-selected
extends indefinitely before birth for
obedience, docility

Reproduction is 
Women are bio-
eliminated for certain engineered with their
females or relegated capacity for sexual
to other women pleasure eliminated

Women can birth

Women are relegated only
to roles of sexual pleasure
litters of children for males
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

18. Lots more to think about....lots
more to say....
Many more pages to this project
at
www.modifyme.info
Happy for comments there, too...
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

19. Encourage folks
Lots of work out there to be done on:
Science and fashion
Technology and fashion
Medicine and body modification
Medicine and fashion and commerce
Theorizing of public and private body in technology
Just at a loss on some of this.... very hard to get my mind
around...leave you with April Dawn
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

20. April Dawn 77′s YouTube channel
A whole culture exists online of people documenting their
modification through medicine-- this is April Dawn's lower
body lift. She has 70 videos up about this... Yet, she claims
she would be mortified to walk on a beach in a bikini.
A new space for inquiry seems to exists among what is
hidden, what is medicine, what is modification, what is.....
the extreme modification that may be the future for all of
us... that can afford it....
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

21. Thanks!
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

22. References, text-based
“A Safe Procedure for Healthy Weight Loss | LAP-BAND®.” The Preferred Weight Loss Surgery | LAP-BAND®. Web. 01 May 2011.
<http://www.lapband.com/en/learn_about_lapband/the_procedure_safety/>.
Burns-Ardolino, Wendy A. Jiggle: (re)shaping American Women. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2007. Print.
Cohen, Patricia. “Technology Advances; Humans Supersize—NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Books. Web. 26 April 2011. < http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/books/robert-w-fogel-
investigates-human-evolution.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28>
Elliott, Carl. Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004. Print.
Hurwitz, Dennis J. Total Body Lift Surgery: Reshaping the Breasts, Chest, Arms, Thighs, Hips, Back, Waist, Abdomen & Knees after Weight Loss, Aging & Pregnancies. New York: MD Publish.com,
2005. Print.
Jones, Geoffrey. Beauty Imagined: a History of the Global Beauty Industry. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Kay, Lily E. Who Wrote the Book of Life?: a History of the Genetic Code. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2000. Print.
Kolata, Gina. “For the Overweight, Bad Advice by the Spoonful – NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 29 Aug. 2007. Web. 01 May 2011.
<http://www.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-obesity-ess.html>.
Kolata, Gina. “Overweight – Symptoms, Causes, Tests – NY Times Health Information.” Health News – The New York Times. Web. 01 May 2011.
<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/obesity/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>.
“Lap-Band Surgery Houston | Laparoscopic | Lap-band Surgery Doctor Texas.” Weight Loss Surgery Houston | Bariatric Surgery Treatment | Gastric Bypass Surgery | Lap Band Surgery Houston,
Texas | Sleeve Gastrectomy Texas. Web. Apr.-May 2011. <http://www.drbrianmirza.com/lap-band-system-houston.php>.
Lower Body Lift, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Ted E. Lockwood MD, Volume 21, Issue 4, July 2001, Pages 355-370
Munsch, Simone, and C. Beglinger. Obesity and Binge Eating Disorder. Basel: Karger, 2005. Print.
Naam, Ramez. More than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. New York: Broadway, 2005. Print.
“Plastic Surgery Rebounds Along with Recovering Economy.” The American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Web. 01 May 2011. <http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news-and-resources/press-release-
archives/2011-press-release-archives/plastic-surgery-rebounds-along-with-recovering-economy.html>.
Wheeler, Edward J. Ed. Science and Discovery, January – June 1910, Current Literature, Vol XLVIII, The Current Literature Publishing.
Welcome to Spanx.com the Official Site of Spanx by Sara Blakely. Web. Apr. 2011. <http://www.spanx.com/home/index.jsp>.
World Outlook Report 2006-2011: Women’s & Girls’ Corsets, Girdles & Combinations Made from Purchased Fabrics Excluding Surgical Corsets, 2005.
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011

23. Image Collage References
Corset
Image from 'Fighting The Corsetless Evil': Shaping Corsets And Culture, 1900-1930 by
Jill Fields, Journal of Social History / Winter, 1999
Spirella 1950s
Image from: http://www.corsetiere.net/Spirella/Girdles/Girdles.htm
Gastric Band Illustration
Image from: http://www.drbrianmirza.com/lap-band-system-houston.php
Lower Body Lift
Image from: Lower Body Lift, Aesthetic Surgery Journal,
Ted E. Lockwood MD, Volume 21, Issue 4, July 2001, Pages 355-370
Spanx logo
Part of the Spanx logo: http://www.spanx.com/home/index.jsp
Crystal Allene Cook, Outside Authority Conference, Oct. 2011