American Scholar, March 22nd, 2002
Although loose cravats became popular in Europe only during the seventeenth century, we have worn things around our necks for millennia, from cowls to feather boas, from diamond chokers to ruffled flea-catchers. Ancient Chinese civilizations believed that the Adam's apple was the source of a man's virility and that his neck therefore needed to be swaddled up in thick scarves in order to safeguard his vital energies, much as other cultures believed that a man's testicles needed to be protected by special belts, cups, and codpieces that helped deflect potentially emasculating blows. Even cats ...
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