Forget your preconceived ideas of a museum as being stuffy, dusty, and boring. Welcome to The Museum of Sex, widely known as MoSex Museum NYC. This lavish, provocative celebration of sex is one of its kind, prompting much-needed discussion of the evolution of human sexuality and the many joyous ways in which it illuminates our otherwise humdrum lives and connects us to others.
Opening back in October 2002, the idea for MoSex Museum NYC was conceived by founder Daniel Gluck who identified a need not only to document the history of sexuality but to initiate ongoing sex-positive dialogue.
Like all things worth doing, MoSex Museum NYC was controversial from the outset; indeed, its application to become a not-for-profit was rejected by the powers that be, who stated that Gluck's plans made a "mockey" of museums.
However, Gluck was undeterred in his mission; and even more controversially, he set about acquiring funding from the porn industry for his brainchild.
MoSex Museum NYC was born, quickly ushering a brash, vibrant, sexy new visitor experience, and even more rapidly earning a denouncement by The Catholic League of Religious and Civil Rights. But there's no such thing as bad publicity - and kinksters were soon battering down the doors.
But the good news is that since 2002, MoSex Museum NYC has received little or no opposition from religious groups. This, of course, is hugely positive. Either they've realised that it's pointless trying to fight the natural expression of human sexuality and that the odds are heaped against them, or, better still, this points to a shift in public attitudes to sex and erotica.
MoSex Museum NYC has continued to push the boundaries. Though educational, the museum has steadfastly demonstrated that unafraid afraid to be explicit.
Its first exhibit explored how New York City was transformed by sex. Other intoxicating displays followed on the objectification of the American male body, pin-up photography, US Patent Office Sex Inventions, and Superfunland, a massive four-floor show looking at the decadent and underground history of carnival.
Admission to MoSex Museum NYC is set at $17.50. Unsurprisingly, visitors must be aged 18 or older.