How the taxpayer funded The Vagina Museum

It is also a "charity" - apparently. Austerity strikes again!

Did you know that the UK has a “Vagina Museum”?

I thought I’d check - because it’s the sort of thing that seems obvious to Londoners, but might be better concealed from the rest of the country.

You’re not missing anything if you haven’t been. I went in 2019 quite unexpectedly.

I was walking around Camden Market with a friend when we stumbled upon it. Obviously anyone who sees a sign saying “The Vagina Museum” will stop in their tracks. We went in and had a look. I can only describe it as a room with vagina merchandise for sale. Here are some pictures from that trip below:

I didn’t stay long in “the museum” (it really is a stretch to call it that) because I didn’t want to buy anything. I couldn’t exactly imagine a relative jumping for joy after they unwrapped a vagina necklace for Christmas.

Since then The Vagina Museum - which is now based in East London - has gained a bit more traction in terms of social media profile. In 2022, to celebrate International Women’s day, for instance, it posted this:

Let’s just say, it received a big response.

For a museum dedicated to a specific part of the female anatomy - opened in answer to Iceland’s penis museum - The Vagina Museum ties itself in knots over inclusion criteria. It’s FAQ page contains questions like “Why isn’t it called the vulva museum?” and “Are you defining women by their vaginas?” It sounds exhausting trying to manage a museum about vaginas.

The Vagina Museum definitely doesn’t endorse a position universally shared by people who have vaginas. It says it wants to “challenge heteronormative and cisnormative behaviour” and to promote “trans-inclusive values” and one of its sold-out shop items is the “vulva trans flag enamel pin”.

In short, I’m not convinced many “cisnormative” members of the public would want to visit - never mind pay for The Vagina Museum.

But they don’t have a choice because, dear reader, I am afraid the latter is exactly what they are doing. Someone out there, in the world of governance, has decided you want to support this nonsense. The Vagina Museum receives government grants and is a “registered charity”.

This is even the case when private trade is attached to The Vagina Museum; it has a trading subsidiary is called Vertical Smile Project Ltd. As of June 30 last year, things didn’t appear to be going too well for the company:

Although The Vagina Museum’s lack of premise is blamed (above) for poor sales, could it also be that other people don’t want to buy vagina necklaces for relatives?

But back to The Charity Commission. The Vagina Museum’s mission is described as the following:

It almost makes it sound as if something semi-intelligent is going on at Vagina HQ. But look at some of the events coming up:

It’s also a bit bladdy weird that there’s an exhibition about “mankind” (below) at The Vagina Museum. It’s like opening a museum about briefcases and having an exhibition on scarves.

And wasn’t The Vagina Museum meant to level the playing field against the evil penis museum in Iceland? Lest we forget!

Anyway, it turns out The Vagina Museum has received £113,220 in government grants.

Another cruel day in the world of austerity!

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