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Restaurant Removes Urinals Shaped Like a Woman's Mouth
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| Going the Way of Ancient Rome and Then Some |
Urinals created by Dutch designer Meike van Schijndel are pictured in Germany in 2008. A sumptuous new French restaurant in Sydney, Australia said Wednesday it would remove two urinals designed to resemble a woman's lipsticked mouth, apologising for any offence they have caused.
OCTOBER 10, 2012
AFP - A sumptuous new French restaurant in Sydney said Wednesday it would remove two urinals designed to resemble a woman's lipsticked mouth, apologising for any offence they have caused.
The Ananas Bar and Brasserie said the bright red-lipped urinals shaped like an open mouth were "a commonly used European design piece from female Dutch artist Meike van Schijndel".
"We sincerely apologise if they have caused offence. They are being removed today," a spokeswoman said in a statement.
The stylish restaurant opened three weeks ago, with the Sydney Morning Herald's food reviewer describing the urinals as "no real surprise here at Ananas, merely adding to the extraordinary collision of statements and intent".
But feminist, former political adviser and writer Anne Summers said the design was offensive. "Misogyny is very widespread, and this is just an example of misogyny," said Summers.
"The concept is pretty challenging and confronting. They're asking men to put their d(expletive) in these mouths as urinals."
Australia is the grip of a fierce political debate about sexism after Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the nation's first woman leader, accused opposition leader Tony Abbott of being a misogynist.
The unmarried Gillard said Tuesday she had been personally offended by many of Abbott's remarks over the years –– from urging her to "make an honest woman of herself", to his cat-calling at her in parliament.
"If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror," she said in stinging comments.
It saddens and alarms me to see this level of political correctness gripping Australia. They are going the way of effete Europeanism even faster than we are.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame. We were once the two proud outposts...
Speaking of politcal correctness run-amok
ReplyDeletedid you forget the debate tonight, dodo?
ReplyDeleteyou like to post really weird shit don't you?
Dick Wilde
Someone forgot to tel the artist that Duchamp didn't mean to be taken so seriously.
ReplyDeleteDucky... please... NY museums are lining up on EBAY to bid for these, now...
ReplyDeleteI wonder what some creative enterprising individual might come up with for the women's restrooms.
ReplyDeleteJust a fleeting thought.... ;-)
I get the joke, in fact I find it funny. But still, I wouldn't want to use one. I can totally understand the decision (it was a free decision, wasn't it?) to get rid of them.
ReplyDelete"I wouldn't want to use one."
ReplyDeleteWhy not? It's not as hough the grotesque representation were the real thing, is it?
If I were as sensitive to flagrant exhibitions of rotten taste as you appear to be, I wouldn't want to live.
It's just one more tile in the gigantic mosaic representing our return to barbarism. We're almost at the level of ancient Rome and Pompeii already as it is -- we're just not actually forcing people to murder each other for sport in front of salivating throngs -- yet. TV "Reality" Shows, however, are moving us closer to that by the day.
But seriously, what would you do if your bladder were full and there was no other available receptacle that enabled you to relieve it?
Pee on the floor?
Hold it and suffer severe cramping in the bladder
Leave the establishment in disgust and go home?
I don't like stuff like this either, but it's what you get when The Low-Class Masses become The Tastemakers.
"Egalitarianism" doesn't up life the masses, rather it topples then tramples the upper crust into oblivion.