Pornographic Drinking Straws

[DeadPoolX 9]

That straw is inappropriate for a child. You can disregard that as 'repression' but I assure you that isn't the case.

You're joking, right? It's a straw, plain and simple. If you put enough effort into it, you can turn anything into pornography.

Anyway... this is ridiculous. So two straws out of an entire $1.68 package happened to barely resemble penises. Whoop-dee-doo. Sometimes I really feel sorry for the U.S. (and I'm a born-and-bred American) considering how uptight we are about sexuality. We see nudity and it must equal sex. How pathetic.

American Ideas about Sex: Save the kids! They can't see any sex or nudity ever! We must keep them locked away in the basement until they're 40 and ready to marry -- and only then, should they have sex, it must be for procreation; never for enjoyment!

Great, and that's your opinion...but enough with the dramatics & soap boxing about how America is this that or the other. I don't recall anyone here saying one word about sex purely for procreation, or anyone locked in a basement.

It's not about the money, it's about the mother of a 3 year old not wanting her daughter to drink from a straw that she thinks is shaped like a #######. I'd feel the exact same way.

And oh God, she must be so uptight about that, right? Cos it's just fun...just like piccies of little girls eating ####### shaped food at festivals.

Yanno...many bleat on about how uptight others are...but at the end of the day, have a little respect for a difference of opinion. So you feel one way...good for you...but mocking others simply because they disagree is a ####### way to be, imo.

Have a great night!

edit for typo...

You're missing the point entirely.

While this mother -- and others like her -- are entirely within their right to decide what's appropriate for their children and themselves, they should not get a say in what's sold to you or me. If she doesn't want #######-shaped straws, that's perfectly fine. She could merely return them and voice her complaint privately. Instead, she chose to make a stink about it by it calling a news channel to get on television.

I sincerely doubt Wal-Mart even knew that maybe two straws out of a package (if that many) had #######-shaped straws, but even if they did... so what? Why should every single product cater to every single person? The answer? It shouldn't. If you don't like something, don't buy it. It's that simple. Let others purchase it, but don't take away another's ability to buy what they wish simply because you happen to disagree with a product.

Edited April 13, 2008 by DeadPoolX

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Filthy fruit.

The Horror! the horror....

[PlatyPius 5]

That straw is inappropriate for a child. You can disregard that as 'repression' but I assure you that isn't the case.

You're joking, right? It's a straw, plain and simple. If you put enough effort into it, you can turn anything into pornography.

Anyway... this is ridiculous. So two straws out of an entire $1.68 package happened to barely resemble penises. Whoop-dee-doo. Sometimes I really feel sorry for the U.S. (and I'm a born-and-bred American) considering how uptight we are about sexuality. We see nudity and it must equal sex. How pathetic.

American Ideas about Sex: Save the kids! They can't see any sex or nudity ever! We must keep them locked away in the basement until they're 40 and ready to marry -- and only then, should they have sex, it must be for procreation; never for enjoyment!

Great, and that's your opinion...but enough with the dramatics & soap boxing about how America is this that or the other. I don't recall anyone here saying one word about sex purely for procreation, or anyone locked in a basement.

It's not about the money, it's about the mother of a 3 year old not wanting her daughter to drink from a straw that she thinks is shaped like a #######. I'd feel the exact same way.

And oh God, she must be so uptight about that, right? Cos it's just fun...just like piccies of little girls eating ####### shaped food at festivals.

Yanno...many bleat on about how uptight others are...but at the end of the day, have a little respect for a difference of opinion. So you feel one way...good for you...but mocking others simply because they disagree is a ####### way to be, imo.

Have a great night!

edit for typo...

That's all fine and good, but now other children who's parents AREN'T phallus-obsessed old cows CAN'T have their fun straws because of ONE mother who saw something no one else did. She can have her opinion, but she should keep it to her damn self. This is the same logic that spawns book-burnings and such.

BTW: If she thinks that looks like a willy, her husband is a little substandard....

