UWE Bristol has helped to fund a Vagina Museum exhibition about the menopause led by Dr Marie Mulvey-Roberts, Professor in English Literature (College of Arts, Technology and Environment). However, the Vagina Museum is lacking crucial funding to launch the exhibition and has launched a public fundraising campaign to help.
The world’s first bricks-and-mortar museum dedicated to vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy said that it had approached more than 15 arts and heritage funders, and none chose to support the project.
Last year, the Vagina Museum successfully raised more than £90,000 in an emergency crowdfunding campaign to secure their new premises in Bethnal Green which opened in late 2023 with an exhibition about endometriosis. This exhibition was visited by more than 13,000 people. 83% of visitors said they felt the exhibition succeeded in breaking stigma and misconceptions about this common disease.
The exhibition “Menopause: What’s Changed?”, which Marie Mulvey-Roberts proposed on behalf of SAMS (Scholarly Association for Menopausal Studies) and for which she is a consultant curator, is scheduled to open on 18th October 2024, which is World Menopause Day. She was successful in obtaining funding from through our Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Account.
The exhibition will explore menopause in the past; how menopause became medicalised; and personal experiences of menopause including LGBT+ experiences and early menopause. The exhibition aims to shatter stigma, confront myths, and normalise this common life event.
Zoe Williams, Interim Director of the Vagina Museum said:
“We’ve tried almost every avenue for funding this exhibition. Menopause is a conversation that must be had. I cannot believe that none of the funders we approached were interested in supporting an exhibition about a common life event which happens to half of us.
It’s shocking that nobody wants to fund menopause. Even as media attention on menopause and public demand for information grows, it just doesn’t seem to be a priority for funders.
We’d have preferred not to find ourselves in a position of asking the public for money to support this project, but this is the only option left available if we are to make Menopause: What’s Changed? happen.”
About the fundraising campaign
The public fundraising campaign has a page on GoFundMe. The Vagina Museum has previously used the platform in other fundraising campaigns to great success. The fundraising page can be found: https://www.gofundme.com/f/r9tszw
About menopause
Menopause is when the menstrual cycle ends. Menopause is associated with a change in hormone levels. It most commonly happens due to age. On average, menopause happens at age 51. However, it can occur earlier or later, and be brought on by causes such as surgery or cancer treatment.