You might be asking yourself, “Hey, what sort of content is hosted on the Tumblr blog #GOPdildo?” It’s not a very complex answer: It is photos of conservative politicians holding guns, except that the guns have been Photoshopped out and replaced with dildos, which are a type of sex toy.
Here’s former Texas governor Rick Perry, for instance.
The blog came about as a uniquely internetty way of advocating for some kind of legislative action to curtail gun violence. Over on Medium, Metafilter founder Matt Haughey explained how and why he has embarked on this journey.
Yes, it’s very juvenile, and I know it’s fairly pointless, but I wanted to rob the original images of any power they hold by making the same subjects appear ridiculous when the photos were altered. That’s all there is to it.
The rules of #GOPdildo are simple: Take photos of conservative lawmakers and power brokers wielding guns — and they must be guns — and replace the weapons with rubber penises. With each post, include a link to both the original photo, and the dildo’s Amazon listing.
“In one week, I’m already up to 32 completed images and I have a downloads directory with dozens more,” Haughey wrote. “I joked that maybe I’d hit 500 images someday, but now I’m starting to think that’s actually possible, and that’s a frightening observation about gun culture in the US.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Haughey has also received threats from gun owners who would like to, let’s say, demonstrate how good their aim is.
