Genitalia Art: changing the world one vulva at a time
Who hasn’t doodled a penis in their time? Not many of us.
Genitalia art can be found in all sorts of locations: under bridges, on old school desks etc. Art portraying genitalia is often meant to be humorous, as a jovial and sophomoric analysis of horny curiosity. Often the pioneers of genitalia art are young, wily teenagers who can’t find the clitoris. There is little point to the art other than to cause the maximum amount of chaos, disgust, and perhaps even sexual arousal among their peers, superiors, and inferiors. And while I can’t condone public vandalism (what am I saying, this is the normaL, of course I can), it is a great first attempt by soon-to-be mediocre art school dropouts.
However, one such miscreant took the base urge to make art glorifying genitalia and combined it with their skills—honed by years of art school and sleeping with many, many, many people—and began to create social commentary in the form of penises, vulvas, and breasts. British artist Jaime MacCartney is a full-time artist that has been working for over 25 years, making casts of the genitalia of individuals in order to normalize the different ways that genitalia can look.
Contrary to popular myth, not everyone has the penis or vagina of a porn star. In fact, not everyone has genitalia even resembling standard “female” or “male” genitalia. Firstly, genitalia, like the rest of people’s bodies, are as varied in the way they look as the many ways that people have tried to find the clit. Some vulvas sag, some penises are circumcised, some breasts are different sizes, some testicles are detachable and used by the sports teams at SUNY Geneseo, etc. Many individuals don’t know this, though, and are under the impression that their girlfriend will always have poking nips and their boyfriend’s penis will look…what is it supposed to look like? I don’t know.
MacCartney has hundreds of casts of genitalia, in all of their many, many shapes and sizes. In fact, MacCartney has so many plaster casts that they culminate into several art pieces. One of MacCartney’s most well-known pieces would be the Great Wall of Vulva. Over four hundred people with vulvas took casts of their genitalia and allowed them to be put on display for millions of peeping toms. However, it’s not just for your entertainment, but also for your education, especially to destigmatize female genitalia and increase body positivity in the community.
I highly recommend that all budding genitalia artists, and other curious readers, check out MacCartney’s website where you can see not only the wall of vulvas, but other works, including one of my personal favorites: the penis flags.