A Dildo to Hold Your Deceased Partner's Ashes Now Exists

Yup, you read that right. People mourn in different ways, and one Dutch artist is out to test the limits of that notion. Like, really test it.Enter 21 Grams, a wooden memory box designed for widows. The box is locked and contains a scent diffuser and an amp that connects to an iPhone and plays music through its speakers. And, oh! There’s also a glass-blown dildo containing an urn that can carry up to 21 grams of a person’s ashes. Here's what the whole thing looks like:Courtesy of Mark Sturkenboom“21 Grams is a memory box that allows a widow to go back to the intimate memories of a lost beloved one,” explains the website of Mark Sturkenboom, who invented the product. “After a passing, the missing of intimacy with that person is only one aspect of the pain.”RELATED: What It's Like to be a WidowThe box is designed to help a widow relive all aspects of her time with her partner—the scent diffuser can spray his cologne, the speakers can play “your” music, a drawer in the base of the box can be used to hold keepsakes, and the urn-dildo can…you know. But in case you didn’t, the site clarifies that 21 Grams is “a way to tempt a person to revive an intimate night with her love again”…or disrespect their earthly remains. It’s semantics, really.RELATED: Would You Ever Consider Turning Your Dead Body into Compost?Sturkenboom told Dezeen magazine that he got the idea after interacting with an elderly widow, and it seems like his intentions are good. “I sometimes help an elderly lady with her groceries, and she has an urn standing near the window with the remains of her husband," he says. "She always speaks with so much love about him, but the jar he was in didn't reflect that at all. In that same period, I read an article about widows, taboos, and sex and intimacy, and then I thought to myself: 'Can I combine these themes and make an object that is about love and missing and intimacy?'"RELATED: You Can Now Turn Your Dead Loved Ones Into PerfumeWhat’s with the whole storing 21 grams of ashes bit? The concept comes from controversial research conducted by Massachusetts doctor Duncan MacDougall in 1901. He weighed six terminally-ill patients on a special scale before, during, and after their death and determined that the soul weighed 21 grams, on average.We have so many questions: What is it about holding your partner’s ashes that’s supposed to be sexy? Why was this designed for a woman and not a man? Isn’t this the kind of thing your partner would need to give the thumbs-up on ahead of time, like in a will? And finally, how effective is the seal on that urn? 21 Grams is not currently for sale—it's just a piece of art at this point—in case you were wondering.

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