Vagina Museum fundraising bid for permanent East London home

The world's first bricks and mortar venue celebrating and mythbusting female anatomy opened its doors in Camden's Stables Market in 2019 following a £50,000 crowdfunding campaign.

Forced to close by the pandemic, it became temporarily homeless when the lease wasn't renewed, and moved to Bethnal Green in March 2022.

A view of the proposed new museum under railway arches near Cambridge Heath (Image: The Vagina Museum)

But less than a year later the charity was "suddenly and unexpectedly" asked by the landlord to vacate a premises in Victoria Park Square that was under a property guardianship.

Now it must raise £85,000 by early June to secure a six-year lease on a new permanent home beneath railway arches near Cambridge Heath.

Museum director Florence Schechter, who lives in Kentish Town, said they have so far raised £57,000 - including £12,000 in one day.

The museum has held exhibitions on the history of menstruation and debunking myths around periods (Image: The Vagina Museum)

"The museum has found its perfect home with room for three galleries an events space and cafe," she said.

"This is crunch time, the museum needs help to survive and grow, but I am pretty confident we will hit our fundraising target within the time frame. It's testament to the community we have built over the years that people are so supportive.

"We are a grassroots organisation of regular people who love vaginas and believe that museums make a statement about what our society values as important. Having a museum is a way of saying this is a topic we should talk about. It's important to me that entry is always free because this is information about health, sex and bodies and I would hate it if someone wasn't able to come because they couldn't afford it."A floral display in Camden Market where the museum first opened its doors in 2019 (Image: The Vagina Museum)

Since opening in 2019, they have welcomed 175,000 visitors through the doors and staged exhibitions around menstruation and the history of periods, busting vagina myths, and the A-V of vaginas including a wall of vulva images to demonstrate their diversity.

Schechter's book V: An Empowering Celebration of the Vulva and Vagina was published by Penguin in March. Like the museum, it aims to debunk outdated myths and inspire body confidence - with sections on the power of periods, and how vulvas have been admired in art and culture.

"I have amassed a lot of knowledge about the kind of books the public want to read but weren't able to find," says Schechter, who has a background in science communication.

"It's aimed at 14 and above, it's enjoyable to read, and fills a big gap for acccessible books about this subject."

Featuring brightly coloured illustrations and accessible text Florence's book aims to be an empowering celebration of the vulva and vagina (Image: Courtesy of Penguin)

Schechter wants to transform feelings of shame and taboo into a celebratory confidence about vaginas.

"In an age of social media, myths are being exacerbated, and if a word is taboo how can you talk about your vagina's health or about pleasure?

"At the museum we put on exhibitions in a shame free way, you can see people enter and relax in that atmosphere. Hopefully the book will help people do that too."

Florence Schechter is at Burgh House Hampstead on May 24 to talk about her book V.