A dominant male baboon exposes and flaunts his erect penis as a signal to
the other male baboons of his power and position. Men in New Guinea pro-
claim their position in the community by the size and decorative features of
their penis sheaths. European males in the 15th and 16th centuries wore cod-
pieces as a sign of virility and status (see the sidebar ‘The codpiece’ for
details).In the latest James Bond film the British actor, Daniel Craig, strides out of the
ocean wearing a swimsuit that unashamedly draws the eye to his crotch. The
light blue colour of the swimwear, combined with Craig’s well-endowed and
highly toned body, highlights the character’s strength and power.168 Part III: The Trunk: Limbs and Roots
The codpiece
In 1482 the codpiece came into being after
Edward IV imposed a law forbidding men below
the rank of Lord to wear short doublets that
exposed their genitalia. Men, unwilling to be
inconvenienced by sewing up the doublet’s
crotch seam, turned to the codpiece as a solu-
tion.
Originally designed as a triangular piece of
fabric tied at the three corners, or stitched at
the bottom angle and tied at the top two angles,
the codpiece fitted over the gap in the front of
the hose. Men quickly realised that this new
fashion served as an artificial enhancement to
what may be lacking in size or stature.Developing from a flat piece of fabric, the cod-
piece transmogrified into bombastic shapes.
The family jewels at first rested in pouches from
which they easily protruded. Over the course of
a century, padding was added to the pouches
until they were finally discarded in favour of
large, padded shapes of unfathomable dimen-
sions serving no function other than enhance-
ment. These were tied onto the hose or shirt,
leaving the ‘items of value’ to reside behind the
ostentatious shapes.
During the reign of Henry VIII the codpiece pro-
gressed into a loaf shape, after which it turnedinto an elongated oval that temptingly peeped
out from the puffy folds of the Elizabethan trunk
hose. Made of highly decorated and eye-catch-
ing material, the codpiece served as a status
symbol; the more flamboyant the piece, the
higher the status.
In the 1550s, the male members of the Spanish
court, flushed with viral pride over their suc-
cesses in the New World, sported codpieces
resembling permanent erections.As men’s fashion changed in the late 1500s the
codpiece became obscured by the voluminous
folds of the trunk hose. However, this item did
not completely disappear and can be seen in
Jacobean portraits in early 17th century
England.
In 1975 Eldridge Cleaver, the former leader of
the Black Panthers (an Afro-American civil
rights organisation) made a foray into the fash-
ion world as a designer of men’s underwear.
The distinguishing feature of his design was an
enormous codpiece-like set of genitalia. His
reasoning was that clothes hide a person’s sex-
uality and he wanted to get sex back into the
open. Many rock stars and fetishists continue
to wear codpieces for that reason.