Watercooler Stories

Chinese eatery specializes in penis

BEIJING, April 28 (UPI) -- A restaurant in China is trying to lure male customers seeking increased sexual potency be serving a variety of animal penis dishes, one waitress says.

The 20-year-old waitress, identified only as Lucy, said the Guolizhuang Restaurant in Beijing was selling culinary items filled with animal penises and testicles based on ancient Chinese beliefs, Der Spiegel reported.

"For thousands of years, Chinese medicine has used animal penises to cure kidney and erection problems," Lucy said. "But if you want something that works faster, we have a wine that contains extracts of heart, penis and blood from a deer."

She said the wine "has an effect within 30 minutes."

Guolizhuang manager Chen Jianguo told Der Spiegel that items range from star-shaped ox penises to specialty items such as tiger penises. To earn the privilege of eating genitalia from such endangered species, one must first apply for a special membership card and then be ready to pay handsomely, the magazine said.

Massage offers Thai inmates second chance

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, April 28 (UPI) -- Female prison inmates in Thailand are getting a second chance to care for their families through the art of massage, a women's prison director says.

Naowarat Thanasrisutharat, who controls a prison in the Thai city of Chiang Mai, says inmates who work at a massage parlor run by the prison are able to make a good living and provide for their families, The Bangkok Post reported.

Popular with foreign residents and tourists, the prison-run massage parlor even employs ex-inmates anxious to earn a fresh start in life, Naowarat says.

Masseuse Rianthong Panyadee said she started working at the parlor to help support her family while she was incarcerated and returned after learning how difficult the stigma of being a former inmate can be in normal society.

"I took massage training in prison. After I was classified as a good prisoner, I had the chance to work in the massage shop, making money to send my children to school," she told the Post.

"The ex-convict is not welcomed in society. I have nowhere else to go, so I come back to work here."

Chastity belts on the rise in Indonesia

JAKARTA, April 28 (UPI) -- Chastity belts are gaining popularity in Indonesian massage parlors as a way to stop clients and masseuses from getting too close, parlor owners say.

A number of massage parlors in Batu, Indonesia, are requiring masseuses to wear padlocks over their pants zippers to prevent men from bombarding workers for sex, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"We had a hard time rejecting this kind of client because they try over and over and over again, persuading our workers with their dangerously sweet words," Doghado Massage Parlor owner Franky Setiawan said.

Meutia Fardia Hatta Swasono, minister for the empowerment of women, said bringing back the old-fashioned chastity belt is offensive to women.

"It is not the right way to prevent promiscuity. It insults women as if they are the ones in the wrong," she said.

Parlor sex crackdowns come as traditional Islamic values gain popularity in Indonesia, influencing people to cut back on morally questionable activities including the sex trade, alcohol consumption and gambling, the Times reported.

Scotland plans children's courts

EDINBURGH, Scotland, April 28 (UPI) -- Scottish tweens and teens accused of minor crimes like vandalism or bullying may soon have their fates decided by juries of their peers -- other children.

The proposal is based on a children's court in New York, The Scotsman reports.

One former high court judge called the plan "a completely crackpot idea drawn up on the back of an envelope." But other reactions are more favorable.

"It sounds like something worth trying," said John Scott, a criminal defense lawyer. "Sometimes young people can get through to young offenders in a way that judges, lawyers and social workers can't."

Officials are still working out the details, such as what age range would be included and how to ensure that juries include children from different backgrounds. Juries would get several weeks of training before they listen to evidence.

Possible penalties might include repairing damage, writing letters of apology and making an in-person apology with victims able to describe the effect the crime had on them.