Actually, I've been wanting to check out this museum for a while. I've passed by it dozens of times. But it always seemed like a strange activity to suggest. Hey guys, after brunch you want to hit up the Sex Museum? Lucky for me, my chosen day of attendance was a very special day at the Museum of Sex, or MoSex, as they've dubbed it (creative...). It was a calendar signing for New York City Hunky Firefighters of the Month. 12 of NYC's bravest and a sad turnout of even sadder women in large, giggling gaggles. It really added to the ambiance.
The first question asked by a friend about the Museum of Sex, is "how porn-ey will it be?" The answer? VERY PORN-EY. The curators don't care about easing the visitor into the experience. First piece in the first exhibit... bam! Hard core porn. The entire first-floor exhibition chronicled the depiction of sex in film. I was shocked and humored to see the earlier works, some of which were quite graphic. There was also a section about sex in modern movies. N-O-T for the faint of heart. I felt remarkably uncomfortable watching the famous 9 1/2 weeks bathtub scene in a public setting. That's the weird dichotomy of MoSex. The carnal content sparks the most intimate of thoughts, but it's set in the sterile, analytical environment of a museum. And is there anything analytical about sex?
The second floor was dedicated to a strange, disjointed mix of media: the depiction of sex in art, photography, sculpture, and thennnn... some sex toys you could touch. There was The Sex of Robots, a super-disturbing tiny metal model of a robot orgy, with a child doing things a child shouldn't be doing. Yikes. In a less freaky corner, there were some cool old pornographic photos. It was most interesting to see the sepia-toned Victorian-era photographs with poses that resemble the raunchiest porn photos from today. It reminds us that no matter how much our culture shifts, and no matter what inappropriate television show MTV has created this year, people have been knockin' boots since the beginning of time. Since before boots! So what's with the big taboo?
The third floor was the most interesting. It was a special exhibition on the sex lives of animals. Mostly photos and lots of text, it focused a lot on nature's sexual anomalies: gender-bending animals, female penises, male mammaries, sex-role reversal and more. From homosexuality to gender, masturbation to monogamy (or lack thereof), the exhibition looked at animal sexual behaviors that humans have classified as deviant. Acts that we've outlawed, punished, and shamed, animals don't give a shit. And who's usually right... man or Mother Nature? It was cool to see that animal sexuality is every bit as weird and complicated as human sexuality. So next time you go to spank the monkey, you can feel better knowing that right now, a monkey is doing the exact same thing.
Results: Learned a lot of fun factoids about the animal kingdom, saw some weird, old porn, and checked an oft-overlooked NYC museum off my list. Uninhibited museum-goers will appreciate an intense look at the chronology of human sexuality in culture. It wasn't the most impressive museum in the city, but no one could ever accuse it of being boring. Oh, and definitely don't bring your mom.
Status: Sexcess!
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