Concrete cocks terrorize Oregon town

Snip:

The City of Keizer is taking heat for installing a group of cement posts designed to protect pedestrians from cars, but which some say is a phallic symbol.

A total of 52 of the posts were installed at a busy intersection in Keizer and they are getting a lot of second glances.

A number of residents have complained to the city that the posts resemble male genitalia.

"I can't disagree with that," said City Manager Chris Eppley. "They certainly did not turn out the way we anticipated."

Link to local TV news coverage with video.

BB reader Organ Leroy, who pointed us to this earthshattering news, adds:

BUT WAIT, here's the best part. Hoping to avoid the expense of tearing out and replacing the offending knobs, city officials are now considering adding a metal collar just below each head and joining the shafts together with chains. Because that de-sexualizes them completely.

How come everybody wanna keep it like the [city of] Keizer? We do not know.

Reader comment: abhik says,

Even though I'm wary of starting a BB meme on cock-like public structures, I have to send this link to the phallic water tower in nearby Ypsilanti, MI. It stands tall (147 feet) in the middle of the road, welcoming all to the town.

Mr_Staypuft says,

Here in Newcastle, Australia.. the sightseeing tower at Queens Wharf is known as "The Big Dick".

The people of Oregon obviously have a "size" issue.

Mike says,

Keizer could do as suggested and put rings and chains around all of their stylized penile bollards, or they could do what the Vatican did at St. Peters Cathedral and celebrate the the likeness of the bollard to the phallus, as seen in one of our honeymoon photos (sfw presumably).

juniorhansenjr says,

Prairie Penis! Yet another addition to the BB meme du jour. The State Capitol building in Lincoln, NE has long been known as the Penis of the Plains due to "city zoning rules that prevent any other building from rivaling it in height (440 feet), making it a landmark not only within the city but for the surrounding area." The 20 foot statue on top is actually sowing seed… nuff said. Link.

Ethan Kaplan says,

Fullerton, CA has had the penis stanchions installed for near 20 years. When I moved to Fullerton when I was 7, my mom laughed hysterically when we went downtown and I had to have her explain why. (click for larger jpeg)

Helio Miguel says,

The beautiful city of Recife, here in Brazil, has a giant concrete cock made by artist Francisco Brennand. Link, another.

David Emery says,

Ahead of the curve as always, back in the early '90s some San Francisco residents found an abandoned, phallus-shaped concrete traffic barrier in Golden Gate Park and consecrated it as a holy shrine to Shiva. City officials ordered it removed because, I kid you not, they felt it "overstepped the line between church and state." Link.

Dave Wells says,

The Florida State Capitol building is not only phallic, the House and Senate chambers provide testiculate components, as well. I never managed to snap a pic of the building during my time in Tallahassee but as usual, Wikipedia comes through in a pinch: Link.

alek traunic says,

I had just finished reading this article when I clicked over to BB to see what the latest was (linked from my local paper's "Can't Make this Up" section). I was surprised to see that there appears to be a flurry of complaints about recent civic erections. Link.

Michael F says,

Related to "Concrete Cocks"…Jonathan Ames
wrote an essay for Slate about what he thought was the most phallic building in the world.
A contest ensued. The winners have been announced. Link.

Kane says,

No meme on phallic structures is complete without a reference to the giant peach water tower in Gaffney, SC. It's located next to I85 and quietly moons everyone who passes!

charles kamm

This structure in Barcelona isn't really phallic but it's a little dildoish.

HitsHerMark says,

In the continuing saga of publicly viewable concrete "naughty bits", I submit to you (in the interest of fair play) the San Onofre "it's a titty bit nippley out here" Nuclear Generators. The lovely photos included on Southern CA Edison's site are nice and innocious. But when viewed from… Pretty much any other angle… Link.

O says,

My friend saw this lovely post at Sao Luis, Brazil and couldn't resist shooting a picture. He added a couple of coconuts for… er… subtlety. Link.

Ben says,

Here's a list of the most phallic buildings in the world that I found.

