Let's talk about sex, baby. Or maybe, if we're in Ottawa, we'll just whisper instead...That's what residents seem to be saying about the sex exhibit opening up at the Canada Science and Technology Museum.
The exhibition, which showed with little to no controversy or complaint in both Montreal and Regina, has the public in the nation's capital all hot and bothered. And it doesn't even officially open until Friday.
Sex: A Tell-All Exhibition is intended to educate teenagers in the ways of sex. Following a slew of complaints, the museum has been lobbied into raising the admission age to 16. All those under that age must be accompanied by an adult.
Ironically, the age restriction means much of the exhibit's target audience—those just starting to experience physical and emotional changes of puberty—won't get to see it.
It remains to be seen how the show is received at other science centres throughout the country.
“Sexuality is important to teenagers,” said Louise Julie Bertrand, head of exhibitions at the Montreal Science Centre. “Our main audience is youth at the science centre, so we felt we had to deal with a subject that really touches them. Most of them are going through puberty so it’s a big topic for them...We felt we had to give them the right information.”
The graphic exhibit features full-frontal images, life-sized replicas of men and women bodies through the ages. The physical aspect of sex is explained, but also the gamut of emotions, from love to anxiety.
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