For centuries the national motto has been “No sex please, we’re British” yet this winter, the Wellcome Collection has decided to dispose of convention with a flourish. Their newly refurbished premises on Euston Road are playing host to The Institute of Sexology, a riveting and eye-opening delve into the history of humanity’s interest in, relationship with and understanding of the procreational act. Grouped as sections according to the location of the research – library, consulting room, tent, classroom, laboratory and home – this fearless exhibition voyages across history and taboos, recording the work of pioneering scientists who braved the censure of their peers to recommend sexual enjoyment, as well as the long, long history of pornography – from the porcelain to the internet age, as it were. Here, AnOther presents some highlights from the show.
Birth control clinic in caravan, with nurseCourtesy of Wellcome Library, London
Sexual Pioneers This exhibition owes much to the handful of brave men and women who emerged from behind the thick curtain of propriety in the late Victorian era to speak openly of the importance of sexual enjoyment, experimentation and birth control. In discussions of the likes of Mary Stopes, author of the sex manual Married Love and early advocate of family planning, to the German sexologist Magnus Hirschfield, founder of the Berlin based Institute for Sexual Research which was shut down by the Nazis, and many besides, it demonstrates how sexual liberation has run parallel with political and social liberation. It is undeniable that the battles fought in the bedroom over repressive attitudes to sex and stringent concepts of “normality” and “perversion” were reflective of those that played out in the wider world.
Female and Male GenitaliaPhotography by William Dellenback; Courtesy of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction
The Science of Sex It certainly removes the allure from the process but serious investigation has been pivotal to changing attitudes to sex. The Wellcome presents these in a variety of ways – including laboratory photographs of genitalia, detailed questionnaires answered by patients and volunteers, fieldwork images from anthropological studies with tribes on the Trobriand Islands and a Victorian textbook featuring “classification of coital postures”. It is fascinating to note that humanity’s most emotional and essential activity has been demystified thanks to the entirely un-erotic and clinical nature of these studies.
Man seated, wearing corset and holding whipCourtesy of Wellcome Library, London
The Art of Sex But on the flip side, while scientific investigation into sex is a relatively youthful practice, artistic representation has been going on for centuries. From filthy amphoras and exquisitely delicate porcelain fruit that open to reveal a couple engaged in foreplay, to the cross-dressing men photographed by Richard von Krafft-Ebing for his investigations into sexual deviancy, fetish wear from the 1940s and smutty cartoons, all predilections are covered – particularly if you have an interest in flying phalluses.
Sex machine from the Kinsey InstituteCourtesy of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction
Tools of the Trade For as long as there’s been sex, there have been aides and preventatives. For those desiring to quell their desires, Wellcome has a grisly selection of devices ranging from a barbed penis ring to a steel “anti-masturbation” piece that is reminiscent of medieval torture paraphernalia. But the aides are almost as frightening, with the Kinsey Institute producing a “sex machine” that could pass as a fuse box.
