Special Urinals
"Kisses!" is a controversial urinal designed by the female Dutch designer Meike van Schijndel. It is shaped like an open pair of red lips. In early March 2004 the National Organization for Women (NOW) took offence to the new urinals that Virgin Atlantic Airways decided to install in the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse at JFK Airport in New York City. After receiving many angry phone calls from female customers, Virgin Atlantic Vice President John Riordan called NOW to apologize. Protestors surmised a connection to oral sex and/or urolagnia, and based complaints on the urinals being sexist.
A McDonald's restaurant in the Netherlands removed them after a customer complained to the U.S. head office.
Interactive urinals have been developed in a number of countries, allowing users to entertain themselves during urination. One example is the Toylet, a video game system produced by the Japanese company Sega that allows users to play video games using their urine to control the on-screen action.
Read more about this topic: Urinal
Famous quotes containing the word special:
“When we walk the streets at night in safety, it does not strike us that this might be otherwise. This habit of feeling safe has become second nature, and we do not reflect on just how this is due solely to the working of special institutions. Commonplace thinking often has the impression that force holds the state together, but in fact its only bond is the fundamental sense of order which everybody possesses.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)