London’s Museum of Sex Objects, founded by the legendary Debbie Sim, has taken over arts venue The Horse Hospital, Bloomsbury, London for a month-long residency this September. The museum’s mission is to preserve our complex and fascinating sexual history.
The museum boasts a bountiful array of never-before-seen sex objects, artworks and relics, straddling the boundaries between folklore, art, and history. The compelling collection reveals the hidden tales of sexual heroes, moments, and places where assignations and confrontations changed the course of history. Highlights include The Wall of Sexual Heroes – a wall of framed textiles – embroidery, print, drawn and appliqued handkerchiefs -celebrating some of the historical and contemporary unsung heroes of sexual emancipation, activism and motivation. Learn about London’s Molly houses with their fake birthing rooms and take in a wonderful selection of vintage porn in the ‘Under the Counter Culture Corner’.
Debbie says “Charting sexuality’s cultural origins is not easy, with clues often locked away in old documents or institutions, their truth deemed too subversive at the time. The Museum of Sex Objects’ mission is to bring history’s blind spots into the light.“
In more tolerant times it’s easy to forget that the struggle for sexual freedom came at great cost to countless individuals and communities.
As part of her mission, Debbie, ‘The Keeper’ of the collection, will be holding daily tours of the Museum’s realms, where she will:
- ● Guide you along the Museum’s cobbled pathways to discover its origins with Lady Sexburga
● Share the Fallen Sisterhood’s tragic tales and the perilous passions of the Haunted Feminine
● Bring to life the peccadilloes of the people celebrated in Ode to Perversion
● Take you through the clandestine rendezvous of A Space of Peril – the dangerous public spaces where gay men found each other in the days before Grindr – from the 18th Century Molly Houses to cottaging in the public toilets of the 20th Century
● Celebrate the people, places and objects that inspire the museum’s Makers to this day, represented on the Wall of Sexual Heroes
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Talks and Screenings
Also throughout September, The Museum of Sex Objects is hosting talks with authorities on sexual history who will enlighten us on the link between witchcraft and the early LGBTQ+ community, the feminist appeal of Japanese rope art, Soho’s under-the-counter book trade, sacred rites for medieval sex workers, legendary leather man Tom of Finland, and how one fetish pioneer went from running a No Cameras, word-of-mouth underground club scene to designing historically pertinent rubberwear for inclusion in a prestigious art collection. Plus films exploring eco-sexuality and the influence of black gay culture on film, fashion, dance and – well – everything!
Speakers and Screenings Line Up
Weds 7th TALK – Walk Like A Man – Dr Gary Everett on Tom of Finland https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walk-like-a-man-dr-gary-everett-on-tom-of-finland-tickets-3970 07158097?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Friday 9th TALK – Soho Bibles: Dr Helen Wickstead in The Lost Porn of Post-war London https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/soho-bibles-dr-helen-wickstead-on-the-lost-porn-of-post-war-l ondon-tickets-395119211197?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Friday 16th – TALK From Der Putsch to Die Kunst: Westward Bound with Steve Beech https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/from-der-putsch-to-die-kunst-westward-bound-with-steve-bee ch-tickets-395141578097?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Saturday 17th TALK – Lucy Coleman Talbot: Sex Worker Rites at Crossbones Graveyard https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lucy-coleman-talbot-sex-worker-rites-at-crossbones-graveyard- tickets-395153263047?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Friday 23rd TALK – Everything You Wanted to Know About Shibari but were Too Shy to Ask – Anna Bones, Anatomie Studio https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-shibari-but-were-too-s hy-to-ask-tickets-395168618977?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Saturday 24th SCREENING – Beyond: There’s Always a Black Issue Dear, plus Q&A https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beyond-theres-always-a-black-issue-dear-tickets-39520231977 7?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Monday 26th SCREENING & live Zoom Q&A Water Makes Us Wet – Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens + Imagine The Earth Is Your Lover – The 23 Minute Series, Curated by Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/screening-live-virtual-qa-with-annie-sprinkle-beth-stephens-tic kets-397031179947?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Tuesday 27th TALK – I Put a Spell on You: Mara Gold on sapphic women and witchcraft https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/i-put-a-spell-on-you-mara-gold-on-sapphic-women-and-witchc raft-tickets-397200045027?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Tours
Tours are from Wednesday-Sunday 3rd-29th September. Spaces are limited. Tours are free. Donations appreciated. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/museum-of-sex-objects-the-keepers-tours-tickets-3952624195 37?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
The Museum of Sex Objects is open at the Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1JD,
Tuesday – Sunday 12-6pm, September 3rd -30th 2022. Russell Square tube station.
Review: Ris Fatah Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
