‘Useless Edison’, DIY video star, sorry for making torture device replica after outcry from women on social media
- He’s known for his quirky, madcap inventions but this time China’s ‘Useless Edison’ went too far with his replica of a contraption once used to torture women
- The full-time tinkerer, who has 10 million social media followers, apologised, citing ignorance, destroyed the ‘wooden donkey’, and his video was taken down
It was one of the worst instruments of torture in history – used on women deemed disobedient, usually because of adultery.
They would be strapped naked to a “wooden donkey” as if riding it, and whipped as they were paraded through the streets in a public shaming. Wooden or metal spikes embedded in its back sliced through the victim’s crotch until they passed out, weights often strapped to their feet to increase the agony.
So when a Chinese internet star dubbed Useless Edison for his hilarious inventions posted a video of himself making just such a contraption – albeit without the spikes – then spinning around on it and telling viewers it could he used to punish cheats who don’t pay their restaurant bills by forcing them to throw up what they had eaten – there was an outcry online in China.
Some commentators responded to the distasteful video saying, “all you need is the stick to make it whole” – a reference to the whippings victims endured – but a majority of internet users called the video abhorrent and offensive. The video has since been removed from Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili.
Useless Edison – whose real name is Geng Shuai – apologised for offending women with the “wooden donkey” – a device thought to have originated in China’s Song dynasty (960-1279), although no relics have survived.
“I offer my most sincere apologies, no matter what excuses I may have, if this has hurt your feelings,” Geng wrote on Weibo – China’s Twitter-like service – on Wednesday.
What if he made equipment that makes men into eunuchs. It’s just for fun – don’t get too sensitive, boys