Museum of Sex in New York and Miami: From Freedom of Expression to Erotic Carnival

For some a spot of fornication and debauchery, and for others an artistic manuscript, one thing is certain – the Museum of Sex in New York, and soon in Miami, are must-see attractions on your trip to America.

When it opened its doors for the first time on October 5, 2002, on New York’s Fifth Avenue, the founders couldn’t even imagine what kind of success awaited them. The Museum of Sex first became public for visitors exactly two decades ago when it presented the first exhibition “How New York Transformed the Thought of Sex in America”, focusing on the city itself and the people in it. The creative director of the exhibition explains that this exhibition celebrates the sexual diversity of the city of New York, which has come at a great cost to some. Over the years, the battle for freedom of sexual expression has been won in the courts, in the media, among politicians, believers and other cultures. Precisely for this reason, as well as in honor of those who fought and those who fight for their freedom, the first exhibition was dedicated to the most populated city in the USA, which changed the way people look at other people’s sexuality and how they accept it. Therefore, the metropolis,  Big Apple, was the only place where this museum could exist and where it will come to life.

Later exhibitions deal with sexuality in other US states and celebrate diversity in different cultures. One of the exhibitions is “Artifact (xxx): Selections from Secret Collections”, which is an intimate exploration of how sex manifests itself in culture through art, science and design. A vintage vibrator made in Great Britain, a lotus girl’s shoe in China, and a Braille edition of Playboy magazine provide insight into earlier beliefs and social taboos around the world. This exhibition covers a wide spectrum – from works of art, medical devices and pop culture memorabilia to guides and accessories used to increase pleasure or pain in the act of sex. These objects tell stories about the broad but dosed influence of sex and sexuality throughout history.

On your tourist journey through the place that causes so much controversy, you can expect different types of art objects, from paintings, sculptures to installations, by authors from all over the world. Also, the museum tries to, depending on the theme of the exhibition, provide its visitors with a glimpse of history by presenting objects, advertisements and other curiosities from the olden days, which may be interesting to people. The museum’s permanent collection contains over 20,000 artifacts and works of art, including photographs, costumes and historical sex toys. One of the more notable exhibitions was the one called “From Porn Chic to Sexual Positivism: Erotic Content and Mainstream Culture, from the 1960s to Today”, which chronologically follows the entry of pornography into mainstream culture through the media over the last forty years. When the first films came out, they were attacked and considered too exciting for the masses. While sex has always been culturally relevant, it has not always been socially accepted. Namely, the revolution of the 1960s contributed to pornographic content being accepted in a wider environment, calling it “porn chic”. Today, sexual content has entered all aspects of mass media, fueling the sex-positivity movement. In addition to compilations of commercial, cinema and music videos, as well as the presentation of feature films, the exhibition presents a timeline dealing with media censorship over the last six decades.

Soon in Miami, Florida, the public will be presented with an exhibition called “Journey to the Erotic Carnival”. The museum in Miami will be officially opened with this display and welcome the first visitors in the spring of 2023. The authors of the exhibition will present various fun games used in sexual excitement. This exhibition explores the sexual history of carnival, inviting visitors to explore its origins in ancient Greece and Rome and its evolution in pre-industrial Europe. Fairs and festivals have historically served as a venue for hedonism, allowing revelers to experience decadent pleasures and, quite often, vices. The Miami Sex Museum will also feature a permanent collection that includes technological inventions, historical and archival items that other institutions would not normally preserve and display due to their sexual nature.

From its begging until today, the Museum of Sex has presented 30 exhibitions as well as 6 virtual settings that were about the history of the oldest job, as well as the tools and all the tricks used in the bedroom.

We believe that visiting this museum is not for everyone’s taste, but we are sure that when you visit it, you won’t remain indifferent. Which is kind of the point of art, right?