The epidemic of political correctness has seemingly jumped the Atlantic and is taking shape in Vienna, Austria as Austrians, like their American counterparts, watch their sense of humor flushed down the toilets.

Marianne Lackner, media spokesperson for the Vienna Department of Women’s Affairs, publicly stated that the department found “[them} tasteless, misogynistic and offensive.” What was she referring to? Urinals.

Now personally, I’m not a big fan of urinals either. I never understood them really… they look like sinks with rubber, holey stoppers in the drain part, and they don’t smell so good. But what’s got a group of people in Vienna all up in a dither are the urinals at a lavishly decorated public restroom that featured urinals shaped like a woman’s mouth. Apparently– and I wasn’t able to see pics– the urinals show lipsticked lips, teeth, and a red tongue.

Despite that the urinals have been there for about 3 years, and this hostile reaction came very suddenly, the owner agreed to have the urinals removed.

So I guess the question becomes… how exactly are painted urinals mysoginistic? Does exposure to the urinal turn little boys into sexists? When a man is faced with a dispute with a female colleague at work, does he think back to the painted urinal and decide not to take her seriously? Do normal, well-adjusted men with healthy sex lives suddenly decide to pee in womens’ mouths because the painted urinal encouraged it?

Hrmm… I’m guessing the answer is no.

And so there we have it… another “pro-women” group deciding to hurt their own cause by turning something that was just funny and creative into something that somehow implies that men are trying to degrade women. The truth is… men don’t see it that way… they see it as something interesting to look at as they pee. And I can’t speak for all, but I’m guessing most women don’t see it that way either… why in the world what I care what men are looking at as they whip out their dicks and wizz, standing side by side, in a public restroom? As long as I don’t have to be there to witness any of that, I’m happy.

I’m not suggesting that misogyny doesn’t exist, or that we don’t need groups that help promote women’s success and acceptance, but this is just not the way to do it. It almost seems that the bigger issue of promoting equality is just too daunting of a task, so they decide to target innocuous little things (like urinals), make them into a big deal, threaten a few lawsuits, and then pat themselves on the back for what they’ve accomplished. I’d rather see them focus on real issues that affect women: under-funded breast cancer research, better programs for working single mothers, education highlighting women’s contributions around the world. Urinals are the last of my worries.

But alas… unfortunately, we live in an ultra Politically Correct society, where everything– no matter what it is– offends someone. And since somewhere along the line, being offended gave you a legal right to sue whomever offended you– it looks like we’re setting trends for our European friends that may very well bite them in the ass later on. Whatever happened to… “If you don’t like it, don’t look at it?” If you’re offended by porn, don’t look at it. If you’re offended by our blog, don’t come back and visit it. If you’re offended by urinals… oh wait… I guess women can’t look at those anyway. Stop legislating your opinions and forcing them on everyone else because you feel you have some sort of calling or agenda. Relax. Don’t take everything so seriously, and I promise, the world will be a better place.