Catholic and conservative organizations have staged demonstrations at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, demanding it remove a 200-year-old condom from an exhibition called Safe Sex, calling it “blasphemous” because of its depiction of a nude nun and three nude priests with erections.
The condom is the centerpiece of the small exhibit which shows the close links between prostitution, medicine and morality in the 19th century. Drawings, photos and etchings depict pleasure, visits to brothels, as well as the stigma and fear of sexually transmitted diseases. Curator Joyce Zelen told reporters that “The condom represents both art and history. It enables us to pause and look at the sexual history of the 19th century which we haven’t done much with so far.” The museum bought the condom at auction for €1000, which Zelen said was a bargain price.
Opposing groups disagree sharply. One of them, TFP Student Action, a Catholic student organization says it goes “far beyond moral and spiritual boundaries,” especially because it dates from a time when the Catholic church faced oppression. They claim that “The decision to exhibit a historical ‘contraceptive’ in a parodic and religiously offensive context strikes at the very foundations of our civilisation.”
