As one of the offenders, I would like to offer my apologies to anyone who
was not appreciative of my quip. I certainly feel that the museum in
question has a worthwhile and serious mission. I think the jokes were
probably more a factor of pre-holiday energy rather than an inherent
disrespect for the Museum of Sex.

Erica S. Maniez
Museum Director, Issaquah Historical Society
[log in to unmask]


> >===== Original Message From Museum discussion list
> <[log in to unmask]> =====
> >I must express my disappointment that for the second time in
> recent months
> >a posting from the Museum of Sex has elicited a string of puerile and
> >unnecessary e-mails from list members making cheap jokes about a serious
> >subject. Only Sarah Haldeman has made the point that such museums are in
> >fact very well worth studying. I have visited two such museums
> in Amsterdam
> >(the Museum of Erotica and the Venustemple), Ole Ege's Museum of
> Erotica in
> >Copenhagen and the Museum of Erotic Art in Hamburg and could
> recommend all
> >of them. The collections have invariably been impressive,
> consisting mainly
> >of works of fine art covering many centuries and styles from
> Greek vases to
> >digital photographs. Japanese and Chinese art is very strongly
> represented
> >(and it should be no surprise that there is a major sex museum in Tokyo).
> >Even the British Museum itself has amassed such a collection and has
> >recently admitted the wrongful assumptions that caused it to be concealed
> >in a 'secret cupboard' for many years.
> >
> >The second point is that these museums display their collections in an
> >admirable way. I have rarely seen such intelligent mixes of traditional
> >objects in cases, audio-visuals, serious information (on topics such as
> >venereal disease) and points of humour to lighten the tone. These museums
> >have a lot to teach us about varying lighting techniques,
> extended opening
> >hours and highly readable, multi-lingual labelling. You may snigger but
> >there is an excellent educational interactive in one of the Amsterdam
> >museums where, amongst other things, the visitor can push a
> button to 'ask
> >the price' from a lady of the night. The Venustemple does indeed
> operate a
> >thriving souvenir shop with gifts available by mail order and in plain
> >brown paper wrapping.
> >
> >Perhaps the point I most want to make is that the audiences these museums
> >attract are entirely respectable. From young couples to parties of old
> >grannies they have all been bristling full of visitors from across the
> >social and age spectrum. Other museums recognise this - for instance the
> >city museum in Copenhagen now includes displays about prostitution (and
> >even helpfully provides a map of present-day brothels in the city - Such
> >visitor services!).
> >
> >Sex is a universal subject crossing all cultural, religious and racial
> >boundaries yet it is incredible to think of how many cultural museums the
> >world over ignore this subject. Sex influences modes of cultural
> expression
> >but the subject also embraces issues of public health, education, legal
> >regulation, policing etc. There's bags of material for innovative museums
> >to exploit! I, as a practising Christian and active worker for the Church
> >of England, would nevertheless have no intellectual or indeed moral
> >objection to working in one of the world's legitimate museums of
> sex. (Red
> >light districts the world over will of course contain imposter 'museums'
> >and there are also some private museums of more questionable
> taste such as
> >Iceland's Penis Museum). These museums are usually found in
> countries that
> >take a more relaxed view of the subject especially northern Europe and
> >Scandinavia but should not be misidentified as pornographic
> exhibitions or
> >seedy immoral attractions with no other purpose than relieve foreign
> >tourists of their money. I suggest that these museums, whilst
> certainly not
> >without their faults, have a lot for dedicated professionals to
> study and,
> >as such, merit serious discussion.
> >
> >Neil Handley MA
> >Curator, British Optical Association Museum
> >
> >The College of Optometrists,
> >42 Craven Street, London WC2N 5NG
> >Tel: 020 7839 6000   Fax: 020 7839 6800
> >e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> >web-site: http://www.college-optometrists.org/college/museum
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From:   [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> >Sent:   03 July 2001 19:17
> >To:     [log in to unmask]
> >Subject:        Re: Job Opening at The Museum of Sex
> >
> >Having attended the Museum of Sex in Berlin, I must say that it
> was one of
> >the
> >better museums I've ever been to.  All jokes aside, I recommed that you
> >check
> >it out if you're ever in that neck of the woods.  It would also be useful
> >to
> >get in touch with them to see how they do things.  It's a very
> large museum
> >with three floors and includes video, talks etc.
> >Sarah Haldeman
> >Arizona State University
> >Public History
> >
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