It’s sad when you have to get your news from The Daily Show and from comic strips, but they seem to be highlighting things the bigs news outlets miss, or don’t stress. Yesterday I learned about this from the comic strip “Sylvia”:
Virgin Airways was going to put urinals in their exec lounges at Kennedy airport that were made in the form of female mouths, with big red pouty lips. They didn’t think anyone was going to be offended (snort!) After word about this got out, they pulled the idea.
Apparently the urinals were designed by a woman, but that still doesn;t stop it from being tasteless, and at least suggesting urolalia.
I checked thgis on the 'Net, and apparently a lot of news sources covered this about a month ago, but I never read or heard about it. I also noticed that, although they’d describe the urinals, they wouldn’t show pictures. Until finally I found this: http://trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2004/03/is_this_what_an.html
Amazing.
I find it funny in a ridiculous way . . . but I understand why people would be offended. It seems like a very poor business decision to start out with.
There was this manger who has to fire an employee. When asked by said employee, “You don’t like me, do you?” Which the manager replied, “Let’s put it this way, I would not piss in your mouth if your teeth were on fire!”
Let’s see…words I could use to describe this urinal: gross, funny, slightly twisted, creative, weird.
Nope, “offensive” isn’t anywhere on the list. I don’t understand how that is offending people. I think people just like to be offended these days. Maybe it’s like a sport; they add up their “offended” score and compare it with their friends’.
Dunno – I’ve got a sick and twisted sense of humor, but it’s really easy to see how people would find this offensive. You’re effectively peeing into a mouth, anmd there’s really no other way of looking at it.
In fact, looking at the designer’s website doesn’t really help. The urinal is called “Kisses”? And the conceptual sketch shows sailors using these? You can’t help but think of fellatio as well as watersports. The other items on the page are a whole different category of “playfulness” – flowerpot toilets, hand-mounted towel racks, hammock bathtubs.
I think I’d like to mount one on the wall in the kitchen, fill it with ice and keep my beer in it. No really! I think it would be maybe have an ice maker in it too!
I’m a woman and a feminist, and my first thought on seeing the image of the urinal was, “that is just so cute!” The alternate explanation would never even have occurred to me, although having heard it I can understand why some people might find it offensive. Here’s what the (female) designer had to say:
Maybe my problem (and perhaps hers too) is that the idea of a man peeing in a live woman’s mouth would never occur to me.
Heh. I think those are pretty cool. I don’t find them the least offensive, but I have to admit, a big part of why I like 'em is that I know so many other people would find them offensive. They’d be great in a up-scale bar, or club, or something like that. Really, really bad idea for an airport.
maybe have an ice maker in it too!