Posture and morality

Postural laziness is what people picture when they think of poor posture. Thanks to the Puritans.

Most people are at least dimly aware that sexual uptightness is a Puritan thing, that the Puritans bequeathed England and her colonies with the notion that pleasure is evil … and what’s more pleasurable than sex? (Possibly massage, and I doubt they liked that either.) Few people know that the Puritans also gave us the idea that rigid posture implies moral righteousness and strength of character. Postural laziness is a great moral failing in the Puritanical world view, which still pollutes the cultural DNA of modern civilization to a shocking degree. People still exaggerate the value of “good posture” for this reason, mostly unconsciously.

This is a brief excerpt from Does Posture Matter? A detailed guide to posture and postural correction strategies (especially why none of it matters very much), Footnote #9. Years after writing that passage, along comes this to illustrate it:

Comic by MimiAndEunice.com, which is a lovely place.