World’s first ‘Vagina Museum’ tackles female body taboos
An new exhibit opening in London this weekend is a glittery and garish homage to the hooha.
The Vagina Museum, built in Camden’s Stables Market, was made possible through a fundraising campaign, which collected almost $64,484 (£50,000) from more than 1,000 vag advocates.
Museum director Florence Schechter was inspired by a similar concept in Iceland: a museum all about the male member. “I discovered there was a penis museum in Iceland but no vagina equivalent anywhere else, so I decided to make one,” she told The Guardian.
Schechter added, “I just love the vag. I am a bisexual woman.”
The exhibit, which runs through February, is called “Muff Busters: Vagina Myths and How To Fight Them” and examines the culture and myths surrounding the life-giving reproductive organ.
“Just under 50% of the world’s population has one,” an exhibition poster reads, reported The Guardian. “Most of us came into the world through one. Yet vaginas and the rest of the gynecological anatomy are still a taboo subject.”
The poster also cites a YouGov survey of UK residents that found that more than half of Brits could not locate or describe the function of the vagina or urethra (52% and 58%, respectively), and just 47% could identify the labia.
Curator Sarah Creed says those stats stunned her. “[There] was a statistic that one in five adult women think they have to remove a tampon to urinate — that blew my mind,” she added.
Creed addressed various popular myths about female sexual anatomy.
“Your vagina does not smell like a bouquet of flowers, nor should it,” she said, adding that the vagina is not an armpit, and should not be deodorized with beauty products. “People don’t realize we have a very delicate bacteria microflora ecology down there. You cannot have a product for all vaginas because everyone is different.”
Creed even put a box of her own dirty undies on display to help reverse the stigma around vaginal discharge.
“The fact your vagina is acidic during reproductive years … that can lead to bleached underwear. This is my underwear in this box. That is how much I advocate for this,” she said.
Creed said the exhibition, which will also appear online, will be augmented with live performances and events, such as feminist readings and comedy acts. The museum also offers educational material to help visitors learn more about women’s health. Their gift shop is filled with novelties such as multicolored vagina postcards and crocheted vulva-shaped earrings.
“We are looking at how we can engage all people. I want cis heterosexual men to come here and feel it is a space for them to come and learn,” said Creed, who called this the “post-Weinstein era.”
“There’s more fear than there is inquiry because people do not want to be seen as inappropriate, but they are part of the conversation,” she said. “People have wives or daughters and friends — people with gynecological anatomy — and in order to interact with loved ones in an effective way, they should know more about them.”