Edited April 13, 2008 by PlatyPius

[Flames9_RN 358]

Most young children would not even know what it is! Could easily be a space ship.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You'd think that the woman who bought that product would simply have tossed them away once she discovered it; or if she really cared about the paltry sum of $1.68 have trooped back down there for her refund.

Can anyone say "mountain out of a molehill".

What a drama queen.

"Gee I bought #######-shaped straws..." would be something to laugh about. You'd imagine...

But as usual this "concerned mother" has to make it all about her. What a joke.

[Fandango 1,439]

That straw is inappropriate for a child. You can disregard that as 'repression' but I assure you that isn't the case.

You're joking, right? It's a straw, plain and simple. If you put enough effort into it, you can turn anything into pornography.

Anyway... this is ridiculous. So two straws out of an entire $1.68 package happened to barely resemble penises. Whoop-dee-doo. Sometimes I really feel sorry for the U.S. (and I'm a born-and-bred American) considering how uptight we are about sexuality. We see nudity and it must equal sex. How pathetic.

American Ideas about Sex: Save the kids! They can't see any sex or nudity ever! We must keep them locked away in the basement until they're 40 and ready to marry -- and only then, should they have sex, it must be for procreation; never for enjoyment!

Great, and that's your opinion...but enough with the dramatics & soap boxing about how America is this that or the other. I don't recall anyone here saying one word about sex purely for procreation, or anyone locked in a basement.

It's not about the money, it's about the mother of a 3 year old not wanting her daughter to drink from a straw that she thinks is shaped like a #######. I'd feel the exact same way.

And oh God, she must be so uptight about that, right? Cos it's just fun...just like piccies of little girls eating ####### shaped food at festivals.

Yanno...many bleat on about how uptight others are...but at the end of the day, have a little respect for a difference of opinion. So you feel one way...good for you...but mocking others simply because they disagree is a ####### way to be, imo.

Have a great night!

edit for typo...

You're missing the point entirely.

While this mother -- and others like her -- are entirely within their right to decide what's appropriate for their children and themselves, they should not get a say in what's sold to you or me. If she doesn't want #######-shaped straws, that's perfectly fine. She could merely return them and voice her complaint privately. Instead, she chose to make a stink about it by it calling a news channel to get on television.

I sincerely doubt Wal-Mart even knew that maybe two straws out of a package (if that many) had #######-shaped straws, but even if they did... so what? Why should every single product cater to every single person? The answer? It shouldn't. If you don't like something, don't buy it. It's that simple. Let others purchase it, but don't take away another's ability to buy what they wish simply because you happen to disagree with a product.

No, this is a completely different argument than your other post here waffling on about how uptight America is. Look at this thread and the quick to cast aspersion crowd. Is anyone bashing you for not finding a probbo with these straws? No. Is anyone calling your lifestyle into question? No. Are there worse things in this world than a phallic shaped straw? Of course there are. But that doesn't mean that just because...oh say, murders happen, that one woman in God Knows Where, KY, can object to opening a pack of fun straws and seeing what SHE believes to be a #######. And she has every right to complain if that's what she wants to do.

As for this post of yours, of course others have a say in what's sold to you or me. It's called commercialism. WalMart wouldn't want to be associated with this, so what's their choice going to be?

If you think your neighbor has nothing at all to do with what goods and services are mass-sold and at what type of store, then you're sadly mistaken.

[Amby 490]

I loved the article. I think she is such a perv!

[Fandango 1,439]

That's all fine and good, but now other children who's parents AREN'T phallus-obsessed old cows CAN'T have their fun straws because of ONE mother who saw something no one else did. She can have her opinion, but she should keep it to her damn self. This is the same logic that spawns book-burnings and such.

BTW: If she thinks that looks like a willy, her husband is a little substandard....

