Pixies Place Forums - London to Get Sexual 'Theme Park'

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LONDON - Move over, Eros. Developers announced plans
Friday to open a multimillion dollar sexual "theme
park" near London's Piccadilly Circus, home to the
much-photographed statue of the Greek god of love.

Backers say the London Academy of Sex and
Relationships, due to open next spring, will not be a
sleazy sex museum, but an educational multimedia
attraction that will teach visitors to become better
lovers and provide valuable information about disease
and sexual problems.

Located within the Trocadero entertainment center —
just around the corner from Soho, London's red-light
district — the $8.3 million project will feature
unspecified "high tech and interactive exhibits."

Alex Rayner, a spokesman for the project, said it was
"committed to avoiding the sleazy image that the sex
industry usually conjures."

"Titillation is not the goal," he said. "It's meant to
be educational. It's meant to be informative."

The privately funded project has support from sexual
health organizations including the Sexual Dysfunction
Association and AIDS charity The Terrence Higgins
Trust.

"It is long overdue that the U.K. faces up to its
responsibilities in the sexual arena — we cannot
simply avoid mankind's leading preoccupation and the
issues that go with it," said the academy's director
of exhibits, Dr. Sarah Brewer. "The academy is the
perfect vehicle by which to address these important
matters in an exciting, amusing and yet educational
way."

Several cities around the world — including New York,
Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris — are home to erotic
museums. Typically, they exhibit everything from
pornography to high-minded paintings exploring local
sexual attitudes and culture.