Amor Veneris — A Journey into Female Sexual Pleasure is the first exhibition by MUSEX — Museu Pedagógico do Sexo. Based on a scientific and artistic curatorial approach centred around the theme of pleasure in the female body, it aims to develop the “Amor Veneris” concept and promote an experience that is intended to be educational, playful, provocative, and irreverent.

The objective is to question and mobilise the public, making visitors aware of the importance of female sexual pleasure and reflecting on topics that are inextricably linked to the experience of sexuality. The journey begins with the conceptual image of a female face outside the Palácio Anjos. Visitors are then invited to intimately explore a building that symbolically represents a female body, beginning the journey with a conscious choice: to enter the exhibition with or without consent. This will be the first educational checkpoint for Amor Veneris — A Journey into Female Sexual Pleasure, introducing the importance of consent in intimate relationships and female sexual pleasure.

And why the name Amor Veneris?

“Amor Veneris, vel Dulcedo Appelletur” was the expression used in 1579 by Matteo Realdo Colombo to describe the clitoris. Although he was not the anatomist who “discovered” it, Colombo was the first to refer to its indispensable role in female sexual pleasure, considering it the “sublime organ of female pleasure” and thus challenging the long-held belief that women did not derive sexual pleasure from intercourse.

Of obscure origin, the word clitoris comes from the Greek kleitoris, the word used in the investigations made by Hellenic anatomists. In the 16th century, figures such as Colombo, Falloppia, Swammerdam and De Graaf continued to study this organ. However, although more than two millennia have passed since the discoveries by ancient Greek anatomists and almost five centuries since the discoveries of their Renaissance counterparts, it was only very recently that the importance of this fundamental organ in female sexual pleasure was recognised.
Indeed, it was not until 2005 that Australian urologist Helen O’Connell, in “Anatomy of the Clitoris,” finally shed light on the true anatomy of the clitoris by microdissecting cadavers and using MRI scans of living women. O’Connell compares the clitoris to an iceberg, since, internally, it is ten times larger than most people think, with about 8000 nerve endings—that is, two or three times more than the penis.

This confirms what was already known: the clitoris is the only sexual organ whose sole function is to give sexual pleasure to women.

Credits

Conception and overall coordination
Marta Crawford

Curators
Marta Crawford
Fabrícia Valente

Production
David Rato

Production and registration support
Carolina Salis Gomes

Scenographic architecture
Os Espacialistas

Graphic design
Barbara says…

Editorial consultancy
Diogo Montenegro

Education and programming
Marta Crawford, Fabrícia Valente (coordination)
Associação Gerador (production)

Scientific committee
Patrícia Pascoal, Lisa Vicente, Isabel Freire,
Nuno Monteiro Pereira, Pedro Nobre,
Pedro Vendeira, Susana Valente

Content management
Associação Gerador (production)

Front office
Palácio Anjos, Município de Oeiras

Restoration
Artdispersion

Insurance
Hiscox

Transportation
Starmuseum

Installation
Artworks
Art Handle With Care

Lighting
JC Sampaio

Audiovisual
ADLC

Graphic production
Logotexto
LouresGráfica

Translation
Kennistranslations
Diogo Montenegro

Official sponsors