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Lifting the Veil: the Sex Industry, Museums and Galleries
Simon Adams and Raelene Frances*
Prostitution has played an important role in the social and labour
history of Australia since the arrival of the First Fleet. However,
very little of this history has made its way into the nation's established
museums and galleries — the official guardians of our past.
Here the history of sex work in Australia remains a marginal topic.
This is in stark contrast to the public interest, both here and
overseas, in 'sex museums' and heritage tours which 'lift the veil'
on the sex industry. How can we explain these gaps and silences?
This article explores this issue, and also suggests some ways in
which the history of sex work might be effectively represented in
both local and national contexts.
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| Despite the economic and social importance of the sex industry in Australian history since the time of the First Fleet, prostitution has barely featured in museums and galleries which represent our society. The general absence of any meaningful discussion of prostitution in these public museums is telling. It conveys a deep anxiety about how prostitutes and prostitution should be regarded both in the present and the past. Moreover, it represents a lost opportunity. There is a substantial body of academic work which demonstrates that large numbers of women (and smaller numbers of men) have engaged in sex work during the course of Australia's European history, providing an important economic alternative and supplement to the other forms of work available to women. The sex industry has also played a major part in Australian society over this period, providing at times a focus for organised crime and the corruption which accompanied it. As an institution, prostitution was also often the site of critical contestations over the gender and ethnic dimensions of 'settler society', and the crucible for relationships between coloniser and colonised.1 |
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The exclusion of certain subjects and groups in museums and galleries has implications for our status as citizens. A more inclusive approach to the history of sex work thus has political implications, especially for those currently engaged in the sex industry. This article explores the reasons behind the general unwillingness to deal with this subject in museum displays, and suggests a theoretical approach which could contribute to addressing this silence. It also surveys some recent approaches to representing prostitution and discusses ways in which museums could build on the experience of these case studies to produce displays which would be both interesting to the viewing public, and also provide a more inclusive representation of Australia's past. |
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Why the Silence on Sex Work? | |
| Sex is a notoriously sensitive subject. It forms part of a triumvirate of especially taboo topics associated with intimate aspects of women's bodies, the other two being menstruation and contraception. Museum curators, naturally wary of offending the public, tend to steer clear of such subjects. Perhaps there is also a sense of uncertainty about how to represent this history. What kinds of material culture can be used? How can they be effectively contextualised? These are real issues for many curators. |
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As well as this general reticence and uncertainty, there is a theoretical confusion which militates against the inclusion of representations of prostitution as an occupation. Many people conceive of prostitution as belonging to the realm of the private and moral (or immoral), rather than the realm of economics or politics. It is transgressive behaviour rather than work. The extent to which prostitution can and should be conceptualised as work is still a matter of debate.2 Clearly, the fact that we include prostitution as a subject for labour history suggests that we support the formulation of prostitution as work rather than deviance. Whilst conceding that this has the tendency to normalise something which is often characterised by exploitation, we would argue that such exploitation is not exclusive to prostitution, nor is it a necessary feature of it. Viewing prostitutes as workers, on the other hand, makes them visible in a way that focuses attention on the circumstances of their employment, and in so doing opens the possibility for minimising exploitative working relations, conditions and practices.3 Theorising prostitution as work has a similar advantage to the museum and heritage industry, allowing prostitution to be represented in a way that is not sensational or exploitative, but that is potentially illuminating and inclusive. |
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Breaking the Silence: Local Museums | |
One example of this is the Goldfields Museum in Kalgoorlie. Although it has only one permanent display referring to prostitution, the museum suggests the possibilities of using the material culture of commercial sex to explore the conditions under which women traded sexual services. This sole item — a brass 'brothel token' dating from the early twentieth century - is displayed in a glass cabinet tucked away in a back corner of the museum.4 The prostitution display sits between a '1920s Birthing Table' and a wall of photographs of nuns and nurses in a part of the Goldfields Museum reserved for the occupations of women. Inside the glass case, above a blown-up photograph of the brothel token, is text which explains:
PROSTITUTES
Large numbers of prostitutes of several nationalities moved to the Goldfields because of the ideal market created by the Goldrushes. Prostitution was accepted as a fact of frontier life. After some debate 'red light' areas were established in Hay St, Kalgoorlie and Richardson St, Boulder. The issues of prostitution and brothels have always been emotive. The recent discussion on the creation of a museum of prostitution is a continuation of these debates and shows the range of attitudes still present in the community.5
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Tucked away in a back corner of the Kalgoorlie
Museum — early twentieth century brothel tokens.
