An as-yet-unopened Rolling Stones Fan Museum in Lüchow, Germany is already angering locals over the design of a men's urinal based on the English rock troupe's famous lips logo. As it turns out, some people just aren't that comfortable doing their business into a giant, gaping maw.
While the sassy lips-and-tongue design, which was created in 1971 by artist John Pasche, was reportedly based on frontman Mick Jagger's pouty pucker, the controversy over the urinals stems from the fact that the tongue is excluded from the design. Without it, according to detractors in the northern town, the piece becomes misogynistic.
"There's been an outcry among the people -- about a dozen women have complained to me alone," Marianne Joensson-Olm, a Lüchow-based equal-opportunities officer, told Hamburg's NDR network [via the L.A. Times].
"It's discrimination against women," said Roda Armbruster, a local feminist. Armbruster believes that had the fixtures sported a tongue, the connection to Jagger would have been unmistakable. Without it, "it's a woman's mouth, not a man's mouth."
Museum founder Ulrich Schroeder, meanwhile, denies that it's specifically a man or a woman's mouth, and has no plans on altering the men's room set-up.
"It's art," he explained to German daily Die Welt. "It's staying."
While the sassy lips-and-tongue design, which was created in 1971 by artist John Pasche, was reportedly based on frontman Mick Jagger's pouty pucker, the controversy over the urinals stems from the fact that the tongue is excluded from the design. Without it, according to detractors in the northern town, the piece becomes misogynistic.
"There's been an outcry among the people -- about a dozen women have complained to me alone," Marianne Joensson-Olm, a Lüchow-based equal-opportunities officer, told Hamburg's NDR network [via the L.A. Times].
"It's discrimination against women," said Roda Armbruster, a local feminist. Armbruster believes that had the fixtures sported a tongue, the connection to Jagger would have been unmistakable. Without it, "it's a woman's mouth, not a man's mouth."
Museum founder Ulrich Schroeder, meanwhile, denies that it's specifically a man or a woman's mouth, and has no plans on altering the men's room set-up.
"It's art," he explained to German daily Die Welt. "It's staying."