Clint says,

It must be noted that the phallus has been used throughout recorded history as a boundry marker: whether that is the ancient Greek herm or the taboo sticks that demarcated Polynesian sacred zones. The taboo was used particularly to protect Polynesian royalty. It is completely appropriate that the magic protects us poor pedestrians from the evil SUVs barreling down on us.

Cayden says,

Here in Michigan we have a historical marker for this water tower in Ypsilanti – home of Eastern Michigan University. Link.

Burris says,

Chicago's North Halsted district is unofficially known as "Boys Town." I do not think it is a coincidence that the area features quite prominent markers that are rather phallic. The bulge near the bottom is inscribed "North Halsted" and contains a light that illuminates the rainbow rings at night. Link.

Arthur says,

Regarding the ambiguous Oregon pedestrian protectors:

The Polish city of Rzeszów has a similar but sexually opposite symbol
— the Revolutionary Struggle Monument: 1, 2.

In 1997, local aldermen suggested the monument be dismantled. Nothing
finally came of the idea, but the land on which the concrete genitals
stand was finally sold to the Bernardine convent in 2006.

Johnny says,

Don't forget London's "Erotic Gherkin." Give one up for London's skyline, now with a twist. Link.

Anonymous says,

1000 De La Gauchetiere trumps "Concrete cocks terrorize Oregon town" as the most phallic building in the world. Note the 4 tiny scrotii! Link.

Min-Yang says,

St. Steven's church (Stevensdom) in Vienna actually has a penis and vagina on the pillars outside the main door. Thousands of tourists go in and out every day and never notice them (at least none did when I was there).

1, 2, 3.

Freddie Freelance says,

Not to be left out of the Faux Phallus race San Diego has it's own Colossus Cock in the works: Link. I'm surprised that no one's accused the pointed arches of the windows in the lower structure of being Labias.

Michael Clemens says,

this giant wooden cock is lying around in Heilbronn, Germany as a piece of art: 1, 2. (not my pics, but see this thing once a week).
It's weired to see mums watching their kids riding this "thing"….

Lone Locust of the Apocalypse says,

This sculpture, entitled "Upstart 2" sits outside the Princeton
University engineering building: Link.

I was in the Princeton contingent of the 1993 March on Washington.
It made our day when we saw basically the exact same sculpture
(presumably the original "Upstart") on the parade route.

Bruce says,

I used to drive by this church on my way to school at DePauw University. Tools like Google Maps make the view a little bit more interesting. I wonder who decided to give the church giant nipples. Link.

richard schumacher says,

Article describes ancient Greek herma (phallic boundary markers).

Adam Rice says,

The Fuji Latex building in Tokyo is intentionally suggestive: Fuji Latex is a condom manufacturer.

Eric D. Smith says,

Knoxville, Tennessee's Sunsphere remains THE architectural phallis, as far as I'm concerned. 1, 2

Anonymous says,

I'm sure Cory, as a Torontonian, understands it not the size of the world's largest freestanding structure that matters .. its the placement of the world's largest retractible roof stadium that matters. , Freudian, start yer engines. Link.

Chris says,

In response to your "concrete cocks" post, the metal poles separating the streets from the sidewalks in Amsterdam (called Amsterdammertjes) have always looked phallic to me. Link. They're even marked with a "XXX"!

Steve Kaiser says,

Not a building, but there was some local debate about the symbolism of this sculpture when it was 'erected' in Appleton, Wisconsin about 20 years ago. Link.

Alder Yarrow says,

Another to add to your list. Like thousands of others I lived in the shadow of a great phallus (complete with resevoir tip) for four years at Stanford University. Link.

perruptor says,

The Chinese are making a claim for "World's largest
penis": Link

Seth Steinberg says,

If you aren't totally bored with the concept, my favorite phallic parking barrier story dates from 1994 San Francisco. There were a number of articles, including some in the SFChronicle, but the easiest to find was a NYTimes AP story: Link

Cat

My family used to drive right past Rooster Rock when we went to Portland. When I was little, I was always confused about the name, because the rock looks nothing like a rooster! Later, my mom explained how that was the more polite name for Cock Rock, and then it all made sense. Amusingly enough, there's a clothing optional beach there.

jen says,

if you want more…at my alma mater Michigan Tech, we had the brick dick.

