P D Ball’s Newsletter No. 8

Hello! I hope you are doing well.  For this month’s newsletter: the codpiece (I’m sorry)

Contents:

First Words

Behind the Scenes

Two author’s new books

Progress

Book 5 is being written. I’m about 50% of the way through right now. It’s coming along nicely and the pacing feels good. I found a great writing partner and we are pushing each other to write as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Behind the Scenes: Codpieces

This is a different behind the scenes. If discussions of sexually charged clothing is not your thing, skip this one. Though I won’t be making this a sexual discussion. I think it’s more about masculine insecurities and showing off kind of thing.

Cayce’s armor is sexualized by sporting steel breasts and a tight waistline. I got this idea from a couple places. First, of course, being video games. At the beginning, Cayce assumes she’s in a game, so thematically, the design fit. The second being the real-world example of codpieces, which are a fine example of sexualized clothing.

Codpieces were thought to have developed because of two possible reasons. They were used to protect men’s genitals while wearing armor. These soon became far larger than necessary and it’s possible their existence influenced regular clothing. Alternatively, they may have developed from a cloth to cover up the genitals that was needed when men were men and wore hose leggings. Unlike pants, these leggings were worn separately, one for each leg. When this style arose, doublets (tight fitting jackets) were long enough to cover up the genitals. But, as fashion marched ever forward, shirts and jackets became shorter and a separate piece of cloth was necessary to do the covering. And I do mean necessary, as an edict by King Edward IV’s parliament required men to cover up their genitalia and buttocks.

If you stop and think about that for a moment . . . they needed laws to force people to cover up. In England.

Anyways, if you’re curious what codpieces look like in the extreme, here is a picture of Henry the VIII’s armor beside a drawing of his clothing.  Henry’s codpieces were larger than everyone else’s, so these are not examples of regular clothing, but probably the deep insecurity of the poor king:

Because codpieces were larger than they needed to be, they became used as oddly placed pockets. Handkerchiefs, keys and even guns were reported to be stored there. I, personally, cannot imagine storing a gun next to one’s genitals, but these were different times.

Codpieces also may have had a medical use. Syphilis was spreading rapidly at the time these were widely used. All manner of poultices, syrups and compresses were used to treat the disease, and these sometimes included mercury. Safely resting in a codpiece, these treatments were less likely to be dislodged.

Such phallic displays fell out of favor in fashion in short order, though you can still see them today in, for example, superhero movies like Batman, and some fashion shows.

Similar masculine-emphasizing garments are found in other cultures. The penis-sheathes of Papua New Guinean (PNG) cultures differ among various tribes in what they are made from, which direction they point and decorations adorning them. The tropical conditions of where they live means that they didn’t wear bodily clothing prior to it being forced on them by foreign nations.

Perhaps these developed to ward off insect bites. No one, after all, wants their genitals bitten by insects. However, their scrotum is unadorned and open to the environment, suggesting that insects are likely not what these peoples are concerned with, but probably status and tribal differentiation. In any case, these are so important to their culture that when PNG tribal representatives attended the United Nations, they wore the garb.

Here is a picture of that, and a picture of one in the jungle of PNG.

All of that said, because Cayce has introduced armor to the world she’s found herself in, you can imagine the fashion that will develop in the future.

Have a good week!

Oh! Last, a poem bemoaning the codpiece by Robert Hayman:

Two Filthy Fashions

Of all fond fashion, that were worne by Men.

These two (I hope) will ne’r be worne againe:

Great Codpist Doublets, and great Codpist britch,

At seuerall times worne both by meane and rich:

These two had beene, had they beene worn together,

Like two Fooles, pointing, mocking each the other.

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