On this day in 2015, the obscenity trial of artist Megumi Igarashi, known as Rokudenashiko ("good-for-nothing girl") began in Japan.
Rokudenashiko's trial surrounded a controversial work of hers: a kayak based on her own vulva.
Rokudenashiko's work aims to destigmatise the manko - a Japanese term for vagina and vulva - by showing the anatomy in a light-hearted and playful way. She wanted to make the manko "casual and pop".
Her other works involve dioramas, phone cases, a remote-controlled car and even a chandelier, all featuring manko.
Rokudenashiko was arrested in July 2014 on obscenity charges related to the kayak. She spent 10 days in prison. The result was a mixed verdict.
She was found not guilty on charges related to the sculpture, but guilty of charges related to 3D scans of her vulva, which she had sent to crowdfunder donors. She was fined ¥400,000.
Much of her art has been confiscated in a police raid.
Rokudenshiko's trial has raised questions about obscenity, and a double standard in Japanese culture where there is a penis festival but a woman artist was arrested for creating vulva art.
Following her trial, Rokudenashiko released a manga memoir about her experiences.
Rokudenashiko now lives in Scotland with her husband and is raising a family... and continues to make vulva themed art.
She's a friend of the Vagina Museum. In 2019 she donated sculptures to our start-up crowdfunder and we were privileged to meet with her. We just can't get enough of her playful work. We love you, Megumi!
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It's been a while since we've shown you a weird fad in medieval Christian art, so here's one you might enjoy - Lactatio Bernardi: The Lactation of St Bernard.
Now it's important to note that St Bernard of Clairvaux isn't the one doing the lactating. He's the kneeling guy. That's the Virgin Mary right there doing the lactating, with baby Jesus on her lap.
Bernard of Clairvaux was a 12th century abbot and one of the founders of the Knights Templar. Here's a couple of depictions of him outside of the milky miracle.
The Cholmondeley Ladies (circa 1600-1610) is a painting raising many questions. Today we're not going to talk about the puzzle in pegging down the identities of the women - we will focus on a different, more mundane puzzle...
Image courtesy of Tate Britain.
The Cholmondeley Ladies painting is accompanied by an inscription, which says "Two Ladies of the Cholmondeley Family, Who were born the same day, Married the same day, And brought to Bed the same day."
Many scholars have explored the identities of these ladies, who are unknown, wondered who the unknown artist who painted it was. Even the donor who gave the painting to the Tate is anonymous.
A hundred years ago, there was a research centre, archive, clinic and museum space dedicated to sexuality whose work might seem ahead of its time, even now.
This is the story of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexology #LGBTHistoryMonth
Founder of the Institute of Sexology Magnus Hirschfeld was a German Jewish gay man, a qualified doctor. Born in 1868, Hirschfeld's interest in using his skills to advocate for LGBT+ rights was sparked when he noticed many of his gay patients were dying by suicide.
In the late 19th century, Hirschfeld began researching sex and sexuality across cultures. He was especially interested in homosexuality in his early research.
Have you ever wondered what's going on in there during penis-in-vagina sex? Where do the pelvic organs go? What stretches where?
Scientists have. At length. And here's what they thought and how they finally found out.
One of the first scientists to take a guess at what's going on anatomically during PiV sex was Leonardo da Vinci himself, who drew this anatomically incorrect diagram in around 1493.
Image courtesy of the Royal Collection.
You'll notice most of the pelvic organs on the woman are missing in da Vinci's diagram. You also may notice a weird vein leading up to the breasts. That's the vein that brings period blood up to the breasts to turn into milk. This is not how anything works.
Okay muff-lovers, you'll probably know the answer to this one. How many holes are there in the vulva?
The answer may surprise you. Yes, even you.
The hole you'll definitely know about if you follow us is the vaginal entrance, which leads to the vagina. That one's easy.
Next up - and not everybody knows this one - is the entrance to the urethra. Pee doesn't come out of the vagina, it comes out of the urethra. The urethra is positioned above the vagina and below the clitoral glans.
Reindeer are a little unusual among deer. In most species, only males grow antlers, but in reindeer, these big old head bones are a perfectly normal feature for females, too! And how and why they grow antlers is rather interesting...
Antlers in reindeer are deciduous. They're not a permanent fixture on the head of the animal, but rather, antlers grow and are cast in cycles.
In male reindeer, the antlers start growing in around April, and are shed in late December. In females, antlers grow in May, and are cast at around that time the next year.