Transparent Women

Anyone who thinks men are transparent should visit the nation's health education museums. That's where you can find transparent women, life-size see-through models used to explain anatomy and the mysteries of life to generations of school children.

The first transparent women, a companion to the Transparent Man, was made by craftsmen in the German Hygiene Museum in 1930, and first appeared in the US in 1936, at the New York Museum of Science. According to a 1936 account in Time Magazine, the life-sized glassy woman was equipped with 20 pairs of lamps to selectively illuminate organs sculpted in a material called "cellhorn." A young Dresden woman, killed in an accident, was the source of the skeleton, which was treated with preservative and covered with paraffin. The figure's arms were raised and face upturned, as if basking in the sun, part of the German "Cult of Light and Air."

Thirty years later, a new generation of transparent women were created as public health education tools; some toured in mobile exhibits until finally settling down as the centerpieces of health museums. Transparent men, on the other hand, are hard to find (the Mayo Clinic Museum displayed one before it closed down, an original, sun-worshipping German model). This is probably because pregnancy makes for a more interesting story, and American educators, as always, are reluctant to expose kids to transparent glowing male genitalia.

The greatest profusion of transparent women appeared on the health education scene when designer Richard Rush developed the first Transparent Anatomical Mannikin (TAM) in 1968. The see-through woman was 5' 8" of vacuum-formed, plastic organ goodness. TAMs were wired so specific areas and body systems would light up on command, as part of a pre-recorded presentation. Rush eventually produced 42 TAMs, many which are still in service.

School kids by the millions had seen a TAM, but she also became popular as a disturbing pop culture image, appearing on Nirvana's 1993 "In Utero" album cover (and much earlier, on Roger Water's 1970 "Music from the Body" cover).

A cheaper version -- the Mobile TAM -- was created by Rush in the 1980s; about 35-40 of these portable legless ladies were sold. Some still hit the road in traveling health exhibits, and some have found permanent residence in museums and health education centers.

The Mobile TAM.

After Rush Studio was bought by a larger exhibit company in 1992, TAM production essentially ended. According to Malcolm Mlodoch, a devoted fan of Rush's work, there are no plans to produce more TAMs.

Fortunately, most of the TAMs and transparent woman are still out there, enlightening the public. Transparent women pose in Houston, TX, at the Amazing Body Pavilion, and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, OR. Valeda, the talking transparent woman in Halstead, KS, is immortalized on a classic postcard.

But giant walk-through hearts, cutaway teeth, and eyeballs all compete for precious exhibit space. Some museums push the old ladies into a back corner, making room for the latest gimmicky interactive experience. Other museums revere their transparent women, and treat them with the respect they deserve.

Juno the Transparent Woman, HealthSpace Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, is in her own circular theater. She's an exact replica of a 28-year old woman. The creator, Franz Tsahackert, worked in the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden, fled the Communists and arrived in the US in 1950. The original woman cost $15k. She was named as part of a contest. Push a button and Juno slowly rotates for ten minutes, telling her story.

Transparent woman torsos are mounted on the walls facing Juno -- they light up at the appropriate moments in her presentation.

Also here:"the Giant Tooth," the Theater of Human Sexuality, and many other large body parts you can explore. The gift shop sells miniature Human Skeletons ("with removable squeaking viscera"), Finger Bone pens, Spinal Column key rings, and "Juno Forever" frisbee. [2007: This entire attraction has closed.]

The Fort Crawford Medical Museum, Prairie du Chien, WI, chronicles the digestive experiments of our hero, Dr. Beaumont, but the real stars are the Transparent Twins, two clear plastic female mannequins. Organs glow, arteries pulse, nerves shimmer in cool blue. They rotate to display their transparent backsides.

The twin on the right does all the talking -- probably because her sister has no face. (Note: the Twins model in the promo photo, left, is arranged with the talking sister on the left.)

"How do you do? We are the transparent twins. Imagine if your skin suddenly became transparent -- then you would look much like me."

Mysterious pelvic organs blink on. "My eggs, when fertilized by sperm from my husband, will turn into a child." Two higher bulbs brighten. "My breasts provide milk for the newborn..."

So this is why Superman could never enjoy a peep show.

[Thanks to Kristen Ehrenberger for additional information on the early history of Transparent People.]

List of Transparent Women in the US | 50-ft. Tall Woman with Visible Organs

November 8, 2009

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