Recently one of my friends made a comment that I had a knack for finding weird and wonderful places after they saw a photo of me in a sex museum in China. I guess I couldn’t refute her claim, a sex museum is not something you’d really expect to find in a China.
After our conversation, I realised that I had been to a number of sex museums. Honestly, it’s not something I make a habit of doing. I guess being the type of person that likes to hunt for quirky places, naturally a few of these smutty places have cropped up and made me curious enough to check them out. You only live once, eh?
Some of these sex museum are in places you would probably expect like Amsterdam, and others in places like China that might come as a surprise. I figured since my friend seemed rather amused by this area of ‘sightseeing’, you might want a virtual tour around some of these places from the comfort of your private home too.
Before you start getting any ideas, I visited all of these places with friends for a bit of a laugh. Some of them did, however, turn out to be much more educational than I anticipated they would be.
Sex Museums, like other museums, have an educational elemental – don’t be so surprised! However, most function for the entertainment value. In other words, they’re fun to visit.
So whether you’re with your friends and want to spend an hour laughing at giant penises or you’re on a holiday with your partner and fancy a cheeky way to spend the afternoon, here are a list of sex museums around the world.
Amsterdam Sex Museum
Visiting a sex museum in Amsterdam is hardly a surprise, nevertheless I’ll kick off with this city. The two notable ones are Amsterdam Sex Museum and the Erotic Museum. The first museum tries somewhat to provide a cultural and historical exploration of sex through the years but there’s still an overriding feeling of tackiness that ought to be embraced in the name of fun. Music fans might like to know it contains erotic sketches by John Lennon too. Let’s just say, it’s a good thing he focussed on making music…
My experience of the Erotic Museum doesn’t really lend itself to its title. That’s to say, I didn’t find much evidence of eroticism. However, my friend and I had a whale of time stepping on the balls of an outrageously large penis. Please note that this is not an endorsement for ball-busting. I’m a woman and even I can feel the pain. I have no idea why anyone would be into that, but hey ho, each to their own! No judgement here.
Prague’s Sex Machines Museum
Is big always better?
The Sex Machines Museum in Prague sounds kind of scary, and it kind of was. It definitely has a lot of stuff relating to BDSM. Some of the things we saw looked more like painful contraptions rather than sex toys. I couldn’t help feeling pretty naive about a lot of stuff and incredibly vanilla! Let’s just say it was an eye-opening experience…
Paris Museum of Eroticism
This place has six floors of pure unadulterated fun. It aims to explore the width and breath of human sexuality around the world. Exhibits range from 1920s film and photography, to Aztec fertility idols and rude little sculptures.
The museum wasn’t very busy, but I was happy to see people of all ages inside. I even spotted a couple of OAPs watching some black and white smut. While I wouldn’t want it to be my parents, they made me feel quite hopeful that there’s no age limit to enjoying yourself in the sex department!
As you might expect from a Parisian museum, this place is a little more arty than the others. While I wouldn’t exactly recommend visiting over the Louvre, some of the drawings inside aren’t bad!
Notice of disclose: Unfortunately while updating the information on this page, I discovered that the Museum of Eroticism in Paris closed its doors in 2016. The owner of the building refused to renew the lease and the content of the museum was auctioned off. I bet that was one very interesting auction. I wonder where the items are now….
The Penis Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland
This is one of my most favourite museums anywhere in the world. It’s the only museum in the world dedicated to penises. Technically its not a sex museum but close enough that it deserves to be on this list.
The most eye-catching penis you will find inside is a whale’s penis which was was taller (or should I say longer?) than me. All 5 foot 1 inches of me. You can read more about my visit to the Penis Museum in Reykjavik here.
China’s Sex Museum
Who would expect the best sex museum in the world to be in China? After all they’re hardly known for their sexual dominance, but Tong Li’s sex museum is another reason to add China to your bucketlist.
There is a prolific amount of erotic sculpture in the museum’s extensive garden area, and as you can see from the photographs, they are not the kind of quintessential garden sculptures fit for a family day out! This museum brilliantly reveals the different attitudes towards sex over the dynasties in all their particularity and humour. It is a must for anyone travelling inside the Jiangsu province.
The thing I like most about this museum is that it feels taboo. How ever did China let this one past its conservative eye?
Departing thoughts
Sex museums are often sold short, described as being a tacky subgroup of porn, and while this might be true to extent, they do aim to highlight cultural and historical attitudes to sex. Most of all, they just a bit of fun.
4 responses
“I had a laugh stepping on the balls of an outrageously large penis”
Excellent post. I was surprised to see the Chinese statuary survived the Cultural Revolution.
There was a British Sex museum in Blackpool a some years ago. It got shut down after a few weeks. The influence of the local council being more powerful than Mao apparently…..
I was surprised too! Either that or Mao was a closet gay who had a penchant for big penises – like most dictators then!
Great post. I never thought to visit places like this. Actually, didn’t even know there would be more than just a few Worldwide.
Love the pics. Now I gotta do some research of others like this. Hilarious!
Haha hope your research didn’t deviate from the subject matter too much 😉 A museum which is isn’t on the list because I haven’t been (yet!) is the Phallological museum in Reykjavik – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Phallological_Museum !