Fainting Couch

       Couches have been used over time in many different styles and for many different purposes. The reclining couch in this picture is often associated though movies and TV shows with psychological therapy. But this couch is actually called a fainting couch. The term fainting couch comes from the ^th century, where the couch would be used for women to faint on (and hopefully recover!). While fainting couches became popular in the Victorian era, they weren’t created during this time period. Reclining couches have existed ever since ancient Greek and Roman times. Reclining furniture can be found in many old Greek and Roman pictures and may have been in ancient Greece since the 7^th century BC. The Victorians were very fond of reviving historical styles thus adapting Greek and Roman furniture to their own households. What the Victorians did do was give the reclining couch a new name and purpose, yet they didn’t invent it.

Victorian era of the 19

       In the Victorian era there are many stories of woman fainting or swooning. This has led to the depiction of the “swooning Southern Belle” in period movies and books like Jane Eyre. The question is why did the women faint so much? The most agreed upon reason is that their corsets were too tight and this led to shortness of breath and feelings of wooziness or dizzy spells. Worn around the torso, corsets were often made of a durable tightly woven fabric in which vertical ribs or boning was inserted. This is called boning because they were often made of whalebone. Corsets were sometimes meant to give a skinny, flat look, while other times they were meant to add extra curves or voluptuousness. Either way these high statements of fashion common during the Victorian era would have tight lacing that often squeezed organs together and displaced ribs. Movement around the house, especially up and down stairs, would cause many Victorian women to have to lie down for a second. This is why many of these fainting couches were near the staircases in homes.

       The fainting couch in the Farm House Museum is located in the library. The reason behind this location goes back to a 1907 picture of the Farm House library taken for an agriculture magazine. This picture is the oldest known picture taken of the inside of the Farm House and it shows a skirted fainting couch prominently situated in the library. Thus the fainting couch placed in the library currently is meant to reflect that historic picture. The fainting couch can teach us a lot about Victorian culture associated with fainting. While fainting from a fashionable tight corset was the most agreed upon reason for the couches unique name, there were other reasons as well. One reason for fainting could have come from dehydration especially in the hot summer months where a Victorian woman would often wear layers including a corset, a bustle pad, a full skirt, a petticoat (sometimes lined with steel hoops) and a bonnet. All these extra layers could get very hot, very fast, along with the added stress to the body of holding up the weight of the cloths themselves. All this heat and extra weight could make any woman dehydrated, causing them to faint from overheating or heat stroke.

       One more possibility for the reason Victorian women frequently fainted was that they were actually just pretending to faint. It was considered very ladylike to swoon when women felt any sense of shock. This was meant to show their delicate nature and was a strong social cue for women whenever they saw something that might be scandalous or unladylike. Due to these social norms, women might have used fainting and thus fainting couches to get out of uncomfortable situations. If they wanted to avoid someone or something, they could faint. If they needed to use the toilet but didn’t want to announce it, they could faint. Fainting was one of the few ways Victorian women could change a subject or abruptly exit a room while still being considered ladylike. These social norms surrounding fainting couches can continue to tell us how women might have acted in the Farm House during the Victorian era since we know from the 1907 photo a fainting couch was present in the library at the time. There are a lot of different objects within the Farm House that continue to tell us more about the past, gender roles, society, fashion, and many other interesting historical topics.