Women Castrate Heraldic Lion

This week, a battle in the gender war was won by the women. The heraldic lion on the coat of arms of the Nordic Battlegroup has been castrated.

Ouch!

Displayed is the before picture.

The armed forces agreed to emasculate the lion after a group of women from the rapid reaction force lodged a complaint to the European Court of Justice, Goteborgs-Posten reports.

But although the army was eventually happy to make the changes in the interests of gender equality, the artist who designed the insignia was less than pleased.

"A heraldic lion is a powerful and stately figure with its genitalia intact and I cannot approve an edited image," Vladimir A Sagerlund from the National Archives told Goteborgs-Posten.

Sagerlund blasted the army for making changes to the coat of arms without his permission.

"The army lacks knowledge about heraldry. Once upon a time coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the Crown," said Sagerlund.

But the castrated lion has already won the day and is now worn on the arms of all soldiers in the battle group's Swedish battalions.

"We were given the task of making sure the willy disappeared," Christian Braunstein from the army's 'tradition commission' told Goteborgs-Posten.

"We were forced to cut the lion's willy off with the aid of a computer," he added.

The Nordic Battlegroup is comprised of soldiers from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ireland and Estonia, who are all very careful when spelling the word "Nordic."

Curiously, now that the lion is a lioness, shouldn't the mane also be removed? Of course, no one would ever question the manliness of European military forces. Right?

Tip: Travis Evans