Photos: Simon Adams
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The fact that the private 'museum of prostitution' referred to has since eventuated, and has been a runaway success in terms of visitors, suggests that this aspect of goldfields' history is one which deserves development. The brothel token, for instance, is a wonderful opportunity to explore the conditions under which women worked in Kalgoorlie's early sex industry. Information is available about the woman represented in the token and could be included as part of the display. Evidence suggests that one of the functions of these tokens was as a form of advertising — a kind of business card, displaying not just a profile of the woman but also her business name and address. |
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Other types of advertising provide interesting commentary on attitudes to the sex industry and the way it represents itself. Postcards sold in the museum shop depicting the sex industry have a history which could be used effectively for display as well as merchandise. The debates referred to in the existing display have also left behind an abundance of physical evidence which would be used to illustrate changing views. Photographs of Hay Street over time are readily available, and these too would provide a fascinating chronology of the street's varied fortunes. Building plans which showed the layout of residential and working spaces in the brothels would provide a sense of the geography of working life, while street plans showing the shifting location of the sex industry in relation to other facilities and residences in the town would also be worth considering. Likewise, interviews and reminiscences from locals, including the brothel inmates, would provide a personal dimension to this history. |
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At the Fremantle History Museum curators have taken the opportunity to utilise artefacts associated with sex workers in the 1940s and incorporate them into an exhibition dealing with the social history of Fremantle. Inside the museum's 'Within these Walls' exhibition is the World War II exhibit. The display argues that 'Fremantle was the most significant naval port in the southern hemisphere' and that a total of 9,000 US personnel were stationed in Western Australia from 1942–45. As a result, 'Demands on services and supplies, including food and entertainment, were heavy. Dance halls, cinemas, nightclubs and brothels boomed'.6 Sex work is then contextualised under the sub-heading 'Over-paid, over-sexed and over here', where it is explained that the result of American presence was a booming economy and war brides, although 'less pleasant legacies included rampant venereal disease and prostitution, with many women being sentenced to terms in Fremantle prison'. The exhibited artefacts include ration cards, an invitation to a farewell dance for US troops, a sparkling ring and watch belonging to a Roe Street Madam, and a bracelet belonging to another Madam whose 52 charms were all gifts from her 'girls'. Under the heading 'Prostitution and the Second World War' the curators detail that
The well known brothels in Roe St, Perth, were particularly busy during the Second World War with visits by military personnel from different countries. During the Manpower Inquiry, when all non-essential labour was recalled for war-time services, one brothel Madam recalled being asked her occupation. She declared it as 'essential services, madam of a brothel' and 'never heard any more of it'.
