The Sex Lives of Animals
On view July 24, 2008 through Spring 2009
A male bonobo shrewdly soliciting sex in exchange for sugar cane. Two female bonobos blissfully engaging in genito-genital (G-G) rubbing. The strenuous coupling of endangered Panda bears. This summer, visitors to the Museum of Sex will encounter these creatures and others so vivid in their portrayal that they will likely feel as though they have unwittingly begun a voyeuristic journey into the wild.
Sex is more than the drive to reproduce. Our expanding knowledge of the natural world has revealed that animals participate in an astonishing array of sexual behaviors, 
where all conceivable sex acts and sexual partnerships exist. Animals
engage in foreplay behaviors such as kissing, hugging, mutual and self-stimulation, oral sex and every kind of penetrative intercourse imaginable. Sex in the animal kingdom is just as complex and nuanced as it is for humans, and pleasure, it seems, is not restricted to the human realm.
The Sex Lives of Animals is a celebration of the diversity of animal sexual behavior. This emergent research has resulted in new interpretations, delving into the possible evolutionary benefits of non-reproductive sex, for both individuals and social groups.
Set to debut in this exhibition are life-sized animal sculptures custom-made by Rune Olsen. Composed of the “social materials” of newspaper and tape, these pieces explore the physical world with the immediacy and expressiveness of hand drawing. Through the incorporation of human-like glass eyes, the distance between human and animal vanishes, seducing the viewer into a direct interaction with the gaze of the animal.
In this “new natural history” the Museum of Sex is presenting an uncensored story of the natural world, moving animal sexuality beyond the confines of reproduction and mating, towards discussions of orientation and cognition. By exploring the most intimate part of life, where it is often said we are most animal like, we can appreciate the significance of research on animal sexuality and, perhaps, extrapolate these concepts to larger issues regarding sexuality in general.
Exhibition Credits
- Stanford University evolutionary biologist Joan Roughgarden is serving as primary content advisor for The Sex Lives of Animals.
- Jonathan Balcombe, Ph.D. Author of Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good
- Niles Eldredge, Curator in the Division of Paleontology, The American Museum of Natural History
- Mark Elgar, Professor of Zoology, University of Melbourne
- Ron Magill, Goodwill Ambassador and Director of Communications, Miami Metro Zoo
- Kees Moeliker, Curator, Natural History Museum Rotterdam
- Amy Parish, Ph.D., University of Southern California
- Nancy Solomon, Associate Professor of Zoology, Miami University in Ohio
- Volker Sommer, Professor of Anthropology, University College London
- Christian Sonne, DVM, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist and Wildlife Veterinarian and Toxicologist, NERI, University of Aarhus, Denmark
- Laurie J. Vitt, George Lynn Cross Research Professor and Curator of Reptiles, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History And Zoology Department at the University of Oklahoma
- Linda Wolfe, Field Primatologist
- Marlene Zuk, Professor of Biology, University of California, Riverside and author of Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can’t Learn About Sex from Animals
CURATORIAL
- Sarah Jacobs, Curator, Museum of Sex
- Elizabeth Mariko Murray, Assistant Curator, Museum of Sex
DESIGN
- Pentagram Design Inc.
- Rune Olsen, Sculptor
- Tim Sugden, Assistant to the Sculptor
- Madison Watt, Assistant to the Sculptor
- Isabel Hermann, Assistant to the Scultpor
Tickets
Adults (18+): $14.50 + tax
Students and Seniors (with valid ID): $13.50 + tax
Group Visits are also available
Purchase advance tickets online.
Ticket sales by phone: (866) MOSEXTIX / (866) 667-3984
Advance or day-of-visit tickets may also be purchased or reserved without a service charge in the Museum Lobby. There is a $1.50-per-ticket service charge for tickets purchased online or by phone.