Highlights
- Iza Lozano, a Mexican artist who is in New Zealand on a holiday and work visa, was keen to set up a dildo-making workshop in Wellington.
- She has previously hosted similar workshops in her home country without causing a scandal, as was seen in New Zealand.
- Ancient civilisations used clay to make tableware and sex toys, because of ceramics’ hypoallergenic and easily sterilisable qualities.
- Ceramic dildos are an ecological alternative to plastic sex toys.
“Thermal, hypoallergenic, easy to sterilise, and made from a resistant material.”
Those were the words Mexican artist Iza Lozano used to promote her ceramic dildo workshop to create "fun, beautiful and safe” sex toys in Wellington, New Zealand, in November.
But instead of drawing the attention of interested parties, the staging of the workshop was sternly opposed by senior members of the Wellington Potters Association, and ads promoting the workshop were abruptly taken down, and the event cancelled.
A highly publicised spat within the association ensued, resulting in the resignation of its former president, Nicole Gaston, who was at odds with the committee members opposing the workshop.
For the Mexican artist, the incident came as a surprise.
"It was a massive scandal, but I received messages to my Instagram account and my mobile phone from supportive people in Auckland, who were against the censorship we were experiencing," Ms Lozano told SBS Spanish.
Ms Lozano says she's run similar workshops in Mexico, with the approval of contemporary art institutions, including the Patronato de Arte Contemporaneo.
She says the workshops aim to start a conversation about the creation of ceramic dildos as an alternative to those made from plastics, as well as create awareness regarding the sexuality of LGTBIQ+ communities.
“It started as a response to plastic waste reduction. There are wooden, glass, fruit dildos. It is just about using other materials,” she says.
The artist also explains that clay has been used in ancient times to produce tableware and other objects used for food consumption, given its antibacterial qualities. Therefore, ceramic materials are also "suitable for the mucosa," she adds.
Iza Lozano's ceramic workshop to make dildos was censored in New Zealand. Source: Iza Lozano
Art censorship
Ms Lozano’s workshop was censored because some senior members of the Wellington Potters Association considered it "inappropriate" and "provocative" and feared the reaction of the general public, as reported by in December.
For the Mexican artist, this reflects that sex toys in New Zealand still continue to be ‘taboo’ for some in very conservative circles.
"I think many people are not used to hearing the word dildo" and it is something "that has to be standardised," she says.
Ms Lozano says she will continue to offer this type of workshop, as she believes outdated conservative views liking sex and masturbation with "illness, violence and immorality” are likely to change over time.
She believes that from a technical point of view, it is necessary for potters to experiment with different techniques and make different objects, as well as learn how to handle the wheel, and test various enamels and modelling techniques.
"It is simply a game of creativity," says Ms Lozano.
"Ceramics offer a universe of possibilities that need exploring”.
Sex toys during ancient times
Sex toys and the use of erotic techniques were prevalent in many ancient civilizations, including many pre-Hispanic cultures, where sex was practised not only for the purpose of reproduction and pleasure, but it was also linked to the divine, the order of the universe and nature.
Sex scenes are commonly found in artefacts produced by the pre-Inca Moche culture, from northern Peru, that left countless vessels with erotic imagery.
According to historical chronicles written during the conquest of the Americas, Spanish colonisers labelled First Peoples as ‘libidinous’ and ‘amoral’.
During colonisation, they imposed Catholic sex taboos and ideas of morality as the ‘word of God’, while simultaneously pillaging and sexually abusing the locals.
Ironically, ancient European cultures were also sexually adventurous and manufactured sexual objects for the purpose of pleasure.
“There is archaeological evidence from the Neolithic period … of pornographic objects”, Ms Lozano explains.
“The Venus is one example, among others.”
For the Mexican artist, sexual taboos have been overcome, for the most part, in the arts.
She says that when eroticism leads to public scandal, it speaks volumes of that society’s “conception of sexuality”.
