Sex in Design/Design in Sex: A Visit to the Manhattan Museum of Sex

Pool-blue neon lights glimmer on Sean Conlon's shaggy blonde hair as he watches a screen flickering with naked human bodies. This particular screen is mid-way through a progression of video monitors that show the evolution of sex portrayal in the film industry, and Conlon is one of many on-lookers steadily watching the examples. "I love to see the more experimental viewing in terms of looking at conventions instead of entertainment value," he says. At the Museum of Sex in Manhattan, this is an important distinction.

The Museum of Sex set itself apart from the common rank of museums when it opened in October 2002, the first museum devoted to "preserve and present the history, evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality," states a brochure. Alassale Ganpine, the soft-spoken museum attendant who holds the velvet rope that cordons off the entrance, appreciates the museum for this educational purpose, especially as it relates to a better knowledge of the female psyche. "It makes me remember how my mom suffered for me," he says. Ganpine enjoys his job at the museum for the same reason.

Icons of pop-culture pepper the first wall of "Sex in Design/Design in Sex," the first exhibit and the entrance hall of the rest of the museum. Jane bares her breasts to Tarzan on one canvas, on another, the raring head of Che Guavara is transformed into a nude woman's - yet a third depicts Marilyn Monroe jouncing her queenly hips. Images that now seem quasi-historical are revealed as blatant sexual innuendo.

Across from this gallery of kitsch, four synthetic portraits draw the eye to the art of the present. The pictures are glamorous head-shots of model-like women by Franco and Eva Mattes, portraits of synthetic avatars created in the virtual world Second Life. A mirror shaped like a woman's body reflects how we perceive ourselves as sexual beings on another wall, and in a corner, a shoe manufactured to stimulate chemical reactions through the curve of the vamp and the color of its heel stands dramatically on a pedestal. The display explains that the "Aphrodite Platform" portrays the sexuality inherent in modern design.

A hallway leads up a white stairway with rounded walls into a room with people moving about like fish in the white aquarium-like room that is lit sporadically by smoky-blue lights. Each exhibit features a presentation of sex in pop-culture, and "Action: Sex and the Moving Image" is an exhibition of film.

Conlon, his face and gray tee framed by a black hoodie, is intently gazing at one of the documentaries when I ask for his picture. Conlon is pursuing a self-created degree in poetry and media studies with a focus on pornography and romantic film at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass; his undergraduate thesis centers on the presentation of sexuality in the media. Sitting against a white wall to talk, he eagerly launches into his favorite subject.

Conlon expresses a passionate belief that people should be educated in the subliminal role of sex in media, which handles sexuality as a bartering tool and sells sex appeal like yet another common-place commodity. Although his studies have led him to question the presuppositions behind watching a commercial and to question his own question, Conlon has a remarkably balanced opinion of the issue. "It's not like they are reinventing the wheel every time [that sex is used in marketing] - the advertisers have grown up with it."

After his graduation, Conlon is interested in pursuing an M.F.A. in Performance Poetry and possibly continuing media studies. Will he continue his study of the presentation of sexuality with a P.H.D.? "Probably not," Conlon says, "Because the more I see, the more cynical I get." His wire-rimmed spectacles flash back to the documentary to check the progression, and I move on.

The gift shop carries an array of souvenirs that could be found in a night-time novelty store, but according to Kyle Wilson, who works at the desk of the gift shop, the museum is "not a sleazy sex shop from the 80s in Times Square or the Museum of Sex in Amsterdam, it's more about education." Wilson, a recent graduate of New School University, describes his job and shrugs: he plays the saxophone and is only interested in paycheck to support him until he can earn a comfortable living with his music. "I am jaded," he says, "I guess I can't help it working here."

Wilson continues that the museum caters to an elegant clientele, mostly couples and students, and "creepy old men in black trench coats" are rare. The educational appeal of the museum confirms that it is, as the brochure asserts, a "cultural touchstone."