Vagina Museum

04/10/2024

Join us on 23rd October to inaugurate our newly-named galleries in an evening of reflection, reckoning and, hopefully, catharsis, with a panel of three incredible women:

Edem Ntumy (she/her) is the Chief Exec of Reproductive Justice Initiative (Formerly Decolonising Contraception), with over a decade of experience working with communities and advocacy in sexual and reproductive health. A recipient of the 2022 Olive Morris Memorial Award in remembrance of community leader and activist Olive Elaine Morris.

AZ (she/her) is a mixed heritage Muslim and a pregnancy ending doula. She is the founder and one of the community doulas at the Ad'iyah Collective, who support Muslims and their communities navigating abortion, miscarriage and stillbirth. Outside of the doula world, AZ is a writer, researcher and facilitator, with a particular focus on gendered racial violence.

Princess Banda (she/ her) is a socio-medical anthropologist who, amongst many things, is a writer, educator, and researcher. Princess is currently a DPhil Anthropology student at the University of Oxford and is cultivating a research pathway which embraces the intersections between socio-medical anthropology, women’s health, racial and social justice, and critical qualitative research methods. Her areas of interest include racial health disparities, socio-structural and political determinants of health, biopolitics, biopsychosociality, maternal health and, more recently, bioethics.

To coincide with Black History Month, we are naming our three galleries after the Mothers of Gynaecology: Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy.The history of gynaecology is a history of racism and violence. In recent years, activists and educators have excavated this history and foregrounded the experiences of....

01/10/2024

The history of gynaecology is a history of racism and violence. To coincide with Black History Month, we have renamed our three galleries to honour the Mothers of Gynaecology: Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy.

Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy were enslaved Black women living in 19th century Alabama, which is now part of The United States of America. All three women had injuries following childbirth. They were subjected to multiple experimental surgeries, all performed without anaesthesia by a white physician who is lauded as the “Father of Modern Gynaecology”. The use of enslaved Black women for human experimentation was normal in the Antebellum South. This man later became rich and famous, using the techniques he developed using human experimentation on white women, which he performed with anaesthesia.

In total, twelve women that we know of were subjected to experimental operations undertaken without their consent, without anaesthesia, and in front of an audience. Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy are the only ones whose names were recorded.

In recent years, anti-racist activism has drawn attention to the experience of the Mothers of Gynaecology. Plaques and statues celebrating the man who tortured them are being removed, and in their place, monuments to the Mothers of Gynaecology are being built.

In naming our galleries after Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy, we are ushering them into public discourse about racism in medicine. We are acknowledging the horrific violence that they suffered. We are reckoning with the racism and injustice still faced by Black women and women of colour in gynaecological care.

We will be installing permanent signage within the Va**na Museum to mark the galleries' names and tell the stories of the Mothers of Gynaecology. Save the date for an event to inaugurate the newly-named galleries: 23rd October 2024.

Image: Detail from "Herstory" by Malikah Holder, displayed in Anarcha's Gallery in 2024.

20/09/2024

To coincide with International Safe Abortion Day, will be hosting a FREE screening of ‘Preconceived’, a documentary looking at the rise of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), followed by a panel discussion on the implications of tech and surveillance on privacy and reproductive rights. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WQR6JNXdxZ7M9Re07tlfn9rhyv6y3XEfXkAJ4_YFvvQ/edit =h.vreap1i36lie

16/09/2024

"Exhibition Stare Case" - absolutely terrible punning by satirist and cartoonist Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827)

30/08/2024

Sadly, owing to the ongoing fundraising situation, we have taken the decision to delay our exhibition Menopause: What's Changed until early next year. We'd hoped to open on 18th October - World Menopause Day - but this won't be possible. This delay will enable us to do this crucial theme justice, giving us more time to raise funds, or explore how to bring you the best possible exhibition on a much smaller budget. In the near future, we'll be opening up calls to participate in the exhibition and programming. We'll also be celebrating menopause in other ways before the exhibition opens.

But nothing compares to giving menopause the prominence it deserves in a museum exhibition.

Do you believe the world needs menopause proudly on display? Do you believe in carving out a cultural space for menopause after millennia of silence? Every donation makes a huge difference. Just £10 brings us closer to our goal and helps to change the world.

Crowd the Cause to Fund the Pause! Help us Pause the Stigma on Menopau… Va**na Museum needs your support for Menopause on display: A Va**na Museum exhibition

30/08/2024

A 19th century depiction of Vajrayoginī, revered in Tibetan Buddhism. Painter unknown

20/08/2024

A late 19th century French advert for hygienic fabrics. On the right, it includes text selling menstrual pads which are made from peat. Peat moss has been frequently used throughout history to absorb menstrual blood.

This ad is perhaps the earliest example of the menstrual product advertising trope (often mocked in the 1980s!) of a woman doing sports while using the product!

Courtesy of Musée Carnavalet.

16/08/2024

"Early" by Anders Zorn, 1914. Courtiesy of Thiel Gallery.

11/08/2024

Desperate to learn all about va**nas in a museum dedicated to the world of the decapod? We've extended our residency at - scuttle in and learn some f***y facts until Monday 12th August!

04/08/2024

Ever been called a feminist killjoy? Embrace it! Cliterature, our monthly book club is on this August.

We'll be discussing The Feminist Killyjoy Handbook by Sara Ahmed. Join us online on Wednesday August on Zoom from 7pm to 8.30pm to share your thoughts and meet other bookworms.

About the book:
'Not only a dazzling analysis of the workings of sexism, but a balm for the soul. It will teach you how to survive and how to transform the world' Hannah Dawson

We have to keep saying it because they keep doing it.