I'm sure there are a plethora of Willy Fun Straws readily available elsewhere. You don't know she's 'phallus-obsessed', she's certainly not old, what makes her a cow is beyond me, but that's your opin, and that's all well and good. My problem with this thread is not really about the straws themselves, but on the fact that the seemingly 'pro straw' crowd cannot accept this woman's complaint prima facie....instead, it's the old and tired 'sexually frustrated, uptight, this that or the other' which completely detracts from the actual issue here. It's truly ignorant in the effort to demean this woman's right to her own opinion without people feeling the right to comment in ignorance about her lifestyle or views, which again, does not need to be qualified one way or another before she expresses her opin

I wouldn't want to open a pack of sippy straws presumably marketed to kids and find that there are some which could be considered phallic. Does that mean that I don't want people to 'have their fun'? No, not at all. But maybe those types of straws are best left to Ann Summers

Edited April 13, 2008 by LisaD

[panamania79 2]

Thank goodness that woman noticed this terrible thing!

News article and video

This woman either subconciously craves ####### or suffers from ####### envy.

[panamania79 2]

Wonder what that woman would make of the refreshments at the Hounen Fertility Festival in Japan...

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/6851/ho...icecreamoc4.jpg

Is that a child on the picture?

Awful!

The parents had no business bringing a child to a place that sells #######-pops.

[panamania79 2]

That straw is inappropriate for a child. You can disregard that as 'repression' but I assure you that isn't the case.

You're joking, right? It's a straw, plain and simple. If you put enough effort into it, you can turn anything into pornography.

Anyway... this is ridiculous. So two straws out of an entire $1.68 package happened to barely resemble penises. Whoop-dee-doo. Sometimes I really feel sorry for the U.S. (and I'm a born-and-bred American) considering how uptight we are about sexuality. We see nudity and it must equal sex. How pathetic.

American Ideas about Sex: Save the kids! They can't see any sex or nudity ever! We must keep them locked away in the basement until they're 40 and ready to marry -- and only then, should they have sex, it must be for procreation; never for enjoyment!

[Fandango 1,439]

Thank goodness that woman noticed this terrible thing!

News article and video

This woman either subconciously craves ####### or suffers from ####### envy.

Wonder what that woman would make of the refreshments at the Hounen Fertility Festival in Japan...

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/6851/ho...icecreamoc4.jpg

Is that a child on the picture?

Awful!

The parents had no business bringing a child to a place that sells #######-pops.

The irony kills me

[DeadPoolX 9]

That straw is inappropriate for a child. You can disregard that as 'repression' but I assure you that isn't the case.

You're joking, right? It's a straw, plain and simple. If you put enough effort into it, you can turn anything into pornography.

Anyway... this is ridiculous. So two straws out of an entire $1.68 package happened to barely resemble penises. Whoop-dee-doo. Sometimes I really feel sorry for the U.S. (and I'm a born-and-bred American) considering how uptight we are about sexuality. We see nudity and it must equal sex. How pathetic.

American Ideas about Sex: Save the kids! They can't see any sex or nudity ever! We must keep them locked away in the basement until they're 40 and ready to marry -- and only then, should they have sex, it must be for procreation; never for enjoyment!

Great, and that's your opinion...but enough with the dramatics & soap boxing about how America is this that or the other. I don't recall anyone here saying one word about sex purely for procreation, or anyone locked in a basement.

It's not about the money, it's about the mother of a 3 year old not wanting her daughter to drink from a straw that she thinks is shaped like a #######. I'd feel the exact same way.

And oh God, she must be so uptight about that, right? Cos it's just fun...just like piccies of little girls eating ####### shaped food at festivals.

Yanno...many bleat on about how uptight others are...but at the end of the day, have a little respect for a difference of opinion. So you feel one way...good for you...but mocking others simply because they disagree is a ####### way to be, imo.

Have a great night!

edit for typo...

You're missing the point entirely.

While this mother -- and others like her -- are entirely within their right to decide what's appropriate for their children and themselves, they should not get a say in what's sold to you or me. If she doesn't want #######-shaped straws, that's perfectly fine. She could merely return them and voice her complaint privately. Instead, she chose to make a stink about it by it calling a news channel to get on television.

I sincerely doubt Wal-Mart even knew that maybe two straws out of a package (if that many) had #######-shaped straws, but even if they did... so what? Why should every single product cater to every single person? The answer? It shouldn't. If you don't like something, don't buy it. It's that simple. Let others purchase it, but don't take away another's ability to buy what they wish simply because you happen to disagree with a product.

