Notices by Vagina Museum (vagina_museum@masto.ai)

Has a woman ever been Pope?

Really short answer: no. But that didn't stop the legend of "Pope Joan" for persisting for centuries. Here's the story of the woman who was(n't) Pope in the Middle Ages.

Pussy magnets are real. We should know, we sell them in our shop. Now all of your friends will know, too, when you stick some on your fridge. https://vaginamuseumshop.co.uk/collections/magnets

What is a vagina? Finally, you sigh with relief, the Vagina Museum is out there answering a *simple* question.

We regret to inform you it's not that simple. It's actually fairly complicated, and here's why...

Collins really goes hog wild on description with its definition of vagina: "the moist canal in most female mammals, including humans, that extends from the cervix of the uterus to an external opening between the labia minora"

We'll start at the place that people go for a nice simple definition which absolutely misses all nuance and isn't a great place to learn biology: the dictionary.

Merriam-Webster gives us this: "a canal in a female mammal that leads from the uterus to the external orifice of the vulva"

Cambridge gives us this prounoun-laden definition: "the part of a woman or other female mammal's body that connects her outer sex organs to her uterus"

Now, all of these dictionary definitions have elements that we could spend days picking apart, such as "does a vagina inherently need to be moist?" and "does it cease to be a vagina after a hysterectomy?" but what we're really going to focus on is something they all have in common: the assertion that the vagina is a mammalian structure.

(in the interests of fairness, we'll mention that in its secondary definition, Merriam-Webster tautologically concedes that "vagina" could mean "a canal that is similar in function or location to the vagina and occurs in various animals other than mammals")

There are in fact lots of parts in lots of animals which are given various names, but *could* all meaningfully be called a vagina. Rachel M. Keeffe and vagina research rockstar Patricia Brennan have compiled this helpful table on various names given to these organs.

Now, we're going to take a little digression to celebrate duck vaginas. Ducks, we hope we don't need to tell you, are not mammals. Ducks also have *fascinating* internal genitalia, which comprise of a corkscrewing maze full of blind alleys wherein an unwanted penis can be sent into a dead end.

Is this cool bit of kit a vagina?

The thing is, vaginas, female genitals, spermathecae, copulatory ducts, whatever you want to call them, have been horribly under-researched. Science's understanding of them is nowhere near as strong as it could be. And to really define "vagina", we need to know more about them.

So to conclude, we cannot define "vagina". And neither can you, not just yet.

In O'Keeffe and Brennan's 2023 vagina primer paper, the authors adopt a broader definition of vaginas to include non-mammalian vaginas. They examine functional similarities which transcend whether or not the creature has a spine. You can read the entire thing here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982223006061

Menopause was seldom discussed in the past, except potentially in one area: witch myths. Witch myths are intrinsically linked to stereotypes about women ageing. In our Menopause exhibition, we invite our visitors to create a menopausal witch. Here's our faves this week.

We're thrilled to unveil our newest project: Lip Service. Lip Service is a zine created by and for our community. Our inaugural issue focuses on menopause, expanding on themes covered by our exhibition with fiction, visual art and commentary. https://vaginamuseumshop.co.uk/products/lip-service-issue-1-menopause

Our first print run of Lip Service is very limited edition, so grab a print copy while they're still there. You can also enjoy a digital download of the zine for just £3 https://vaginamuseumshop.co.uk/products/lip-service-issue-1-menopause

And with the launch of Lip Service comes a brand spanking new perk for Cliterati members. As well as other fanny-tastic benefits like big discounts and exclusive insider events, you'll also get free digital copies of Lip Service! Join the fold for just £6 a month. https://www.vaginamuseum.co.uk/member

Happy Easter, it's time for yet more Jesus vagina content. This time, let's look at Jesus *in* a vagina https://masto.ai/@vagina_museum/110168921500052009

A statement from the Board of Trustees of the Vagina Museum regarding trans inclusion.

The Vagina Museum is trans inclusive. We always have been and we always will be. As long as there's a Vagina Museum, we cannot be bullied or bought to change our stance on this.

First of all, we're pretty sure other museums don't get this question. It's pretty obvious that you don't need to be a dinosaur to visit the Natural History Museum, or an absolute unit of a sheep to visit the Museum of English Rural Life, or a [joke redacted] to visit the British Museum.

Being a museum dedicated to vaginas, we get more than our fair share of weird FAQs. One of the weirder ones is this: "Do I need to have a vagina to visit?" The answer is no!!! We're open to all genders and genital configurations! Here's why...