Amazon Removes Naked Woman Ashtray, But Does it Solve the Problem?

What is the real problem here? That products like this ashtray are created, or that they are sold on Amazon?

(Photo Courtesy: Amazon.com)

Amazon India has come under fire for selling an ashtray designed to look like a naked woman in a tub. In the wake of the criticism, Amazon removed the product from its Indian platform, and later from its international site.

The ashtray, which is designed to allow the user to stub a cigarette out in the woman’s vaginal area, drew severe criticism on social media. But removing the product from the e-retailing platform does not address the larger problem – of how the creation and sale of these objects contribute in normalising objectification.

(Photo Courtesy: Amazon.com)

Normalising Objectification and Violence, One Cigarette At a Time

Try and imagine this: You buy the product because it caught your attention. Maybe someone gifted it to you.

At first, you hesitate before you stub your cigarette out on a naked woman.

But then, you do it.

After all, its just an ashtray and you aren’t really harming anyone. Right? But with every cigarette you stub out in the ashtray, aren’t you subconsciously accepting the thought that women can be treated as objects?

It Doesn’t End There...

There is a range of such ashtrays, including versions featuring infants and men.

(Photo Courtesy: Amazon.com)

(Photo Courtesy: Amazon.com)

(Photo Courtesy: Amazon.com)

(Photo Courtesy: Amazon.com)

Most of these products are still being sold on Amazon. Does removing one product really solve the larger problem?