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Vagina Museum Profile picture
@vagina_museum
Apr 14, 2021 • 11 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
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On this day in 2015, the obscenity trial of artist Megumi Igarashi, known as Rokudenashiko ("good-for-nothing girl") began in Japan. Photo by Dayna Evans
Rokudenashiko's trial surrounded a controversial work of hers: a kayak based on her own vulva. AFPReuters/Eigo Shimojo
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. Decoman sculpture by Rokudenashiko, Shinjuku Gankagarou GallBy Rokudenashiko
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. A page from "What Is Obscenity? The Story of A Good For
Rokudenashiko now lives in Scotland with her husband and is raising a family... and continues to make vulva themed art. Manko-chan by Rokudenashiko
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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More from @vagina_museum

Vagina Museum Profile picture
Oct 17
Ever wondered what a menstrual cup is doing in there during use? Thanks to science, we now know where it sits: pretty close to the cervix, turns out. In this MRI scan, the cup is coloured in green, blue shows the vagina, the cervix is outlined in yellow and the uterus in orange. Side view MRI showing the gynaecological organs, with parts coloured. The cup is coloured in green, blue shows the vagina, the cervix is outlined in yellow and the uterus in orange. The cup is positioned around the cervix, its sides extending past the cervix. The entire cup is inside the vagina.
The reason this research was done is rather interesting. Maria Friburg and colleagues (2023) needed to know exactly where a menstrual cup sits in the body to answer a related question: can bacteria that causes Toxic Shock Syndrome grow on a menstrual cup?
To answer this question, the researchers needed to know, first of all, whether the test environment for growing bacteria was aerobic (containing oxygen) or anaerobic. If the cup was lower, it would hold the vagina open, letting air in.
Read 7 tweets
Vagina Museum Profile picture
Aug 16
Museum collaborations are a great opportunity for exchanging knowledge and best practice. We would like to share some of our learning from our residency at the Crab Museum. So who wants to hear about the mind control barnacle that feminises and impregnates its victims?
Sacculina carcini, also known as the crab hacker barnacle, is a parasitic barnacle which infects crabs - usually the green crab (although sometimes others).
The female barnacle larva finds a crab, and enters through the bristles on its legs. It's not fussy about the sex of the crab, it can infect either males or females.
Read 12 tweets
Vagina Museum Profile picture
Jun 5
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. Illuminated manuscript page depicting a monk kneeling before a woman with a baby on a throne. One breast is bare and she is squirting milk into his mouth.
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. Faded icon depicting Mary, crowned and throned, squirting breast milk in a kneeling priest's mouth.
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.
A white robed priest standing over a red-robed devil chained to his crook. The devil is looking up at the priest and looks kind of into the whole thing.
The priest hugging a mostly-nude Jesus.
Read 11 tweets
Vagina Museum Profile picture
Mar 13
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. Painting of two women holding babies lying side by side in bed. Both women wear grand attire with large, richly decorated collars. Each baby is wrapped in red. The women and babies look identical at first glance, but have subtle differences in the patterns on their clothing and eye colour. The poses are awkward and stiff.
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.
Read 13 tweets
Vagina Museum Profile picture
Feb 7
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.
Read 27 tweets
Vagina Museum Profile picture
Jan 22
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. Illustration of a couple in cross section engaged in penis in vagina sex. The woman is depicted as a headless torso. The penis enters the vagina. Above it is a vein leading to the woman's breasts.
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.
Read 19 tweets

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