Do colleagues roll their eyes in a meeting when you use words like sexism or racism? Do you refuse to laugh at jokes that aren't funny? Have you been called divisive for pointing out a division? Then you are a feminist killjoy, and this handbook is for you.

The term killjoy has been used to dismiss feminism by claiming that it causes misery. But by naming ourselves feminist killjoys, we recover a feminist history, turning it into a source of strength as well as an inspiration.

Drawing on her own stories and those of others, especially Black and brown feminists and q***r thinkers, Sara Ahmed combines depth of thought with honesty and intimacy. The Feminist Killjoy Handbook unpicks the lies our culture tells us and provides a form of solidarity and companionship that can be returned to over a lifetime.

📧 Make sure you sign up to our Cliterature email list. The sign up link appears on each of our Cliterature event webpages.

🏪 Buy this book from your local independent bookshop. If you are unable to make a purchase, find out if your local library has a physical or digital copy you can access.

💬 You are not expected to have finished the book, having read some of it helps you take part in our discussion.

🎟️ Tickets are £5 and £3 for the Cliterati aka our members.

➡️ Book online using the link in our bio.

📸 by

17/07/2024

Tonight MINGE FRINGE kicks off!

We’ve got some brilliant comedians and performers over the next two weeks:

Weds 17th: Blue Pencil
Thurs 18th 7:30pm: Shrew (WIP)
Thurs 18th 9pm: My Year of Dressing like the (late) Marquess of Bath (and other extraordinary tales)
Friday 19th 7:30pm: Daddy’s Girls
Sun 21st: Washing Machine Vortex by Sarah MK Archdeacon
Weds 24th: Candace Bryan: Work in Progress
Fri 26th: Intrusive Thots
Sat 27th: Period Queen

Get your tickets via the link in our bio!! ✨💖🔥

08/07/2024

This week at the Va**na Museum, we have three events for you, exploring a diverse range of themes and mediums.

On Thursday, poets, editors and the Abortion Book Club get together to discuss how we put abortion and reproductive justice into words at WRITING AFTER S*X.

On Saturday, bleepDigital will be at the Va**na Museum to answer your questions about what AI is saying about your bits, and where your data from your menstrual tracker might be going at TECH BACK YOUR BITS.

And on Sunday, activist and campaigner Hoda M Ali's journey across the globe seeking help for medical care following the dangerous effects of FGM is told through puppetry, following a discussion with Hoda herself - why does she count herself THE LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE?

After that, for much of July we'll be showing you Edinburgh previews at our very own Minge Fringe. Tickets for Va**na Museum events start at just £5.

What's on at the Va**na Museum: our programme includes comedy nights, bingo, pub quiz, curator talks, director talks, feminism, art history, science.

03/07/2024

This is what the ge****ls look like at around 9 or 10 weeks of gestation. It's the same for everyone. There's a popular myth that all foetuses start out female, but that isn't quite true: it's an active process to develop ovaries and the gynaecological anatomy as much as it is to develop the other format!

During gestation, the part at the top labelled 1 or 2 will develop into a cl****is or the shaft and g***s of a p***s. The parts in purple are called the labioscrotal swelling, and will develop into the l***a majora (outer lips) or a sc***um. The parts in peach will either develop into the l***a minora (inner lips) or part of the p***s called the pe**le raphe, which can sometimes be seen as a line on the p***s.

Diagram drawn by Scientia58

30/06/2024

"The Judgment of Paris" by Alphonse Hector Colomb, 1911. This work puts a French republican spin on a Greek myth, where Paris was tasked with choosing the most beautiful woman from Aphrodite, Hera and Athena. While in the Greek myth, all of the goddesses were beautiful, the artist has a very obvious point of view and preference here!

28/06/2024

1900 illustration of the Pfannenstiel ("bikini line") incision by its inventor, Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel, born on this day in 1862. In the late 19th century, gynaecological surgery was more survivable thanks to developments in anaesthesia and aseptic techniques, but there were still problems with wound healing. To access the gynaecological organs, surgeons either had to make a long midline incision from p***c bone to navel, or cut through the va**na. Both approaches led to healing complications such as serious scarring or hernias.

Pfannenstiel's innovation drastically reduced these complications as it minimises cutting muscles which stabilise the lower abdomen. It was quickly adopted as the superior approach to gynaecological surgery. While many operations can now be done using laparoscopy ("keyhole surgery"), the Pfannenstiel incision remains the preferred approach for some procedures - in particular, C-section.

18/06/2024

Can a museum exhibition really change the world? We know that it can. Our exhibition, Endometriosis: Into the Unknown, ran from November 2023-March 2024. More than 15,000 people visited, with over 200 attending a tie-in event and 4,000 listening to our tie-in podcast.

The impact was phenomenal. 83% of visitors said they felt the exhibition succeeded in breaking stigma and misconceptions about endometriosis; and 84% said they felt more motivated to support endometriosis research in future. Thousands of people participated in a visual pain scale activity, ultimately showing that serious period pain was more common than previously thought. And we think that this quote from a visitor says it all about how a museum exhibition can change lives:

“Many people in the group I was with did not know about endo - this has led to some of them advocating to get tests done with their GPs”

You've seen what the Va**na Museum has managed to achieve with endometriosis. We believe that menopause - a life event that half of us will experience - deserves the same prominence. Menopause deserves to be seen. Menopause deserves to be explored. Yet we need to crowdfund our planned menopause exhibition because arts and heritage funders aren't interested. Hundreds of people have donated so far. Together, we can fund this exhibition and put menopause on display - and start to open up this vital conversation. Join us in changing the world.

Crowd the Cause to Fund the Pause! Help us Pause the Stigma on Menopau… Va**na Museum needs your support for Menopause on display: A Va**na Museum exhibition

14/06/2024

"Veil dancer" by Otto Mueller, 1903