The shocking rise of rib remodelling

[RoyalCorgi]

The Guardian has got itself in a tizz about women choosing to have their ribs fractured and wear a corset in order to achieve an hourglass shape. Apparently this entirely unnecessary surgery is very painful and carries some serious risks, including fatality.

My irony meter has just exploded.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/oct/28/the-shocking-rise-of-rib-remodelling-i-wanted-that-hourglass-shape

My irony meter has just exploded.

They still manage to shoehorn a transexual into an article about women. One of the case studies is "Sophia" who is a bloke who "transitioned" aged 47 then had five lower ribs fractured on either side which led to a pneumothorax (collapsed lung).

“I didn’t start transitioning until I was 47 and I feel as if I’m playing catch up, because I’m so old, and testosterone was running rampant all those decades,” she says. “That’s why gender-affirming procedures are really important to me.” The final results weren’t what she had hoped for though. “It was a bit underwhelming.”

“I’m still a bloke” added Sophia.

A collapsed lung is underwhelming?

We should just go the whole hog and start breaking girls feet and toes when they're tiny like the Chinese used to do. Oh, wait, didn't we all think that was an abhorrent, barbaric, misogynistic, cruel practice that had no place in modern life?

WTF HAPPENED?

Considering this and the mention of some other surgeries that are wedged into the middle of the article, such as clavicle shortening and pelvis widening, this piece feels like a Trojan horse. I hope none of these ridiculous procedures make their way into NHS as ‘gender affirming care’. Do this weird and dangerous body modding on your own dime, fellas.

Whenever I hear 'gender affirming' I am reminded of a key lesson in life - never believe your own bullshit

Appalling. And medical professionals are doing it to them.

In Miami where Cesin lives, she says she doesn’t feel her shape puts her in the minority. There, cosmetic surgery is widely accepted and expected. “The girls in Miami, all of them look the same, because it’s a lot of fillers, a lot of buttocks, a lot of surgery and BBLs,” she says, adding that it’s easy, as a result, to get carried away. But she doesn’t want to end up like that. “People say rib remodelling was a little bit extra, that I didn’t need to do anything, but it makes me happy, so that’s why I did it. But I’m done. No more surgeries.”

I hate the way these articles let the 'everyone is doing it' narrative go unchallenged. How about some stats to give a proper picture rather than rely on the testimony of those who have had it done?

Do this weird and dangerous body modding on your own dime, fellas.

I agree-and the same goes for any corrective procedures that may be necessary to repair damage, or save your life if it all goes wrong.

I stopped reading when it mentioned "cis" women. Twat.

I am sorry for anyone who's damaged their health due to this nonsense.

It's so clear that many genderists think that female means femininity - often to the extreme.
It's an incredibly sexist view that is so often denied.
People will always prey on those who dislike their body for whatever reason

I read this article but it annoyed me. I came up across the expression "cisgender women" and realised I couldn't take it seriously after that. Not that I could take it seriously before that. The use of corsets to attain a tiny waist was at its most aggressive, with tightlacing, around the end of the 19th century. It was a practice largely frowned upon by many sections of society but still admired by the fashionable people of the time.

This apparent new, extreme body modification is just the cycle going around one more time, slightly differently than previously, and now it seems to represent "extreme femininity" in the eyes of some. Naturally it will be attempted by male transitioners. More fool them. All the internal organs live inside our chest and abdomen and they do not appreciate being compressed.

Ker-ching! 💰💰💰💰

I know, have they not moved on from secondary school arguments?

General anaesthesia, effective infection control and effective pain relief.

It's really weird that all the photos in an article about the horrors of body modification are 'glamour' shots of women showing off their tiny waists. Where is the photo of the transwoman in hospital with the punctured lung for instance which would balance it out a bit.

that's exactly what I thought

the Guardian: 'objectifying women is bad!'

also the Guardian: 'here's some sexy pictures of laydees in corsets! half of them don't even show a face so we can be really clear that women aren't real people!'

fucks sake

there are loads of relevant pictures they could have illustrated that with - how about some candid shots of what someone's chest looks like after their ribs have been broken? but noooo