It's so barbaric that our culture still finds rape funny.

..It almost makes me want to quit being a human.. I'm disgusted by the human race sometimes!

Every so often, I see something that is so outrageous, that I don't even know where to begin. This is one of those times.

Leave it to the "men's rights activists" to somehow imagine ways that violence against women is ok. I personally cannot wait to hear what they come up with for this one and its perpetuation of rape as a joke. Please keep us informed when it happens.

Of course rape is not funny. But this product, whether one believes it to be innocent fun or rape, is just not fucking funny. For some reason, some people seem to find shit like this, or the urinals made in a shape of a woman or anything like that, to be fucking hillarious. It's not! If you find it funny, feminism aside, you need a fucking lesson in humor.

Putting pencils in things shaped like vagina = NOT FUNNY. I don't know how else to break it down.

"Recently "men's rights activists" scoffed at the idea that we were offended by the pencil sharpener, which blogger Glenn Sacks wrote "depicts a conventional, common sex act which women enjoy."

They must deliberately miss the point. Every post about these sick things I've seen on feminsts blogs go into great detail about what the problem with it is, and these dipshits still scoff and act confused.

mens news daily and glenn are either total fucking morons, or hate women enough to ignore what they're saying in order to defend rape.

Either way, doesn't speak well of them.

Okay the comment section on glenn's website confirms that both are true -they're stupid and they hate women.

Okay, once they term cries of "help!" and "no!" they officially cross my line from not funny joke to "promoting rape." That is utterly sick.

Just when I think nothing can truly shock me anymore...
I think Cara really hit the nail on the head with her post. STOP SUPPORTING RAPISTS.
Is this at Spencer's Gifts? Like at the mall? Do they sell it in store?
This makes me want to cry a little.

What got me about this one is the implication that rape isn't a rapist sticking something in a woman's vagina against her will, but the woman being in a "bad mood" when he does it.

I can just see the rape apologists now:
It wasn't rape! It was PMS!

More minimization of rape and victim-blaming. Just what we needed.

But it seems that Jessica and many other feminists tend to see popular culture as "offensive to women" when, in reality, popular culture is far more anti-male than anti-female. This is particularly true when depicting violence--a dozen men can die in a movie or cop show and scarcely anyone blinks, but when a woman dies, it's a big deal. To pick one example, see my blog post Pirates of the Caribbean & Male Disposability.

He is so off base about this it isn't even funny. Why are men killed off en masse in cop shows and action movies Glen? Probably because the movies are made BY MEN FOR MEN.

Let's talk about Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a movie about PIRATES, being chased by the BRITISH ROYAL NAVY. Now, pardon me if I'm wrong but I don't believe there were a lot of pirate ships with a lot of women on them, and I don't think there were female soldiers in the BRN, but I could be wrong. So, given those two options, it would seem that men getting the brunt of the killing (while DOING the brunt of the killing)is going to be par for the course. There are, in THREE FILMS, a total of TWO lead female actresses: Kiera Knightly and Naomi Harris (i believe that's her name) and while they both could have been killed off, seeing as they were primarily there as love interests it would have had to be a big deal for the male protagonists that the women they loved died, much the same as it was a big deal for Knightly's character when she thought Orlando Bloom had died.

I'm sure Glen's going to complain next that hetro porn films only have attractive women and ugly men because society is against attractive men.

And as for the "common sex act women enjoy," I'm thinking Glen did deliberately ignore the hands and feet bolted down to the ground cause really, if you ENJOY it you're not going to be forced to stay in that position. And don't give me that bullshit about "where else could they but them?" They could have made SOME attempt to conceal the bolts or had them bolted in the palms and knees where it wouldn't seen at all. And let's not forget THERE IS NO HEAD and the fact that if you want any kind of sharpness you're probably going to have to shove that thing in there.

As for the "men are all bastards" knife holder. Do you notice how every single time a product like this aimed against women come up, the MRAs(c) keep going back to THAT ONE PRODUCT. Just ONE. Just the sexually ambiguous red dude (though I guess because it explicitly doesn't have breasts it MUST be male). If we stacked all the products that are anti-women against all the products that are anti-male, then who do you think would "win?"

And don't get me started about TV, where women are always being put in danger of being killed and raped in every crime procedural, and in 2005 Entertainment Weekly even did a piece on all the rampant violence against women in TV because even THEY were shocked.

This crosses so many lines. Disgusting.

You can contact the website at:

http://funideas.com/contact.html

though I don't know what good it would. Some people really don't know what they're doing and need to be informed.

What I like best about Cara's remark is that remaining silent is, for all intents and purposes, condoning rape. That's right.

Wow. I can't tell right now if I am more enraged by these awful pencil products or the people who comment on Men's Daily News. Hmmm. That's a tough call. I think I'm going to go with the MDNers. I'd like to stick a few pens in them and see what noises they make. And not because I advocate violence against all men. That knife holder is tacky and wrong. But I would enjoy hurting these men.