No, this is a completely different argument than your other post here waffling on about how uptight America is. Look at this thread and the quick to cast aspersion crowd. Is anyone bashing you for not finding a probbo with these straws? No. Is anyone calling your lifestyle into question? No. Are there worse things in this world than a phallic shaped straw? Of course there are. But that doesn't mean that just because...oh say, murders happen, that one woman in God Knows Where, KY, can object to opening a pack of fun straws and seeing what SHE believes to be a #######. And she has every right to complain if that's what she wants to do.

As for this post of yours, of course others have a say in what's sold to you or me. It's called commercialism. WalMart wouldn't want to be associated with this, so what's their choice going to be?

If you think your neighbor has nothing at all to do with what goods and services are mass-sold and at what type of store, then you're sadly mistaken.

My first post, while perhaps a bit melodramatic, is very much connected to my previous one. If Americans in general weren't so uptight about sexuality, then seeing a pair of plastic drinking straws that might resemble penises wouldn't be cause for alarm. However, that's not the case, now is it? Her three year-old child wouldn't even know what a ####### is, so the very idea that she's protecting her kid is ludicrous. I could maybe buy into her argument if her child were old enough to recognize the object, but at three years of age, that'd be highly unlikely; perhaps in two or three years time.

If you'll recall, I said she had the right to complain. However, I also stated she should do so in a private manner. Something as minor as this is hardly worth calling in a news channel. I can only imagine it was a very slow day in the local news world for them to take notice. Regardless, her overall reaction seems almost laughable. She acts as if the pair of #######-shaped straws will somehow pervert and corrupt not only her three year-old daughter, but America's youth at large, all because the "evil Wal-Mart empire" decided to place the vile contraptions out on store shelves, for families to unknowlingly purchase!

Such dastardly plans, this Wal-Mart. Who might else be in on this villainous plot? Chef Boyardee, perhaps? Would they make canned phallic-shaped spaghettios? What about Chiquita's plan to slip bananas into the hands of young boys and girls? Can't have that; no sir! Those might just resemble a "man's private parts" and that wouldn't be good.

Now then... of course consumers influence what stores sell. Everyone knows this. But one individual is not the deciding factor in what does or does not get sold. If a majority of people want or don't want something, that will tell a store (or company) quite a lot about the product in question. However, should one person have a particular issue with a product, the general reply will be: "Sorry you feel that way. Would you like a refund or a store credit?" That's about it. They won't stop selling it simply because you -- and only you -- had an issue with it. If stores did that, eventually, nobody would end up selling anything, as I can assure you, someone is complaining about something daily, nearly every hour any store is open. Businesses need to make the decision about which complaints are important and which should be brushed off.

Edited April 13, 2008 by DeadPoolX

[nane1104 146]

You'd think that the woman who bought that product would simply have tossed them away once she discovered it; or if she really cared about the paltry sum of $1.68 have trooped back down there for her refund.

I agree to that. She could have just ossed them or go back to the store, return the package and maybe write a letter to the manufacturer about this. They might not even be aware about the shapes they produce and what people might associate with them.

I understand that if she sees a ####### shape, she feels uncomfortable to have her young children use them, that is her own personal opinion and freedom to do so, but I think she went a little over the top with her actions.

Because yes, other people might think it is just something funny and to laugh about.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

My problem with this thread is not really about the straws themselves, but on the fact that the seemingly 'pro straw' crowd cannot accept this woman's complaint prima facie....instead, it's the old and tired 'sexually frustrated, uptight, this that or the other' which completely detracts from the actual issue here. It's truly ignorant in the effort to demean this woman's right to her own opinion without people feeling the right to comment in ignorance about her lifestyle or views, which again, does not need to be qualified one way or another before she expresses her opin

Lisa, I think I understand what you are saying - she's certainly entitled to think what she wants. Why her views are being ridiculed here though has more to do with her making the straws an issue by complaining to Walmart. In the video, she said she knows she could have just returned the package, but she wanted to bring it to people's attention because she doesn't want other children being exposed to these straws. That's why people here are making light of it...she's thinking that everyone else must see the straws just like she does, which is absurd.