You’d think the last thing most people would want anywhere near their genitalia is a rat, even a long-dead, taxidermied one, but if that is true, how can anyone explain the viral success of Rat Oddity Gizzard’s line of women’s lingerie?

Rat Oddity Gizzard has been using taxidermied rats to create their unique oddities for years, but last October, the main designer behind the brand had the brilliant – although some would call it ‘sick’ – idea to sew one of these taxidermied rats onto a piece of women’s lingerie. She posted the result on Instagram, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Named LingeRAT by their creator, these unique pieces of underwear are not designed to be worn, for obvious reasons, although some people have declared themselves more than eager to do so to surprise or simply horrify their partners.

Because of the shock factor, many have wondered if LingeRAT items were real or just a clever bit of marketing. We reckon that they are a bit of both. The lingerie is real; you can buy a pair for A$190 ($137), but it also brought a lot of attention to the store as well.

As you can imagine, the attention these unusual garments brought Rat Oddity Gizzard wasn’t all of the positive variety, despite the brand’s best efforts to be as transparent about the source of the rats as possible. Then again, with shocking pieces like this, that sort of controversy is to be expected.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, Rat Oddity Gizzard offers international shipping for its LingeRATs.