The Institute of Sexology: Let's talk about sex | The Economist

The Institute of Sexology: Let's talk about sex | The Economist



The Institute of Sexology: Let's talk about sex | The Economist http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2015/01/institute-sexology



"The theme of collecting, archiving and accumulating everything from votives of male and female genitalia to statistics about human behaviour as a means of studying and understanding sexuality underpins the exhibition. Scattered throughout the first section are weird, wonderful and at times disturbing sexual toys, aids and artefacts, many of them gathered from the extensive collection of Henry Wellcome, the American-British industrialist whose fortune endowed the trust that bears his name. These include a remarkable bronze phallic amulet and wind chime replete with the hind legs and tail of a horse dating from between 100BC and 400AD, a series of 19th-century steel-plated serrated penis rings designed to prevent masturbation and loss of sperm through nocturnal emissions, and an early 20th-century vibrator made of brass, steel and rubber that comes with hair-raising accessories such as discs, balls and spikes."