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Vaginas. Half of us have them, they’re pretty darn ‘tough’, to paraphrase Betty White, and they’ve inspired some amazing art (remember the ‘Great Wall of Vagina?’) and political theatre (‘Vagina Monologues’ anyone?). But, despite there being a penis museum in Iceland, a sex museum in Amsterdam, heck there’s even a salt and pepper shaker museum in the US, when it comes to vaginas there’s nothing. Nada. This dearth of permanent displays dedicated to lovely lady bits has led one woman on a mission to create her own muff museum.
YouTuber Florence Schechter has set up a fundraising campaign to bring a real-life Vagina Museum to London. Speaking in one of her videos she says: ’There is no vagina museum. Anywhere in the world. There’s some travelling art pieces and there’s some mini galleries and there’s a virtual museum, but there’s no place dedicated to the female anatomy. I was pretty upset about this and realised that there was only one way to rectify this, and that was to make my own vagina museum.’
Her aim is to make a museum that ‘takes a holistic view of vaginas, the variety of people and animals that have them, and their place in culture.’ The museum, which Florence says will most likely be based in the capital, is set to include free collections and exhibits showcasing the science, history and culture of the cooch; paid evening events such as feminist comedy nights, plays and workshops; and community outreach programmes, such as working with women who have experienced sexual assault. She’s also promised a café with vagina cupcakes and a gift shop full of muff merch.
If you’re still not convinced that it’s about time we had a permanent exhibit celebrating the fabulousness of the foof, then take into account this 2014 study by Eve Appeal, which found that only half of women aged between 26 and 35 were able to accurately point out a vagina on a diagram and that 65 percent of young women had a problem using the words ‘vagina’ and ‘vulva’. The Vagina Museum is still in the development stage at the moment, but if you fancy supporting Florence to make it a reality, you can donate towards the museum here, or head along to the museum’s first event – a feminist comedy night on May 19 at Unit 5 Gallery.
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