Our bank wouldn't let us put "Twat Union" as payment reference when paying Twat Union for their performance at the museum earlier this month, because "Twat", the name of the group, is apparently Too Rude. #TheStruggleIsReal
We are unfortunately crowdfunding again. We approached more than 15 arts and heritage funders to support an exhibition about menopause. Absolutely none of them chose to do so. We find ourselves in a situation where nobody wants to fund menopause - so we’re asking you. https://www.gofundme.com/f/r9tszw
Menopause is one of the most requested exhibition theme we've ever had: second only to endometriosis, which we showcased earlier this year. Our next exhibition, Menopause: What's Changed? is due to open on 18th October - World Menopause Day. The exhibition will explore menopause in the past; how menopause became medicalised; and personal experiences of menopause including LGBT+ experiences and early menopause. https://www.gofundme.com/f/r9tszw
Menopause is increasing in visibility, but it remains comparatively under-researched, with gaps and inequalities in care and less support than should be available. There is a funding gap, and the Vagina Museum is feeling this disparity too. That's why we need your help. https://www.gofundme.com/f/r9tszw
Half of the world will go through menopause at some point in our life. Why does it feel like nobody wants to fund it? We have tried everything we can to make this crucial exhibition happen and smash the stigma. Now we have to turn to you. https://www.gofundme.com/f/r9tszw
Sweet mother, I cannot weave! It's back! Want to meet cute sapphics at a Vagina Museum? Join us on 22nd June to find that connection in a room full of LGBT+ babes at the Sapphic Mix and Mingle https://www.outsavvy.com/event/20408/sapphic-mix-mingle
On the same day, a few hours before the Sapphic Mix and Mingle, we're providing a vital public service. Come along to a workshop on flirting for the queer introvert. Never again will you have to agonise for months over whether she's just being nice https://www.outsavvy.com/event/20570/how-to-ask-people-out-workshop
We're thrilled to once again team up with our friends Je Joue for a Pride Month collab! Throughout June, use the discount code VAGINA20 to get 20% off your order. They'll donate 20% of the purchase to support the Vagina Museum's work. https://www.jejoue.co.uk/
if you want to know how actually good Je Joue's toys are, ask any member of the VM team whether they own a Mimi Soft. the answer is about 90% likely to be yes.
It's been a while since we've shown you a weird fad in medieval Christian art, so here's one you might enjoy - Lactatio Bernardi: The Lactation of St Bernard.
Good morning, it's time for another cursed patent! And guess what, this one is yet another overengineered douche. Meet the Instrument For Treating the Vagina and Uterus, patented by Christopher C. Parker in 1883.
To be clear, Parker's instrument is not merely an overengineered douche. It's what would happen if a douche and a speculum had an irresponsible one night stand and made a very, very horrible baby together.
The way it works is that it goes into the vagina. The little cup on the top suctions onto the cervix, and the arms shift up and open up the vagina a little more.
The aim of the cup is to either keep whatever is being sprayed up the vagina out of the cervix, or to intensively spray the stuff into the uterus. It's a multipurpose overengineered douche.
The purpose of the speculum-style arms is to un-wrinkle the vaginal walls for optimal douching power.
We hope we don't need to tell you that the vagina needs absolutely NONE of these interventions, and that sounds uncomfortable as hell.
And the thing is, Christopher C. Parker, in his patent documentation, at no point explains why one might possibly *need* to use such a doohickey. That's how utterly unnecessary yet thoroughly cursed that this gadget is.
The patent office loved it though, and appreciated the novelty of a douche-speculum hybrid.
This is a message from the Museum of Mankind. Look at these treasures from the Plastic Age. Can you even imagine living as a miserable Londoner in such barbaric times? In their crude way, these people did their best to amuse themselves, in any way possible.
The Museum of Mankind team are especially proud to acquire this precious 21st century ritual training set. A man would use this to symbolically re-enact his farming prowess during times of famine. His pattern-making mind could create ritual designs. Only a man was sufficiently dexterous.
Vagina Museum team here, logging back on. Sorry about that. We have no idea how Eugène Delacroissant got hold of our password. What's going on at the Museum of Mankind? It looks like they're applying gender roles where it makes no sense to. And this happens all the time...
On this day in 1533, Italian anatomist Hieronymus Fabricius was born. In his work on foetal formation, he illustrated the uterus and vulva, somewhat idiosyncratically, and also illustrated the clitoris, fairly well.
In May 1988, legislation passed in the UK "prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities. It was in effect for a decade and a half, with massive impact on the LGBT+ community. This is a brief history of Section 28.
We don't expect a small child to understand everything in our exhibitions, just like another museum wouldn't expect a small child to understand the social context of German Expressionism or advanced sauropod taxonomy. A museum is a part of a journey of learning - and museums are fun for kids!