Update: It turns out, a virtual vagina museum does already exist. While Schechter aims to have a physical space, those who'd like to visit a vagina museum can do so online, thanks to Kerstin Rajnar of Vienna who launched a virtual museum in 2014.
Read our original story below:
If UK science vlogger Florence Schechter gets her way, there will be a vagina museum somewhere in the world within the next few years.
"There's a penis museum in Iceland, which is pretty cool," she said in a YouTube video. "But there's no vagina museum. Anywhere. In the world."
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She was "miffed" when she realized this, Schechter said in the video. But instead of resigning herself to living in a world without a vagina museum, Schechter decided she would open one herself.
She set up a Patreon page — which is a crowdfunding website similar to Kickstarter or GoFundMe — to raise money for things like legal fees, travel to speak with experts, and funds to put on events.
Museums can take years to build, she said in the video, and she's just getting started. But eventually Schechter hopes people all over the world can visit her vagina museum to learn about the history, culture, and science of "vaginas and the variety of people and animals who have them," she wrote on the fundraising page.
The museum as she envisions it will have:
"1) Free collections/exhibits that showcase the science, history and culture of vaginas.
"2) Paid evening events such as feminist comedy nights, plays, concerts, workshops, classes, etc.
"3) Community outreach in women's* issues such as working with sexual assault survivors, getting women* into underrepresented fields like STEM and politics, etc (specifics to be explored after consultation with people who already do this work and what they need)."
"2) Paid evening events such as feminist comedy nights, plays, concerts, workshops, classes, etc.
"3) Community outreach in women's* issues such as working with sexual assault survivors, getting women* into underrepresented fields like STEM and politics, etc (specifics to be explored after consultation with people who already do this work and what they need)."
(Schechter's Patreon description includes asterisks after the words "women" and "women's": We assume that's because, as she explains farther down, "The museum is dedicated to being gender inclusive and intersectional," but the page does not include a specific explanation for what the asterisks signify.)
She's already working on the first event — a feminist comedy night to help raise funds for the museum.
We're willing to bet that if this museum actually happens, it'll be built in the UK, since that's where Schechter lives. But it sounds like it might be worth the trip.
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