The sophisticated world of ceramics in New Zealand was shaken by controversy, after a proposal was made to organize a vibrator manufacturing workshop.
The now former president of the Wellington Potters Association, Nicole Gaston, proposed to organize the workshop with Mexican artist Iza Lozano.
According to Nicole, clay sex toys have several advantages over latex toys, because they can be easily heated and sterilized and do not contain any chemical substances for the body.
“Some of the oldest pottery works are phallus,” said the potter, for whom “people have been doing this for thousands of years”.
The proposal was met with hostility, and this 41-year-old employee was forced to resign the voluntary presidency of the potters’ association.
“Some members of the commission said it was unnecessarily provocative, others that it was not appropriate “, said.
“There was a very reactionary and scandalized response, saying: ‘How can we talk about sex? We should be ashamed’,” said the ceramist.
According to Nicole, many men consider castrating the idea that women can make vibrators.
He put aside the idea of the workshop for the manufacture of ceramic vibrators when he started receiving personal attacks on the Internet, namely on social networks.
“I saw on Reddit that someone said I was crazy, and I thought, ‘I can be a little blunt, but I don’t think I’m crazy,'” he insisted.
In 2018, the ceramist received a prize for the work entitled “Vagina Teapot” (“Vagina teapot” in free translation).
Nicole Gaston confesses to being surprised by the controversy and explained that, in fact, the idea was to present a project of positive empowerment about sex.
Some members of the association supported it, such as Vivian Rodríguez, who acknowledged that the workshop would put some people’s moralistic ideas to the test.
“It will be an excellent path for those who wish to explore different types of creative expression, gender identity and sexual empowerment through art,” he said in a letter to the association’s management committee, which did not respond to requests to comment on this case.
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