'concluded it wasn't about sex at all.'
.,,.

No, indeed: a most cogent conclusion ~~ it's more about dominance, and the fact that men can't bear a controlling woman, so any such has to be punished with a disgusting death.

It has affinities in theme to Eskimo Nell, hasn't it? But that IMO has much wit. I remember many years ago (1969) having a Legman book to review: "The Rationale of the Dirty Joke", and corresponding with him a bit. I have dug out this correspondence and find inter alia having written to him about his view of Eskimo Nell ~~

"I disagree about its lacking 'the saving grace of humour' -- no room for detailed analysis, but take eg

...Deadwood Dick was breathing quick with lecherous snorts and grunts
As 40 arses were bared to view, to say nothing of 40 cunts.

Now 40 arses and 40 cunts, you'll find if you use your wits,
Or if you're slick at arithmetic, add up to 80 tits;
And 80 tits are a goodly sight to a man with a mighty stand.
It may be rare in Berkeley Square, but it's not on the Rio Grande.

The deflation, or bathos, at the end of the stanza after the great build up, by the incongruous introduction of the concept of upper class mores which are in their turn deflated by such an introduction into a situation in which their morality cannot apply, is surely humorous [& witty] in the extreme?"

I think I would stand by that judgement, BGW has its humour indeed; but I think many of the same points are better made by E Nell; who, far from being destroyed like the GBW's unfortunate wife, gets the better at every turn of Deadwood Dick, & of Mexican Pete, who at one point, in supposed revenge for her having got the better of his companion by deflating him almost immediately on penetration, inserts his pistol into her ~~

He shoved it up to the trigger-guard and fired it three times three,
And to his surprise she rolled her eyes and squealed in ecstasy

Must say I prefer Nell to Wheel, all in all, both morally & æsthetically.

~M~