Fetish costuming, period wardrobe pieces made of lace, the ubiquitous garter and stocking matched with a bowler hat, and subtle latex haute couture design of a specific naughty blush, all this and more were found, and have been exploited since from the richly progressive years known as the Weimar Republic. Taking place in Germany after World War I to just before the next war, as most of us have seen in the Broadway play and movie versions of Cabaret (a story set in the fictitious “Kit Kat Klub” nightclub in Berlin) plenty of sexy tropes and provocative images and a certain sexual freedom was felt at the time pre-Hitler. The Erotic Heritage Museum is celebrating the Weimar Era’s freedoms, costuming, and people, in their new Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin Exhibit.
Based on Mel Gordon’s book of the same name, Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, published by Feral House, (see here) this new exhibit at the world-famous museum, focuses on the many “strange and the bizarre” artifacts Gordon collected in his lifetime. The stunning display housed in the massive EHM includes scholarly notes, books, magazines, posters, and photos features newly discovered works by the father of Sexology, Magnus Hirschfeld.
It’s ironic as it is tragic that such a crippling regime would all too soon descend upon such a richly cultural city as Berlin. But Hitler did his best to as much romp his way across Europe as he did to destroy artwork and censor sexual freedoms that he saw as perverse (which were pretty much all freedoms). Luckily, collections like Mel Gordon’s exist and there are places like The Erotic Heritage Museum that consistently exhibits and studies such culturally important and, yes, sex-positive materials.
For more information on Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin Exhibit or the EHM in general, visit https://www.eroticmuseumvegas.com or call 702.794.4000.
