Page 58 - The Irony Board

Into the Body

Domasticated

An Eskimo bride
Chews on her mate’s hide
Until soft enough
To finish his cuff.

Here is another commentary on mandibular domination. The
ethnological datum that Eskimo women chew their husband’s
animal-skin garments in order to render the material pliable is the
superficial content of this poem. But puns, headed by the title, give
another meaning. Eskimo men also beat their women in socially-
approved circumstances; the wife’s primary recourse is ridicule.
Thus, a man becomes domesticated (finishes cuffing his mate) when
his wife has gotten him under control by denigrating, for example,
his hunting ability (chewing his hide).

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