The exhibit also includes an illustrated poem from 'a scrapbook of poems and drawings by a female inmate of Fremantle prison sentenced for prostitution'. |
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Overall, the exhibit in the Fremantle Museum is unique in its attempt to incorporate a discussion of sex work (and venereal disease) into its general exhibition on World War II. Such an approach contributes to a greater understanding of the importance of sex work to our local history. |
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Another example of how a sense of place informs a discussion of sex work can be seen in one of Australia's most recent museums, the Melbourne Museum. Here, the subject arises in the context of the display called 'Life at Little Lon', dealing with Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne's historic 'red-light' quarter. The display includes perfume bottles associated with known large brothels in Lonsdale Street, and also two items which may have been once part of the furnishings of a brothel: a white glass vase with a blue glass snake curling around it, and an earthenware Staffordshire figurine of a naked Lady Godiva on a horse. The display is framed within the theme of 'vice and reformers' and the brothel items displayed alongside school photographs, Sunday school certificates, material from the Salvation Army and the Mission to the Streets and the Lanes, and items of jewellery with Christian symbolism also found on the site. As curator Elizabeth Willis explained:
We aimed to communicate that prostitution was only one activity in the area, and that the women lived in the same neighbourhood, in fact as neighbours, with families and resident 'reformers'.7
Added to this static display is a vibrant oral history. Marie Owen, for instance, relates her memories of childhood in this area in the 1920s and 1930s. She recalls that despite the unsavoury reputation of Little Lon, she always felt safe. Anzac Day was remembered as the big day of the year, when hundreds of returned soldiers converged on the neighbourhood brothels. According to Marie, they did not trouble the respectable residents, always retreating apologetically if they mistakenly knocked on her mother's door. |
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It is, however, perhaps symptomatic of the unease curators feel with the issue of prostitution that some of the most successful explorations take place outside the walls of museums. Melbourne's Golden Mile Heritage Trail embraces the shadier aspects of the city's cultural heritage, promising walkers information about 'bushrangers, visionaries, prostitutes, painters'.8 Madam Brussels' former brothel in Little Lonsdale Street is a particular focus. The trail was opened in 2000 by the Victorian Premier and two and half years later had just celebrated its 50,000th walker, showing that the public is undeterred by discussion of subjects which might be considered sensitive.9 Indeed, the popularity of this walk may owe more than a little to its unconventional subjects. |
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Never to be outdone by Melbourne, Sydney has also capitalised on the popularity of historical walking tours. The Justice and Police Museum has addressed the issue, offering occasional walking tours which discuss prostitutes and organised crime in the context of Darlinghurst and East Sydney. Their 'Wayward Women' tour takes visitors on a guided tour through Elizabeth Bay and East Sydney, discussing the careers of Tilly Devine, Nellie Cameron and Kate Leigh as well as other unconventional women, including writers, bohemians and nuns. Though much more work needs to be done, there is still enough surviving of the buildings and streetscapes to make this a meaningful exercise in evoking personalities and lifestyles in the context of place. |
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Local Sex Industry Historical Initiatives | |
| As it stands, however, the attention given to the sex industry in official museums does not satisfy the public interest. The gap has been filled to some extent by the sex industry itself. In 1998 a Kalgoorlie sex industry entrepreneur secured local council approval for a proposal to build a 'Historic Bordello and Museum of Prostitution'. Langtrees 181, as it was named, opened in 2000 and offered 'historic tours' of the working brothel and its displays. Two years later, more people visited 181 Hay Street to take a tour than to take advantage of the sexual services on sale. In the first week of October 2002, one of the two female sex workers at Langtrees 181 in Hay Street, Kalgoorlie complained to one of the authors that business was slow and that even though the 'number of girls on the floor' had decreased from 10 to two, they were still only averaging around three bookings a night each. During daylight hours of the previous week, however, almost 2,000 people visited Langtrees 181's 'World Famous Bordello Tours'.10 These visitors paid $25 each (with a discount for pensioners and group bookings) to go on a tour of the premises and be treated to a commentary which gives a history of prostitution in Kalgoorlie. Visitors are taken through the historically themed rooms: the 'Lily Langtree [sic] Room', in honour of the many French women who were amongst the town's first sex workers; the 'Eishan Room', a reminder of the hundreds of Japanese prostitutes who worked in Kalgoorlie at the turn of the nineteenth century; the 'Coolgardie Tent Room', evoking the primitive conditions and the presence of camel drivers in the area during its pioneering days. The 'Roman Orgy' and 'Great Boulder Shaft' rooms evoke both the world's sexual past, and local labour history. |
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Langtrees, 181 Hay Street, Kalgoorlie
Photo: Simon Adams
