stock phrase about men?

[Stephen Hodge]

Just an after-thought on what I wrote here:

> So here we are back in the realm of the overtly sexual.

It occurs to me that in the context of these eight means of binding men, the
sudden mention of a rather sexually explicit item seems a bit out of
context, a rather sudden "gear-change" as it were, Richard Mahoney's
collection of passages nonwithstanding.

All things considered, I would rank the suggested possible interpretations
regarding the ultimate underlying / original meaning in my order of
preference as follows:

1.    Love-tokens in the form of flowers and fruit
2.    Joshing banter
3.    Open-spread vagina

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge