S04E06: Smut

Join us for a risqué episode about smutty collections! We talk about sexual museum objects, attitudes to pornography and art, bedroom fashion, and erotic museums! (Contains 20% more giggling than usual. May cause blushing in some listeners.) Also tune in for a review of ‘On Sexuality’ and a Dear Jane about imposter syndrome. 00:24 Can collections be a bit naughty? (Spoilers: yes) 03:15 Our experiences of working on ‘smutty’ objects 09:15 What’s smutty in collections anyway? 16:32 Dedicated erotic museums around the world 22:58 How do we archive porn and why is it important? 30:45 Jenny has some weird exhibition ideas 33:38 The endangered ephemera of saucy magazines 35:17 Representation of LGBTQ+ relationships 38:37 Deterioration of modern materials 44:00 Review: ‘On Sexuality’ 47:48 Dear Jane 54:11 Catching up after the Museums Association conference Show Notes: - Paul Rumsey’s art: https://www.facebook.com/ArtistPaulRumsey/ - Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s Roman penis pot: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/roman-soldiers-drank-out-of-this-penis-pot-for-kicks_us_570bd937e4b0836057a1c6bc - ‘Penises and Caustic Soda’ article: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2010/jan/27/art-archaeology - The Secrets of Cupboard 55: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4717695/The-secrets-of-Cupboard-55.html - British Museum’s Shunga exhibition in 2013/2014: https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/shunga.aspx - List of sex museums: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sex_museums - Musée de l'érotisme: https://web.archive.org/web/20120803081949/http://www.musee-erotisme.com/en - The Temple of Venus: http://www.sexmuseumamsterdam.nl - Playboy Archive: https://www.playboy.com/products/every-issue-ever-the-official-playboy-archive - The University Library Uncovered - the Truth About the Tower: https://www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/news/the-university-library-uncovered-the-truth-about-the-tower - Secrets of Cambridge ‘Porn' Library Revealed: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1578614/Secrets-of-Cambridge-porn-library-revealed.html - British Museum exhibition reveals saucy side of the ancient world: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/may/12/arts.artsnews - Museum Pride London: https://twitter.com/museumprideldn - The Attendant film: https://www.isaacjulien.com/projects/the-attendant/ and http://www.ttv-i.net/?p=1696 - On Sexuality - Collecting Everybody’s Experience: https://museumsetc.com/products/on-sexuality?variant=1260652100 - Festival of Change 2018: https://www.museumsassociation.org/news/08082018-festival-of-change-belfast-2018 - The Vagina Museum: https://www.vaginamuseum.co.uk/ Support us on Patreon! http://www.patreon.com/thecword Hosted by Jenny Mathiasson, Kloe Rumsey, and Christina Rozeik. Intro and outro music by DDmyzik used under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Additional sound effects and music by Calum Robertson. Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. Stock footage by: Beachfront B-Roll (http://www.beachfrontbroll.com) A Wooden Dice production, 2018.