On Friday, the Museum of Sex was held by HeForShe in the Hewitt Hall Ballroom and highlighted gender, sexuality, individuality and liberation.

HeForShe is an organization that was created by the United Nation in 2014 as a way to create and promote gender equality. HeForShe strives to incorporate men into the movement for gender equality because they know this is an issue that affects everyone. They work to engage both women and men to effectively solve these issues.  

“It’s a both team effort,” Luis Garcia, co-president of HeForShe, said. “Some men are genuinely out here trying to help.”

The Museum of Sex, which is part of many other programs held by HeForShe, not only displayed vast amount of artwork but also held a presentation by keynote speaker Andrea Gonzales, a fashion show, expressive dance performances and special singing performances.

Every performance and piece of art that was portrayed was symbolic to the fight for equality in every space. 

In the gallery portion, some pieces were portraits of the female body and about feeling free as a woman. They pushed for the acceptance of being a woman regardless of an individual’s walk of life. Some portraits brought recognition to the fact that not every woman has had the same experiences even under the label “woman.” Issues with racial inequality, transgender inequality and so many more were displayed. 

One of the most notable pieces within the art gallery was a picture made to embrace sexuality, disarm societal norms and destigmatizing the taboo surrounding sex. It was attached to a board and not printed due to it having been refused by Walmart because it was seen as a violation of their policy.  

In the gallery, there was also a piece that brought attention to how the conditions that were tied to the women’s suffrage movement and how it excluded women of color until the 1960s. The piece portrayed truly that as women there is division with how they are viewed and how there are blatant issues with this way of thinking.

This exhibit empowered and brought awareness to issues that are seemingly disregarded.

“[We] always wanted to do a project that kind of forecasted sexual liberation, so the art of being free, being sexually liberated, avoiding those terms such as slut, hoe or tramp if a women is sleeping around. Those derogatory names are usually there to describe her and it shouldn’t be to that standard, she should be able to be free and sleep with whoever she likes,” Janeah Thomas, treasurer of HeForShe, said.

This museum brought and anchored the idea of “identity” and the duality in the fact that everyone who has ever experienced or ever felt any shame toward their identity should take pride in who they are and that there should not have been any differentiation in topics that deal with gender inequality, sexuality, individuality and liberation in the first place because it is normal and people should be free to live their lives as they please with the rights they deserve.  

Gonzalez, who is from Staten Island, shed light on deep issues like how race plays a big factor in the lives of everyone, and how although we are all people with different sexualities, race and gender, we all share different experiences with one another. She spoke about issues like Black Lives Matter and women’s rights.

“I grew up with a single mom, and [she] is a mom and a dad for me,” Taylor Larsen, a sophomore at Oswego State, said. “I guess being a woman for me is everything.”