What got me about this one is the implication that rape isn't a rapist sticking something in a woman's vagina against her will, but the woman being in a "bad mood" when he does it.

That's what bothered me the most about this product too.

This made my physically ill the first time I looked at it...and that was before the description of it's eight charming phrases. I rarely have such a physical reaction of disgust towards offensive material. This is truly reprehensible and in no way a "fun idea." Thank you for posting it.

"Okay, once they term cries of "help!" and "no!" they officially cross my line from not funny joke to "promoting rape." That is utterly sick."

lunalelle, my sentiments exactly.

this is just entirely too awful for me to come up with a witty remark.

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

wow!I really feel sick, but also grateful. I´m new here and i´m starting to THINK about these things in a completely different way. I´m an educated person, but until yesterday I might have found this "an innocent toy". Why? you may ask yoursele. Because in my country we are SOOOO"machistas", that this would be a funny thing for almost everyone, men and woman.Yes, woman are machistas here, too.Sometimes even worse than men.Thanks to you for making me have a second thought, and see how horrible this is to us. I think what´s important is that we take a minute to consider ALL the hideous examples like this, of women being treated as toys for the fun of men only.Of course there are many out there who would think this is BAD, but the first thought would in most cases be "ha, ha, i´m going to get John one for Xmas".We NEED to start thinking about this as a bad example for all , especially teens. It´s absolutely important that we go on showing our kids ( I have four, three of them teens), that women HAVE to be respepcted, an we suffer disrespect everyday with things like this, which look innocent, and we laugh.here, in Argentina, the tv shows are a vast example of disrespect to women; we had pole dance shown on the most popular show, and in my family we talked to our children about it and decided it was NOT good and not allowed for them to watch it.but I can tell you, most families "enjoyed" it during their dinner ( another big issue: eating in front of the tv!!!)We are constantly bombarded with images of almost naked hot girls, and the best buttocks sell the most here. The worst. we are used to it,only a few people see it as what it is. treating women like shit, and why not, treating men (there are quite a lot of good guyd out there, though) as beasts.Thank you for making me think!

Recently "men's rights activists" scoffed at the idea that we were offended by the pencil sharpener, which blogger Glenn Sacks wrote "depicts a conventional, common sex act which women enjoy."

Hey, he's got a point. I bet having a pen jammed in my cunt would feel better than the inept fingerfucking of a "men's rights activist."

Recently "men's rights activists" scoffed at the idea that we were offended by the pencil sharpener, which blogger Glenn Sacks wrote "depicts a conventional, common sex act which women enjoy."

Hey, he's got a point. I bet having a pen jammed in my cunt would feel better than the inept fingerfucking of a "men's rights activist."

sorry for the double post!

Thanks to noname for the information on how to contact FunIdeas. I did, just a little while ago, and got this response from an anonymous Customer Service Rep:

"Who are you to demand anything from anyone? You are taking something entirely to literally. Women scream OH OH OH during sex all the time. Get a life, and relax a little. We are in know way condoning rape, and in no way does product encourage it. You are an idiot if you think otherwise."

Not only ignorance and misogyny, but bad spelling, to boot. Keep sending those e-mails!

Who are you to demand anything from anyone? You are taking something entirely to literally. Women scream OH OH OH during sex all the time. Get a life, and relax a little. We are in know way condoning rape, and in no way does product encourage it. You are an idiot if you think otherwise."

Love the "get a life line" however notice that he ignores all the other "bad mood" quotes Linda has, such as "ouch" "Help, Help!" and "Get out you dirty old man" Women say that a lot during sex too?

I'm sputtering in anger at my desk.

While I think it's tasteless, I don't think it promotes rape. I tell you, some women are SO paranoid over rape!

This brings so many fucked-up viewpoints to mind...

That women's default, preferred position is on her back with legs spread for a man.

That women do not have sex on their own terms, but on a man's terms - with a smile on her face.

That rape is nothing more than a woman being in a bad mood while in her natural position (legs spread for a man).

florargentina: Welcome! Thank you for sharing your experiences with machista culture.I am familiar with the concept, but it really, really helps to hear examples from someone who lives with it.

Finding feminist blogs online really helped to build my self-worth back up after I was raped and felt hopeless.
Even though products like this make me feel outraged and sad, knowing that there is a place that I can go and talk about it and not feel like I'm going to have to censor myself or be laughed at for my beliefs is a great comfort.

feministorbust: I can't believe that was the reply you got from the company. And it was anonymous? Classy. Is there a president/owner of the company that we can contact that will go over the heads of CSRs who are ignorant? (I'm assuming the president/owner isn't, which is probably a mistake.)

Alexandra,

One of the "joke" features about the figure is that it tells a man to get out and cries for help. It's making a joke out of a women's non-consent, perpetuating the idea that a woman's words of non-consent simply do not matter. How does this not promote acceptance of rape, normalization of rape, as well as rape itself?

I've been lurking on Feministing (and loving it!) for a while now. This horrible product broke my lurk and I thought you'd all like to read what Funideas replied to my recently submitted comment. Sorry in advance for the gaps.

