Monday, December 15, 2014



Is this the rudest necklace ever? 'phallic' pendants spark fury



Controversial designer Tom Ford has sparked fury by launching a range of penis necklaces - just in time for Christmas.  The phallic pendants - which resemble the shape of a cross - come in gold or silver and are available with small, medium and large charms.

Intended as the perfect holiday gifts for kinky fashionistas, size apparently doesn't matter as they are all priced $790.

But the latest offering from the designer provoked outrage on Twitter from users who said the necklaces were 'unbelievably offensive' to Christians and branded Ford 'sick' for combining a phallic image with a religious symbol.

Kevlyn Hall added: 'How dare you use a phallic symbol in the Christian cross! You insulting piece of trash! HOW DARE YOU!'

One user said on Twitter: 'This is unbelievably offensive to me. Is he insane?' 

SOURCE

I have no doubt that these pendants were meant to offend and were probably seen by their creator as innovative and original.  They are not however.  The cross was originally a pagan sex symbol, meant to symbolize a male penetrating a female.  With the encouragement of St. Paul, however, the early Christians adopted many pagan practices, such as Sunday observance, Easter etc.  Use of the cross is another such borrowing.

In the original Greek of the New Testament there is no mention of Christ dying on a cross.  The words usually translated as "cross" are either "xylon", which simply means "wood" or "stauros", which simply means "stake'.  Christ was executed by nailing him to a stake with his hands both directly above his head.  Why bother to add a crossbar when a simple stake could do all that was needed?


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems just stupid to me.

slinky said...

If you don't like it, don't buy it and STFU.

Anonymous said...

If people see it as either a cross (à la Christian) &/or resembling male genitalia, it is all in their own minds.

Anonymous said...

St Paul encouraged the adoption of pagan ways?!? Try again, it was emperor Constantine who mandated Christianity in the Roman empire and added the practices the people were already accustomed to so they would more readily accept it.

Malcolm Smith said...

Use of the cross is a pagan custom? That would be difficult to justify on historical grounds. Probably the earliest use of the symbol occurs in the catacombs, where a "T" inserted in the middle of the deceased's name indicated that he died as a martyr on a cross. (The most common cross was T-shaped.) Sometimes there would be an "M" (for "martyr") with a line across it - the line representing the cross-piece of the cross.
The earliest depiction of Jesus on the cross was entitled, "Christ the King", and showed Jesus dressed in royal robes, his arms outstretched, superimposed on a cross, but not nailed to it. This was long after crucifixion had been abolished by Constantine, and nobody alive would have witnessed such an event. Actual crucifixes as we know them came later - about the 9th century, if my memory serves me correctly.
The Wikipedia has a fully referenced article on crucifixion, and proves conclusively that there were several different types of crosses, with the simple stake being the least common. It also quotes several early Christian writers who took it for granted that Christ's arms were outstretched.
Getting back to the jewellery. Of course it is phallic in design - which makes it offensive, not only to Christians, but to anybody who dislikes in-your-face eroticism.

Anonymous said...

The "T" was probably the design of choice because it was simple to build and allowed the victim's arms to be tied to the cross bar easily. This caused a slow very excruciatingly painful death which was the purpose of the practice.

MDH

Anonymous said...

It's only gold plated so indeed a silly branding price gouge.

-=NikFromNYC=-

Bird of Paradise said...

But they'll allow it to be worn at schools run by the leftists NEA

Anonymous said...

And instantly the Christians rioted and called for the death of the infidel, and put bounties on his head. ...
.
Oh.. that's what would happen with that OTHER religion.

Forget The Name, Luke said...

This religion, that religion, the OTHER religion. They are all the same. One big con game targeted at the gullible and delusional.

Use the Name, Luke said...

'Forget The Name, Luke' said…

Wow, what a perfect, well reasoned, evidence backed, thoroughly honest argument in every respect! </sarc>

Anonymous said...

So Luke - "the relig prig" - thinks (or is implying) that religion IS perfectly well reasoned, evidenced backed and has thoroughly honest arguments in every respect - yeah RITE (sarc back!)

Anonymous said...

Religion is full of sex, especially when these hypocrites try and control it. Their minds are clouded by it.

There's no evidence that Jebus exists anyway. If he wasn't recruited some 300 years after the fact, then he never existed at all.

To those that don't like what they see, they can always avert their gaze or gouge their eyes out.

The question must be asked, however, what prompted them to look in the first place? How should these religious fanatics know what a set looks like anyway, unless they have a level of fascination?

Anonymous said...

Whether the historical 'Jesus' ever existed (and at best he was probably just yet another preaching that the Jewish people must "purify" themselves and their religion), the 'Jesus' figure has over the centuries morphed into any required image, and for many people today is no more that an invisible friend, or a fairy godfather, or some version of Santa Claus to grant people their wishes/prayers and look after them like a guardian angel. It is mere infantile wishful-thinking, and people should grow up and deal with the realities of the World like mature adults.

Use the Name, Luke said...

Gainsaying evidence is no more valid than the troll's previous "argument".

Whistle past the graveyard all you want, you still have to face the truth.

Anonymous said...

What does a self-deceiving troll like Luke know about truth? He's so scared of death he imagines he will be immortal in some anthropomorphic heaven (maybe with virgins waiting for him like certain other religious "martyrs" do?).