The Visible Woman is an "anatomically correct" model kit for children, popularized in the 1960's, and currently released by Skilcraft. She stands about 14" tall, with transparent plastic skin that houses removable plastic organs and skeletal structure. Upon opening the box, her innards are disassembled, requiring a child to glue the bajillion appropriate bits together and paint them before inserting the organs in the correct positions according to the instruction manual. For especially anal retentive children, the Visible Woman's skin is etched with the major blood vessels in the circulatory system, which are meant to be painted red (arteries) and blue (veins).
The model actually comes with two sets of organs - the second set consists of dramatically squished up abdominal organs to make room for a transparent uterus, complete with a plastic 7 month old fetus, designed to educate youngsters about pregnancy. Interestingly, although the Visible Woman has a uterus, she does not possess a vagina. Of course, she doesn't really need one, since her counterpart and life-long monogamous partner, the Visible Man, has no penis. This teaches children the important lesson that procreation occurs by dismantling the abdominal cavity, scooping out organs, and lovingly inserting a fully developed fetus already ensconced in the womb.
My parents gave me a Visible Woman kit for my tenth birthday, under the impression that assembling the model would provide educational enrichment for their young daughter. From my own experience, I must issue a couple warnings to parents who are considering purchasing the kit:
- The vast majority of children are not very good at fine detail work, and are bloody awful at following instruction manuals. My Visible Woman ended up with a green and yellow polka dotted liver and a rainbow striped colon (apparently she was quite the party girl in her day). If you really want the model to turn out like the picture on the box, adult supervision may be required.
- Giving your son or daughter a life-like model of a woman with exposed viscera may seem like an excellent educational opportunity in the daylight, but at night, the Visible Woman is one scary bitch, especially to a child with an active imagination. After I assembled my Visible Woman, I stuck her on a shelf in my bedroom, never giving her a second thought until late one night, when I became convinced that she would rip herself from her moorings on her pathetically flimsy pedestal, jump down to my bed, and do horribly nasty things to me. After lying awake in my bed for a few hours, rigid with abject terror, I finally grabbed the model, quickly shoved her back in her box, and placed her at the very back of the top shelf of the linen closet, where the overwhelming stench of mothballs would hopefully render the Visible Woman insensible. I found her there, undisturbed, 13 years later. So much for educational enrichment.
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