WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT The controversial Body Worlds: The Anatomy of Happiness exhibition has opened, but the display of donated, plastinated bodies has triggered a backlash
A controversial exhibition showing real dead bodies – including some posed in sexual positions – has sparked a fierce ethics row.
The polarising event has prompted an anatomy lecturer to question whether donors truly understood how their remains could be displayed after death.
Body Worlds: The Anatomy of Happiness has opened in Sydney, Australia, featuring real human bodies preserved through a process known as plastination.
The Body Worlds exhibitions have attracted millions of visitors around the world over the past two decades, and the Body Worlds brand, created by German anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens, has drawn more than 58 million visitors globally. This specific version, The Anatomy of Happiness, launched its Sydney season at The Rocks last Thursday (September 17).
The backlash flared after visitors and medical experts noticed the exhibition includes plastinated bodies posed in sex positions. While Body Worlds is widely known for presenting the human form to educate the public on biology and health, critics argue these particular displays cross the line from education into entertainment and exploitation.
Dr Joyce El-Haddad, a senior lecturer in anatomy and histology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), has publicly questioned whether the deceased individuals understood and consented to the specific ways their bodies could be staged, the Daily Mail reported. She said: “The organisers claim that the bodies have been donated.
“The bodies are displayed in many different ways – some riding a horse, some in penetrative sexual positions, some with a basketball…and the list goes on. However, informed consent is not a tick box exercise and we need to think about: who donated these bodies?
“What did they understand they were consenting to? How specific was the consent process?
“Respect, dignity, transparency, and context do not disappear simply because somebody signed a form.” She also challenged the idea that viewing preserved remains automatically equals learning, arguing exhibitions need more context about the people behind the bodies and the realities of illness and life experience.
She said, as reported by the Daily Mail: “Think about your everyday encounters with people. How much do you assume about someone before you’ve had a conversation with them?
“Before you’ve listened to their experiences, challenges, choices, and circumstances? The exhibition claims that it is educational….okay, but: Education requires more than information.
“We often assume that simply looking at something means we are learning from it. A diseased lung can show us what happened.
“It cannot tell us about addiction, socioeconomic disadvantage, environmental exposures, access to healthcare, culture, or the lived experience of disease. Without that context, visitors are left to construct their own narratives and make their own assumptions.
“And if the exhibition is also open to children, what assumptions are they taking away?” Dr El-Haddad placed the show within a longer and darker history of displaying human remains, pointing to how past exhibitions have been tied to exploitation and prejudice, and questioning what makes modern displays different.
Human bodies and remains have previously been exhibited in cabinets of curiosity, travelling fairs, medical museums, carnival sideshows and so-called “human zoos”, as per the Daily Mail. She noted such displays have at times been linked to racism, colonialism, sexism and exploitation.
“So my question is – what shields modern day human body exhibitions from the same condemnation?” she questioned. Organisers of Body Worlds have maintained the exhibits are sourced legally through a voluntary donor programme run by the Institute for Plastination.
They say donors sign away their remains knowing they will be used for public exhibitions, and argue that displaying reproductive anatomy and sexuality is a valid and natural part of exploring human life and biology.
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