This exhibition contains sexually explicit material.

Throughout history, cultures around the world have talked about sex, regulated sexual activity and produced cultural artefacts relating to sex, often revealing refreshingly or startlingly different attitudes towards sex.

Between 1900 and his death in 1936, the billionaire pharmaceutical giant Sir Henry Wellcome amassed over a million objects from across the globe for his museum of medical history. A substantial proportion of these related to human sexuality.

Wellcome believed passionately in the potential of historical artefacts to unlock the secrets of human sexuality by revealing the varieties and complexities of the way that sex has been understood and represented in different cultures across global history.

The variety of attitudes and cultural practices embodied in this display of objects prompts us to question our own attitudes towards censorship and display, the boundaries between childhood and adulthood, control of sexuality, fertility and contraception, pleasure and power relations. It asks our audiences to open up their minds and to reflect on the value and significance of sex to us today.

This is the first ever dedicated display of Wellcome s sexually related material.

From time to time the galleries will be closed for special events; please check before travelling:  www.exeter.gov.uk/RAMMEvents

• Talk and performance: An intimate afternoon at RAMM, Friday 9 May, 2 to 4.15pm, free but ticketed at RAMM

• Study day - Sex Saturday: Something for the Weekend, Sat 7 Jun, 10.15am to 4pm, £10 (£4) at RAMM