Category: museums and collections

gender, menstruation, museums and collections, myth, religion

Acting up in the Vagina Museum

fluff35

If you hang out on social media, or read the newspapers, you'll know that the world now has not just a Penis Museum and a number of Sex Museums, but also a Vagina Museum. Unlike Iceland's Penis Museum (actually called the Phallological Museum, which sounds more formal and scientific), containing 'more than 280 penises and… Continue reading Acting up in the Vagina Museum

birth, dissection, midwives, museums and collections, womb

The skull inside the doll…

fluff35

Webster was much possessed by death And saw the skull beneath the skin... (T.S. Eliot, Whispers of Immortality) I was very excited when the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (@RCPEHeritage) tweeted pictures today illustrating that they have been ‘X-raying two of our circa 18thc midwifery manikins (also known as ‘phantoms’) – to discover that… Continue reading The skull inside the doll…

Bad History, doctors, gender, internet, midwives, museums and collections

Exhibiting our past: “This Vexed Question”

fluff35

There's been a lot of interest online in a temporary exhibition which has recently opened at the Royal College of Physicians in London: "This Vexed Question: 500 years of women in medicine". I was disturbed by some of the media reports, in particular one in Culture Trip which started with the comment that the RCP was 'dissecting… Continue reading Exhibiting our past: “This Vexed Question”