MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE VAGINA MUSEUM...

The Vagina Museum was once in Camden Market (from 2019-2021) but has since popped up (from 2023) in Bethnal Green, its long-term home.  It's the world's first museum dedicated to vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy.  The point of it is to create understanding, awareness, and build a society where no one is ashamed of their bodies.

It is easily reached by public transport- Bethnal Green underground and overground stations are nearby and it sits under the arches of the latter's railway line.  You can certainly hear (and feel!) the trains rumbling by, especially on the upper floor of the museum.  Admission is free, but donations are always welcome.  It was a crisp but bright November day when I visited, and here's a photo of the front of the museum.

In Anarcha's Gallery is an exhibition by Ella Clancy.  "Know Your Body Like Nobody Else": Cervical Screening Redesigned.  In another part of their website the last word is referenced as being "Reimagined" and the gallery it's inside the "Community Gallery."  I'm a tad confused! 

The purpose of the exhibit is to challenge the embarressment women can feel when having to attend their cervical screenings, aka "the smear test."

Here's a giant vulva and a Vain Old Tart!

Here are post-it notes put up here by women to answer the question of what would make cervical screening a more comfortable and inviting process.

The collection represents the realities of gynaecological health, and here we have a selection of vulva moulds, vulva sweets and vulva necklaces (although generally speaking I prefer the term fanny!)

I found the political corresctness off-putting.  They referenced "people with cervixes."  I call them "women."

I did think these were uteruses at first but no, they're mooncups...

...And a sparkly tampon- would that be a glampon?!😁

The permanent exhibition From A to V is in Betsey's Gallery.  Here you can see many photographs of vulvas.  I nicknamed it "Fanny Wall!"

Educational and anatomical boards inviting you to name a woman's internal parts...

I'm proud to say I'm pretty clued-up.  I think that comes from reading teen mags and my mum's woman's magazines as a kid- the latter in particular were extremely informative!

Equality, sex education, queer and intersex rights and female genital mutilation are all discussed here.

I like the vulva pillow, and the vulva art below that, by Japanese Megumi Igarash, who created the cartoon Manko-chan, which translates as Miss Pussy! 

Health wall; with conditions such as thrush, fibroids and gynaecological cancer discussed.

Knickers with discolouration, as the vagina is acidic.  There is also advice on how to clean your vagina and vulva, along with some unnecessary products- the vagina is self-cleaning, and doesn't need swilling out with this little selection.

Reproductive justice and the right to contraception, abortion and obstetric medicine are discussed here, as is period shame and the way reproductive rights are currently under attack all over the world.

It actually made for depressing reading.

Sex workers rights; and how the red umbrella has become a worldwide symbol for said workers rights...

Downstairs, in Lucy's Gallery, is The Museum of Mankind, which is an exhibition that draws attention to sexism and bias in the museum and archeological world.  These information boards are, quite franky, messy.  Here gender roles are discussed...

Here the male gaze is looked at.  This place is definitely a work in progress and, to be honest, looks a bit of a missed opportunity to define what having a vagina is really about.

A bit of a nondescript board, and I only took the photo because it is- surprisingly- the only time I saw sanitary products referenced (apart from the tampon and mooncup giant sculptures).

Oysters as an aphrodisiac and reference to a blue rectangular card which made no sense whatsoever.  Do they mean an oyster card?  This museum is okay for a half-hour wander through, but it really doesn't make you want to linger longer.

This lower gallery is Lucy's Gallery.  We've already seen Anarcha's Gallery and Betsey's Gallery.  Lucy, Anarcha and Betsey were all enslaved black women who became known as "the mothers of modern gynaecology."  They were subjected to experimental surgeries without anaesthesia in front of an audience in 19th century Alabama, and the galleries are named after them in their honour.  I have read about Hitler doing something similar to women in concerntration camps.  It's good that the museum puts across the way women- and in particular those cultures viewed as "lesser"- have suffered.

I would expect the museum to be feminist, and I know we all have to be aware of certain things, such as the existence of transgender people, but the injection of political correctness throughout this establishment was annoying.

I really expected there to be a lot more about periods in general, and all the problems that go with them; such as pain, irregularity and heaviness and it would have been great to see some sanitary products (preferably un-used!) from recent and distant history.

As well as a shop there was a cafe here, but it didn't appear to be open on this day.  It actually looks quite a nice place to sit and have coffee...

The museum is for hire, and you can hold your party, conference, meeting, product launch or workshop here, and it's also available for filming and screenings.

I then took a long and refreshing brisk walk towards Brick Lane and the Gilbert and George Centre, which sits on a street just off there.  I love the work of these guys- they come across as intelligent, perceptive, provocative and totally crazy.  Their work makes you stop and think, and they appear to adore foul language (which suits me!)

Admission is free, and the intention was to create a space which celebrated "Art For All."  The currently show one or two exhibitions each year, and I overheard a tour quide mention that G&G have 350 works- the size of those huge boards on display here- in storage, so they've got a lot of options when it comes to deciding what to show next!

The Gilbert and George Centre is somewhere I'd pop back to if I was in the area.  The Vagina Museum wasn't a bad museum, but it is certainly a work in progress.  It was okay but I expected more.  

TTFN,

Miss Elaineonus

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