Neil

Surprised this one hasn't made it up yet, though the original post is about bollards and not skyscrapers, I know. The building is at the far right of this image. (Alternate)

Alejandro says,

If you google "torre entel" you will get the images of Santiago´s Iconic communications tower.
Very concrete, very much cock-like, and very visible from far off.
With all the antennas comming out of it, I think it deserves a write up by "steam punk phallic tower"

Kit Boyer says,

No picture I was able to find shows the small circular opening at the top of the dome that really gives the Aegon Tower that something extra in the Phallic feeling.

Chris says,

This high school in Minnesota was made into an experimental shape to 'foster learning' – two large "circles" that held classrooms with a "gym" jutting out to the left. It made maps of the school look rather hilarious. Here is the arial photo. Link.

Robert Duffy says,

From Dublin, Ohio, surely a distant cousin to Oregon's display: Link.

Luc says,

You can add this one also to your list. This is the top of the castle of Grignan, Provence, France, home of La Marquise de Sévigné. Have a good look at the row of scupltures at the top of the roof …

Julia Johnson says,

The Hilton hotel in downtown Springfield Illinois. here's the image url: Link.

It's been 'erected' for a long ass time here and is one of the only buildings this big in the city. it is 30 stories and can be seen for miles.

Dan says,

To bring it back to bollards, (rather than those big public buildings that seem to suggest that some of the posters have a curious imagination, or curious anatomy) I'm surprised that nobody has yet mentioned –
these Amsterdam posts – which are a damn sight more anatomically correct than any square pointy building.

They certainly made an impression on me when I first encountered them!

Bill says,

Okay, I'll play.

Here in Burlington, Vermont we have these granite sculptures of mushrooms all along the waterfront. Beneath them sit little gnomes. They are notoriously phallic. I found these photos on flickr.

Dinis Correia

Hello there, I was a bit surprised to read this – I'm from Lisbon, Portugal, and we have lots of cock-like cement posts all over the town.

Anyways, in Lisbon we do have *the* phallic sculpture. It was made in 1997 by João Cutileiro, a famous portugueses sculptor, and it's a monument to the Revolution of 25th April, the military coup d'état that changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a liberal democracy. The best photo I could find on Flickr: Link.

Obviously, people were shocked – but it's still standing.

Ben Frazier says,

Okay, I'm in as well – this whole thing makes me think of a print ad for personal lubricant that has found its way into my inbox (in one of those CRAZY PICTURES!!!1! emails): Link.

James McDaniel says,

Seattle's infamous "penis building" the Seattle Municipal Tower.

Lisa Blair says,

My husband and I went on a trip to Rome, Italy, about 4 years ago. One of our stops while there, of course, was St. Peter's Basilica. This is a picture of one of the stanchions that line St. Peter's Square. We had a good laugh when we realized exactly what it looked like.

Kevin says,

Despite the architectural firm's denials, the Smurfit-Stone Building (made famous in the movie Adventures in Babysitting) on Michigan Ave. resembles a woman's pudenda to many. Even the architectural river tours tell a humorous anecdote claiming that the building was designed to resemble female genitals to bring balance to an exceedingly phallic skyline. Link.

Michael says,

When the Wachovia Center was new, it was often referred to as Winston-Salem, North Carolina's latest erection.

brenschluss

This isn't my photo (It's Adam Solomon's, under a Some Rights Reserved
CC license), but look! It's a fountain at Columbia University. It's
even spouting water! Sometimes I wonder how the architects got away
with this one..

Jay Manifold says,

Kansas City has the Liberty Memorial, which in Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls becomes the Temple of the Great Inseminator.

Appropriate image: Link.

Rob Walch says,