Yes, I don't have an issue with corsets/stays really. I too just class them as undergarments that occasionally had their odd moments (see also: push up bras) but I tend to roll my eyes at the lack of nuance and the "feminist" framing around it that wards any discussion around it. Their issue seems to be mainly Hollywood's interpretation but, you know, artistic license is a thing, they're using modern language too so it's a weird standard. It's all just a lot more nuanced than its made out to be, see also the non electric sewing machine love, it's that pink eyed nostalgia that completely turns out what technological innovation has done, most specifically for working class women (and men if we're talking technical innovation in general). They're just a lot of "everything was better then" attitude, very much missing out the crucial for some at the end.
I have a lot more time for the social historian reenactor sorts who can be quite anal about it all, and it's therefore quite an exclusive community but it doesn't brush anything unpleasant under the carpet either.
The ideal female form often stands in relation to excess and restraint, whichever is hardest to achieve and displays you (as a woman) have a lot of spare time is the one that's en vogue. But proportions don't differ that much and that just goes back to fertility and waist hip ratios. Anyhow, as much as we ooh and aah over those paintings, back in the day they were often just noble men's porn that they kept in a special room with a little curtain draped over it, porn stars today aren't exactly representative for ideal female forms either but there's certainly echoes.