OddThinking

Cassie recently posted a comment with a story about some children’s reactions to her performing with her fly undone.

It made me wonder what an sociologist unfamiliar with our cultural norms might make of them.

Fortunately, some Internet searches revealed this snippet from a Venusian anthropologist’s report, recently translated into English.

Section 12.3: The Role of the Zipper in Caste Societies

Section 12.3.1: Taboo Against Exposure

As has been discussed in [12], modern human cultures have an taboo against humans allowing other humans to see their genitalia, with softer taboos applying to some, but certainly not all, secondary sexual characteristics. Some restrictive exceptions to this taboo are documented in [13], [15] and [17], including the latter parts of human mating rituals.

Section 12.3.2: Underwear: First Level of Protection

Exposure is generally prevented through affixing a loop of tight-fitting of cloth (“underwear”) close to the genitalia.[12] This underwear blocks electromagnetic rays (at least at those wavelengths visible to the human ocular organ).

The taboo against genitalia visibility is so strong, that a (somewhat softer) taboo is transfered to the visibility of the underwear itself. A single sheet of cloth is not considered sufficient, except in special circumstances. (In [19], it is argued that that these exceptions apply within 100 metres of an ocean/land-mass interface (“beach”), or within 30 metres of an artificial simulated ocean/land-mass interface (“pool”). However, these rules are considered simplistic by many scholars who cite counter-examples such as [67].)

Section 12.3.3: Pants: Second Level of Protection

Where a taboo against underwear visibility applies, the underwear will be further surrounded by a convoluted piece of apparel, known as “pants”. Pants are secured with a simple, but reliable, fastener called a “button”, and may be further secured with a strap called a “belt”.

The button, with or without the use of a belt, is sufficient to ensure the pants remain in close proximity to the body. Part of the pants construction includes a slit aperture (“fly”) which is used in the pants deployment. This suggests a risk that reflected light from the genitalia may travel through the aperture.

Two redundant systems prevent this from happening. The first is the aforementioned underwear that offers one (or sometimes two) layers of cloth protection. The second is that the fly comes with short overlapping flaps of cloth that overlay the aperture during normal operation, thus preventing exposure of the underwear.

Section 12.3.3: Zipper: A Third Level of Protection?

Despite this system, fear of breaking the taboo continues to require additional defences. The fly is additionally fastened, rather superfluously, by a ceremonial clasp. The clasp needs to be meticulously maintained – closed each time the button is fastened. The closed clasp represents a public declaration that the wearer has several layers of protection against underwear exposure. The clasp (known as a “zipper” or “zip”) is the most technologically advanced part of the pants.

Section 12.3.4: Closed Zipper as a Status Symbol

Given that inappropriate exposure of underwear (and even more so for genitalia) is associated with lower-castes in society[12], the closed zipper provides a low-cost-to-entry status symbol.

Section 12.3.5: Social Dynamics of the Open Zipper

If a member of society fails to properly fasten the clasp, it exposes an interesting social dynamic.

For the lowest-caste members of society (such as young children) the inappropriately opened zipper represents an opportunity to climb the status ladder by lowering the status of a higher-caste society member. Hence, they are quick to bring the faux pas to the attention of other members of society, in the hope of opprobrium.

For higher-caste members, the zipper offers no opportunity, except to remind them that their status is equally fragile and could be jeopardised by an inappropriate action. They suffer some disquiet from this. The subject is treated with mild distaste, and is not discussed where possible.

For approximately equal members of society, the balance is very delicate: they desire to (a) show their suitability for promotion to a higher caste status by ignoring the issue, (b) assist their fellow caste member and (c) avoid drawing general attention to the zipper (which would associate them with lower-caste behaviour).

Hence, obfuscation techniques have been developed to obliquely reference the zipper without causing embarrassment. A recent field study [21] collected a number of observed techniques, including subtle conversation starters like “So, the flies are low this season.”