A different sort of museum

For an interesting change in scenery, I went to Prague's Museum of Sex Machines last weekend. It's tucked in a nook not a stone's throw from the astronomical clock at Staroměstské náměstí. This nook is not at all inconspicuous; both the interior and the banners flying outside are the brightest, most painful shade of red you'll ever see. Much like the background color of the picture to the right.

Which, by the way, might resemble an antique egg-beater, but is not. Well.. no, I'll just avoid the obvious joke here (my parents read this blog). It is a hand-powered vibrator, complete with interchangable heads (not pictured). Also featured were various pieces of hand-held mechanical marvels, furniture - including a sex swing allegedy dated ca. 1500 - and insertables of every shape, size, and material. Some of these were almost patently Bad Ideas (not-so-smoothly hewn wood? c'mon that's not cool), others were quite artistic (Czech crystal). Speaking of patents, there were facsimiles of patented sex aids/toys/whatevers scattered on the walls of the most bizzare contraptions ever.

Not everything was as titilating as one might expect; some of the items were rather blasé.. a collection of neo-Victorian corsets? Well.. sure, but that's not entirely interesting. Not as interesting as actual Victorian pieces, at least from a historical perspective, but ok.. they had a lot of wall space to fill.

The most unique item was a reel of an old silent - but with innocuous piano accompaniment - pornographic film from Spain, depicting (according to the experts in this field.. whomever they are!) the first filmed ménage à trois.

Note: Image above pulled from the museum's website. Clicking on it will bring you to said website. If you're at work, probably not a good idea to click on the link. Just sayin'.