Me:

"I'm extremely offended by the Lusty Linda Talking Pen Holder. Exactly what about rape does FunIdeas.com find humorous? As a rape survivor, I can tell
you that phrases like, "help, help," "ooow," and "get out" are what
women say during rape. This hateful product is not funny in the least. When
I saw it, I didn't laugh - I remembered being raped. You've lost me as a
customer forever."

Response:

"Im glad we lost you as a customer. Your sound like a psycho, and we prefer
not to psychos."

Nice, huh?

Is everyone else getting dismissive responses via e-mail like me and feministorbust?

The response to my (rather lengthy) complaint was a simple:

How on earth does our item possible insinuate rape?

To wish I replied:

How about when she yells "Help, help!", "Oowww" or "Get out you, you dirty old man!" when you stick a pencil in her? Last I checked, "Help" isn't exactly common pillow talk (even from women in a "bad mood").

And immediately got back:

Yea, a lot of men will be inspired to rape women from this.

I wrote back saying, um, yes, this contributes to rape culture, which contributes to rape, duh, and encouraging him to google this product and linking him to Cara's post to start him off to see what people were actually saying about this. And pointing out again how shocked I am that the job of "Customer Service" seems to be arguing with, belittling, and insulting customers rather than actually handling their complaints.

Firstly, welcome to you first time commenters--so glad to hear from you!

LizzieJH and feministorbust, those responses from the company are hilarious--and terrifyingly telling. Don't ya know that women who are offended by rape are "psycho?"

Okay. So. I DON'T support vandalism. And I'd be pretty fucking livid if someone messed with my site. That's a disclaimer. But.

If someone wants to go hack into and take down their site and put up a message that says GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU MISOGYNIST ASSHOLES . . . well, I wouldn't complain.

And of course he has to get the "last word."

I think that pencil sharpener is hilarious, we will be selling those soon now, thanks to you. Appreciate the tip.

Either he didn't bother to read her post, or he's fully aware that he's an idiot (or a rapist).

LizzieJH, that's just awful!

What is it about men that make them think a woman is a "psycho" just because she doesn't agree with what he is saying or doing?

I was recently peppered with a barrage of insults when I tried to ask for a cessation of sexist imagery on a forum I (used to) frequent, being called everything from "useless prig" to "f*cking psycho".

And then they all wonder why feminists seem to hate men so much.

Marissa, Alexandra seems to be a troll, judging from the comments s/he left on the thread about doctors refusing to provide care.

I wasn't going to comment on this tread as I didn't feel I could add anything.

But my God, judging the replies to the two people above, you can really see the mindset that produced that crappy toy.

Imagine calling some one a psycho or telling them to get a life in a professional context. Are these people still in the play ground, have they the minds of children? Do they not realise they are in the real world, were we can't resort to name calling, because we are paid to do a job right.

Well I'm not working now, Spoilt little shits...

Oh oh, get this.
My email:
"I am writing to express my disgust with your "Lusty Linda" pen holder. It is
a clear promotion of violence against women and it is NOT a funny joke. In
her "bad mood" she says: "Ow," "Help, Help!" and "Get out you, you dirty
old man." These are statements of non-consent and are making a joke out of
rape. This product perpetuates rape by making it into a joke, and rape is
NOT a joke. One in three women in the United States are sexually assaulted
in their lifetimes. These statistics are huge and frightening, a very
serious and heinous issue in every way. By perpetuating the notion that rape
is a light-hearted joke, you are promoting the acceptance of rape in our
culture. Your product promotes rape and I can see in no way how that could
possibly be perceived as funny."

The response:
"Copying and pasting the same email as all your idiotic mornic friends is
pointless."

My reply back to this jerk:
"Sorry, I composed that one on my own. Maybe the reason you are getting the "same" email is because your product truly is promoting rape and a whole lot of people recognize this and are calling you out on it."

It is ON.

Getting the cool people over at Consumerist.com involved might be a good start. They have a knack for tracking down hard-to-find executive contact information.

Based on the responses you guys reported from "customer service", I wonder if this is a prank and not a real product for sale. When I searched for it online it was listed as sold out everywhere. Maybe my expectations are too high, but I really can't believe an actual company would respond that way to customer service complaints. I would have expected them to ignore us or give a vague brushoff- "sorry you find this offensive but many of our other customers see it as harmless humor."

I'm another frequent lurker and first time commentator -- love the site!

Quote from the comments on Glenn Sacks' blog:
"... just which group this pencil sharpener is offensive to is a bit ambiguous. Just as these women can see the shapener as a degredation of women... some men could easily see it as a vindictive womens dream come true... possessing the ability to grind that pencil into saw dust isn't exactly a male friendly image."

Several people seem to be agreeing with him, which I completely don't understand. If I really hated someone that much, WHY would I consent to his penis being in my vagina? Oh wait, I wouldn't. And so it would be rape.

Heres their responce to my, very tame letter of complaint.

"We are renaming her to Rhonda Rape Victim"

I fuck you not, why always the crappy grammer?