Published on The Holloway Express at https://hollowayexpress.org.uk/all-hail-the-vagina-museum/
The illustrious Camden Town is welcoming the first-ever brick and mortar museum about vaginas. If you thought you had seen everything at the Phallological Museum in Iceland well, then you really are forgetting another crucial body part that needs equal levels of attention.
All the things in this world have an official name. For example, that sweet summer berry that combines well with Pimm’s is called strawberry, the place that everybody wants to be at the end of a long day it’s called a bed, the organ that carries sperm during copulation is called a penis.
So why is there a significant stigma around the word vagina? Why do people blush or giggle when they need to say it? From the phrase “flower” used by Monica Geller in the hit TV series Friends to minge, vajayjay, and aphrodisiacal tennis court, the list of synonym and nicknames for our furry fanjo is endless.
Research shows that 65% of people between 16 and 25 years old have a problem in using the word “vagina” or “vulva”, and frequently find it difficult to talk with their GP’s about gynaecological health concerns. If we cannot use the word vagina, how are we supposed to be educated about it? The team at the Vagina Museum believe that words are powerful, and it’s not only those who have a vagina but all of us who need to be informed.
Why is such a museum necessary? Can’t people just look up information on the internet? Museums have been the centre of culture and education for centuries, their walls house years of research, stories, “wows” and “ahs”. They are the custodians of history and make public access to fantastic knowledge. They teach people about penises, sperms, sex, ventriloquists and yes, even toilets.
People can get access to the most incredible and weird information at museums all over the world, but what about vaginas? They seem to be left behind because they are categorized as either too controversial, or too difficult. Are these valid reasons to leave them out of everyday education, or is it just an excuse to avoid them?
Stigma has always been associated with ignorance and confusion, and the Vagina Museum project wants to be the change by building an intersectional centre for learning and activism.
The team behind the project, which was launched in 2017, is raising money to get the Museum up and running to celebrate the reproductive organ. The project is a registered charity, the first one with the word vagina in its name. If you walk around Camden Market, you could find yourself being asked, “What am I?” by two ladies dressed up as vulvas. They are some of the Vagina Museum volunteers that support the founder’s idea.
When Florence Schechter found out that there is an established Penis Museum in Iceland, she thought that a Vagina Museum was very much needed in this life. The project wants to teach to people that there is no shame about vaginas and vulvas and that these are not offensive words. People should not be scared to say: “I have a vagina, and I want to take care of my vagina.” The project wants to challenge prejudice and orthodoxy but especially uncovering the “dark sides” of this topic.
The brand-new Museum aims to value the gynaecological autonomy of the vagina teaching to respect and love it.
“Friends and family were very supportive,” Florence told Holloway Express when asked what people thought about her idea to launch a museum dedicated to vulvas. “However, starting a museum, it’s difficult. We are currently working on building our first premises in Camden Market.”
The Vagina Museum needs £300,000 to become the world’s first bricks-and-mortar muff museum, and it’s due to open in November 2019. The project will not only promote diversity, inclusivity, visibility, and acceptance of all vaginas but also will be about the entire gynaecological anatomy and its place in our culture and history.
The project will also educate about pathology and diseases of the reproductive organs. Subhadra Das is a curator of UCL Pathology Collections said: “We’ve been getting vaginas wrong forever. I believe that museums are important places for encouraging social change, so what better way to redress the balance of sexist histories than a Vagina Museum?”.
The aim is to educate people through talks, panels, workshops, classes, comedy nights, performance, and much more. The Vagina Museum is dedicated to being gender-inclusive, recognizing that not all women have vaginas and not all people with vaginas are women. For this reason, one of the main focus is to build an outreach program that will engage with doctors and other professionals to provide better services and supporting the trans and intersex community.
“The Museum will not have a minimum age, but some event might do because of the age limits due to alcohol” explains the founder Florence to the Holloway Express and leaves the choice to the parents and guardians if they wish to bring children.
Juno Roche, writer and campaigner for trans rights says: “As a trans person I know how much the world is obsessed with my neo-vagina but also how little the world actually knows about my neo-vagina, all that means is intrusion without safety or empowered pleasure. The more we celebrate all vaginas; their beauty, their pleasure, their sheer brilliance, then the more sex and body positivity and safety we create.”
The Museum will be based on the first floor of a Grade II listed building in Stables Market, Camden Town. The entrance will have a shop where people can pick up vag-related merch. An exhibition space will change every six months, where people will be able to find information like the history of period products and the art of the mighty vulva; there will be sections about the science of genitals with topics such as menopause, contraception, consent, and sexuality; a cultural part that will include artworks, a Society section that will explore genitals’ place in society and a history section as well. They got you covered!
The team will also host events, from workshops to plays, in a nearby space. The building where the team will have their office boasts a lovely balcony which will be decorated with Sheela Na Gigs, figurative carvings of naked women showing an exaggerated vulva. It will also showcase other bits and bobs related to the history of the vagina, such as plants which have been used throughout the past as a period pain relief and contraception.
The Vagina Museum starts a new chapter of education where everybody is free to stand up from the crowd, shouting out loud “It’s my Vagina!” and living in a word more similar to the end of Sex Education episode five.
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