system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: When and why did corsets move away from being common place and become more of a sexual statement?
gpt
Corsets really made some sense in an era of multiple pregnancies; they help hold a woman together, keep the weight of her skirts off her hipbones, and provide excellent back support.  The problem arises when the fashion is for tight-lacing that also distorts the back, which was the case in the 1890s.  

But really, the move from corsets is mostly the result of changes in fashion.  By the end of WWI, corsets had changed from figure-shapers to figure-smoothers.  The 1920s saw the popularization of boyish figures, very short hems,and a new kind of sexualization of women as actors rather than recipients. 1930s corsets were more all-in-one body shapers, and that style continued into the 1940s.  Postwar fashions were hyperfeminine, again emphasizing a narrow waist and broad hips and bust - again achieved with corsetry of one sort or another.  

Women still wear corsets, except now they're made of spandex.  Frankly, having worn both traditional tight-laced corsets and "Spanx" bodyshapers, I'd vote for the comfort of the former every time.