STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec. 14 Protests from women soldiers prompted Swedish military leaders to amputate the penis of a heraldic lion on the Nordic Battlegroup's coat of arms.
The armed forces castrated the lion after women from the rapid reaction force complained to the European Court of Justice, The Local reported. The operation was done with the aid of a computer.
While the army's action was happy to snip away at gender equity, the artist who designed the insignia was cut to the quick.
"A heraldic lion is a powerful and stately figure with its genitalia intact and I cannot approve an edited image," said Vladimir Sagerlund from the National Archives.
And a neutered heraldic lion actually does mean something, Sagerlund said.
"Once upon a time coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the crown," he said.
The Nordic Battlegroup is one of 18 such military groups in the European Union.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
