Are Ties Phallocarps?

Thomas Clarke (clarke@acme.ist.ucf.edu)
24 Oct 1995 16:42:24 GMT

I was disappointed to see Fidel Castro talking to the UN in a suit
and tie. That leaves the Arab nations as the last holdout against
the tie.

It did remind me of the mention in Jared Diamond's "Third Chimpanzee"
of the phallocarp worn by Fiji(?) islanders. Sort of a giant
colorful codpiece worn over the male penis. The wearer would choose
size and color according to his mood. Diamond speculates about
a connection with an instinctual response to the large human penis
as some sort of ritual male display.

Now if you look at a man (woman?) wearing a tie just right, you
see a head with a giant colorful penis. Could the tie thus
be stimulating instinctual brain centers that respond to penis size
as a status display?

I've got to stop reading anthropology :-)

Tom Clarke