diff --git a/Data/Void.hs b/Data/Void.hs
--- a/Data/Void.hs
+++ b/Data/Void.hs
@@ -10,14 +10,19 @@
 -- Portability :  portable
 --
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-module Data.Void (Void, absurd) where
+module Data.Void (Void, absurd, vacuous) where
 
 import Data.Semigroup (Semigroup(..))
 import Data.Ix
+
 #ifdef LANGUAGE_DeriveDataTypeable
 import Data.Data
 #endif
 
+#ifdef GLASGOW_HASKELL
+import Unsafe.Coerce
+#endif
+
 #if GLASGOW_HASKELL < 700
 data Void = Void !Void 
 #else
@@ -34,6 +39,14 @@
 -- reasoning tool of 'ex falso quodlibet'.
 absurd :: Void -> a
 absurd (Void a) = absurd a
+
+vacuous :: Functor f => f Void -> f a
+#ifdef GLASGOW_HASKELL
+vacuous = unsafeCoerce
+#else
+-- other haskell compilers are free to use less homogeneous representations
+vacuous = fmap absurd
+#endif
 
 instance Semigroup Void where
   a <> _ = a
diff --git a/void.cabal b/void.cabal
--- a/void.cabal
+++ b/void.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name:          void
 category:      Data Structures
-version:       0.5.3
+version:       0.5.4
 license:       BSD3
 cabal-version: >= 1.6
 license-file:  LICENSE