Check Out Fawn O’Breitzman’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Fawn O’Breitzman.

Fawn , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I would love to! I’ve spent most of my life teaching college psychology, specializing in sex and gender studies. That gave me over 20 years listening to people’s real questions and concerns about their bodies and how they function. For a while, I even answered sex questions on a local PBS show called Colorado Outspoken, channeling my hero, Dr. Ruth Westheimer. The truth is, most people today have nowhere to turn for science-based information about sex—especially if you’re gay, trans, kinky, or poly. We’re often shielded from this information when we’re young, and then given nothing when we become adults, expecting to just figure it out and hope for the best. 

One of the only ways to get any significant education on sexuality is to take a college course. About 60% of Americans attend some college, but very few take a class on sex—and in those classes, women often outnumber men up to six to one. My wife and I love to travel, and I’ve been to most of the world’s sex museums. They’re always fun and interesting, but I usually leave wishing they offered more sexual education. You can look at Roman coins showing people in erotic positions, but no one explains why those coins existed. There’s a wealth of history and biology that we simply aren’t exposed to, so we assume it never existed or doesn’t exist now.

Our goal is to normalize sex and basic human anatomy, and to fill in the historical gaps—around things like pornography or prostitution—that get ignored or erased. I wanted to broaden my reach from teaching 30 to 60 students a year to educating whole communities. Opening an educational sex museum had been a dream of mine, but I always thought I would do it after retiring from teaching. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma. After 6 months of chemo, I am cancer free and doing well! When you are faced with serious illness, you are forced to evaluate your life. You never know how many years you have left or what the future would bring. My wife and I made the decision then to cash in my retirement and create the Sexploratorium! 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s been a very bumpy road! I’ve spent most of my life in academia and knew almost nothing about business. At one point, I was flipping through a friend’s Intro to Business textbook just to understand basic terms I’d never heard before. (What’s a Q1 report?) Creating the museum was the easy part compared to figuring out how to order wholesale, build inventory systems, or navigate the maze of licenses we needed to operate.

One of the weirdest—and most frustrating—speed bumps has been dealing with corporate censorship. We’ve been denied services by credit card processors, social media platforms, print media outlets, and even banks, simply because we’re considered a “sex-related business.” We can’t advertise on Facebook, Google, Yelp, or any of the other standard platforms—just because the word sex is in our name. I had no idea that perfectly legal businesses face so many roadblocks just because corporations have decided that sex is too “inappropriate” to be associated with. It’s shocking! But this is representative of our culture. Much like Freud noted, we all think about it, but we’re not allowed to talk about it. We hope to

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I love museums almost as much as I love talking about the science of sex! As an educator, it was incredibly exciting to create this kind of sex museum. I’m a very tactile person, so I wanted to make sure everything could be touched and interacted with. One of the most popular features in the museum is the Wall of Genitals—a line of silicone models made from real people’s vulvas and penises. You can touch them, examine them up close, and actually see the wondrous variety of human bodies, something we rarely get to do in real life. The wall includes models from people who’ve experienced forced female genital mutilation and those who’ve had corrective surgery. There are trans people, intersex people, as well as cis men and women—it’s a display of the beautiful spectrum of human variation. I’ve overheard visitors find themselves reflected there for the first time. For many, it offers a powerful sense of normalcy about their own genitals—especially when the only other representations they’ve seen are in erotic films.

I wanted to create a space where people could both play and learn. From the kink table, where you can explore consent and then smack your friend with a riding crop, to the listening station where you can hear a mother singing from inside the womb—every part of the museum is designed to invite curiosity, joy, and a deeper understanding of ourselves and each other.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
There are so many people who made it possible for the museum to come into existence and continue to thrive! We had early partners who were instrumental in getting the project off the ground, but today, we’re a powerhouse team of three. My wife, Casey O’Breitzman, is a true artist who creates everything from t-shirts and keyrings to plush toys and more. She brings creativity and magic to everything she touches.

Our third partner, Jenni Foxworth, is an amazing accountant who also runs her own business. She has been absolutely essential to managing the business and tax side of things—she takes my chaotic bucket of receipts and somehow makes sense of it all. Beyond our core team, we’ve had incredible volunteers like Luna, Victorria, and Will, who’ve formed the backbone of daily operations and kept things running smoothly.

But the heart of our work lies in our presenters and instructors. Our biggest contributors, day in and day out, are the local educators, artists, kink teachers, and mental health professionals who share their knowledge through our classes and events. They’re the ones who help us offer such a wide range of programming, and we’re proud to support and amplify their expertise for the community.

Pricing:

• $15 for entry into the museum
• $25-60 for a class

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sexploratoriumdenver.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sexploratoriumdenver
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sexploratoriumdenver/

Image Credits
I took all pictures