A clinical anatomist is publicly challenging the ethics of a major plastinated-body exhibition that opens in London this week, spotlighting consent concerns around displays of corpses arranged in sexual poses.
Dr Joyce El-Haddad, a senior lecturer in anatomy and histology at the University of New South Wales who also identifies as an ethicist, voiced her objections in an Instagram post earlier this month after attending the Sydney debut of Body Worlds: The Anatomy of Happiness. The exhibition, which premiered in Australia last week, is scheduled to open in London on Friday, September 25.
The show features what organizers call “real specimens” preserved through plastination, a vacuum technique invented in 1977 by Dr Gunther von Hagens using specially developed reaction plastics. Visitors see bodies posed horse riding, playing basketball, and in what the source material describes as “penetrative sexual positions.”
El-Haddad wrote that she had initially expected a “very interesting” experience when she accepted an invitation to attend. Her post described the exhibition’s scope: “The exhibition explores topics such as health, disease, exercise, stress, ageing, and wellbeing using whole-body displays (in various positions), organs, and body slices.”
She then pivoted to fundamental questions about what visitors actually gain without personal stories attached to the remains. “How much can you actually get out of an exhibition intended to display health, disease, ageing, and wellbeing without the stories of lived experiences and individual context to conceptualise the science in front of you?”
El-Haddad argued that this absence of context forces observers to “construct their own narratives and make their own assumptions” about how the displayed individuals lived.
The consent documentation from the Institute for Plastination, which runs the body donation program now at full capacity with more than 21,000 registered donors worldwide, specifies that specimens may be used for “teaching and research” including “photographs, videos and any other images or depictions of such specimens, in any medium or format, in perpetuity.” A separate section allows donors to expressly authorize use “for anatomical education of the public through scientific or educational exhibitions.”
Donors may also agree or decline being transformed “an anatomical work of art” and whether they wish to remain anonymous. But El-Haddad suggested those signing forms might not have envisioned their bodies ending up in explicitly sexual displays. She continued: “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?”
Her interrogation extended to the mechanics of permission itself. “How specific was the consent process? Was every form of display consented for differently? What responsibilities remain after consent has been given?” she asked. She added: “Respect, dignity, transparency, and context do not disappear simply because somebody signed a form.”
El-Haddad also raised questions about child visitors, asking what “assumptions” young viewers might form. She drew a historical parallel, noting that displaying human remains in “cabinets of curiosity” is now broadly condemned, and asked: “What shields modern day human body exhibitions from the same condemnation?”
The exhibition’s website frames The Anatomy of Happiness as interpreting “the latest research and findings by social scientists on how happiness is determined” alongside medical findings about happiness’s physical impact. It states the show will teach audiences “what parts of their anatomy are involved in happiness and how positive or negative emotions can affect the entire body.” Body Worlds says preparing specimens takes roughly 1,500 hours across approximately 12 months.
The franchise has toured more than 175 cities and claims over 58 million visitors globally. Social media reactions to the Sydney opening mixed unease with fascination. One Reddit user wrote: “I can’t comprehend that those people were once living and walking around like us.” Another commented: “I couldn’t do a rat dissection in high school, let alone see a human like that.” A third offered: “I think it gets people thinking about how complex our bodies and body systems really are,” while a fourth stated: “I love understanding how things work and are made up. I’d love my body to go there when I die.”
El-Haddad said she hoped her post would help potential attendees make an “informed decision.”
The Body Worlds franchise has faced previous controversy. In 2018, Kim Erick alleged that a plastinated figure called the “Thinker” at the Real Bodies exhibition in Las Vegas bore a striking resemblance to her deceased son Chris, telling media it was “so unbelievably painful to look at” her boy in that form. She added: “I was actually looking at pictures of my son’s skinned, butchered body. It is gut-wrenching.” The company responded that there was “no factual basis for these allegations” and that the “referenced specimen cannot be associated with the individual named in these claims.”
Body Worlds has been contacted for comment regarding El-Haddad’s concerns.