> The fly (which is invisible) is a bourgeois innovation, much unlike earlier aristocratic styles, such as the European codpiece, that often drew explicit atten

> The fly (which is invisible) is a bourgeois innovation, much unlike earlier aristocratic styles, such as the European codpiece, that often drew explicit attention to the genital region. This is the one part of the male body whose contours are entirely effaced. If hiding something is a way of declaring it a form of power, then hiding the male genitals is a way of declaring masculinity itself a form of power https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/After_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/After_Ha... tangential recommendation: if you might enjoy somewhat dark historical fiction & the politics of working with and around the above aristocratic codpiece-wearer, with frequently witty banter, Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy may be for you: https://www.goodreads.com/series/75450-thomas-cromwell-trilogy https://www.goodreads.com/series/75450-thomas-cromwell-trilo...