The city of Amsterdam is known not only for its great museums but also for its thriving erotic culture, with brothels and peep shows galore. But as a small protest last week demonstrated, there are still a few groups that will get their dander up when they feel their religion is being slighted, especially when it involves a sexual joke. The current dustup actually comes as a result of a collision of the worlds of culture and sex—namely, a prophylactic on view at the Rijksmuseum.
A 19th-century condom, printed with a sexual scene involving a nun and three members of the clergy, is on display in the exhibition “Safe Sex?” at the national museum. In the bawdy scene, the nun has raised her skirt to reveal her crotch as three clergymen expose themselves to her, over the caption Voilà, mon choix (there, that’s my choice). The scene echoes, with genders reversed, the classical scene of the Judgment of Paris, in which the Trojan prince is forced to decide who was most beautiful among the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena.
The Catholic foundation Civitas Christiana staged a protest outside the museum. Courtesy Civets Christiana.
The Catholic foundation Civitas Christiana staged a protest outside the museum for two days last week, and has posted a petition, which currently has over 1,000 signatures, calling for the condom to be removed, claiming it is “a grotesque insult to God, the Catholic Church and the entire Dutch nation.” For them, the condom is not a joke, it’s evidence of a moment of persecution of the Catholic Church after the French Revolution.
Right-wing publications have thrown their support behind the protests, for example De Dagelijkse Standaard, which asks why it is “courageous” to mock Christianity, but “completely unthinkable” to display a rendition of Mohammed. “Because a cartoon of Mohammed—even from the 18th or 19th century—would be unthinkable in the Rijksmuseum. Not because they don’t exist. But because people are afraid. Afraid of riots. Afraid of fire. Afraid of protests that are not peaceful.”
The condom is the centerpiece of a new exhibition “Safe Sex?” Photo: courtesy the Rijksmuseum.
The curators think that the condom, likely made from a sheep’s appendix, was most probably a souvenir from an upmarket French brothel. It’s exceedingly rare; only two such objects are known to survive, said the museum, which noted that 19th-century sexuality and prostitution have been underrepresented in its collection.
A representative of the museum downplayed the situation, pointing out to the Art Newspaper that the protesters numbered only 11 people, and also indicated that Civitas Christiana was recently ordered in court to stop spreading misinformation against the Rutgers Centres of Excellence on Comprehensive Sexuality Education, linking the organization to child abuse.
“Mocking religion is as old as religion itself,” exhibition co-curator Joyce Zelen told the Art Newspaper. “I don’t think this is a response to the French Revolution and the Catholic church. It’s meant to be funny.”
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