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| A glossy brochure, Between the Sheets, explains the significance of each room at Langtrees 181, with particular reference to a version of the history of the sex industry in Kalgoorlie. History in this case is mined for erotic fantasy, while the tourists of both sexes who flock to the thrice-daily tours satisfy their curiosity about the interior of a brothel, and also feel they are learning something about the social history of the area. Along the way 'artefacts' from the sexual history of Kalgoorlie are displayed and contextualised by the guide. A 'brothel token' from the days of the Japanese prostitutes is explained not long after tourists have been shown a revolving leather bed custom-made for a 1970s Madam. Another famous Madam, Shirley Finn, murdered in Perth in the 1970s, is memorialised on the wall. Railway sleepers from 'the first railway line here in Kalgoorlie and the first mine site' form the bed posts and mirror frame in the 'Great Boulder Shaft Room'. Tourists are also shown the room where sex workers receive their monthly health checks.11 |
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Throughout, the emphasis is on both the historic and the contemporary: Western Australia's current laws governing prostitution are ridiculed, while one is asked to empathise with the 'poor French girls' who were lured to the brothels of Kalgoorlie under false premises during the nineteenth century. The fact that the 'museum' is also a functioning site for sex work is never far from the attention of either tourists or guides. As one guide explained in the 'Eishin Room':
The reason this room is simplistic and it doesn't have a spa is because we're dealing with Asian simplicity of life. We used to have a futon in here, however, the ladies complained of sore backs, and Mary-Anne will not pay out compensation claims on bad backs, so we put the normal bed back in. No complaints.12
Popularising history in this way does have its drawbacks. Without the intervention of professionally trained curatorial staff, some of the displays are inaccurate and sometimes offensive. For instance, while we are encouraged to empathise with the 'French girls' who were tricked into prostitution, or the English prostitutes who worked the tent brothels of the Coolgardie goldfields and drank themselves to death, little sympathy is exhibited towards the male Afghan camel drivers who brought water to Kalgoorlie before the advent of the 'golden pipeline'. In the 'Afghan Room', named after them, we are told:
The Afghans provided the first major means of transport in Kalgoorlie. With the camel trains. These guys were actually despised by the Australians. Big time. Because of the way they treated them. Their main job was bottling water. They'd go down the local dams, have a drink themselves, have a bit of a wash in it. Wash their camels, and then bottle the water for the Aussies. We were dropping like flies. We didn't know why ... That's because we were being poisoned by the camels and the different diseases in their fur and their skin. These guys didn't get along very well with the Aussies at all. But we did need them because they were the first major means of transport.13
The curiously misplaced décor of the Afghan Room, with its attempted 'Arabian Nights' eroticism, perhaps remains a fitting memorial to the misunderstood and much-maligned Afghans whose camels helped keep Kalgoorlie alive in an era before trains and running water, in a place where their religion, culture, and ethnicity marked them out for dark rumours. |
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Outside of the standard 'facts' scripted for, and memorised by, each of the guides, they are permitted to interpret the theme rooms in their own ways. Much depends on background and personal politics. For instance, the famous 'Scotty', a Scottish grandmother and former sex worker who is one of the main guides at Langtrees 181, tells tourists in the 'Roman Orgy Room' that attitudes to sex have gone 'backwards' since Roman times. In her own words:
Well, that was 2,000 years ago and look at the orgies they were having in Pompeii and then here in Coolgardie out in the open air, naked, half-naked, in 1893. We are in 2002, these girls can't even put their hair out and talk sex outside or we get fined $50,000. As far as I'm concerned if they want to, the Kalgoorlie police should allow these girls out there, they have been doing this since the 1800s, okay.14
Scotty believes prostitution and the brothel tours are undervalued community services in Kalgoorlie. For her, the tours are as much a political soap-box as an opportunity for a history lesson.
[I]t is the brothels and the gold that bring in the tourists. Last year we took through about 12,000 tourists on the tours. That was the first year and I say we have done more than that already this year. So everybody is interested in it and Kalgoorlie, as you know, has got the lowest crime rate in the world and always has had. That's for sexual assault, rape and child molesters and it is because these brothels are here. So it is about time the whole world learned their lesson. It is okay for these do-gooders. But there are lots of ugly men in this world who can't get a woman, what are they supposed to do? There are a lot of older men whose wives have died. Same with women, the same thing, everybody does need sexual satisfaction, or most of us do.15
There is no doubting the popularity of the tours. On the first night one of the authors visited Langtrees 181 in March 2002, a tour bus, complete with a sign declaring 'Over 50s Touring Around Australia', was parked out front. Once unthinkable, these days such sights are daily occurrences, often requiring extra tours to be scheduled. In the words of Scotty:
Oh yeah, well last night I did an extra tour at 5.30 pm and they were all ladies and the bus driver and his wife were there too. All elderly ladies and they just loved it and I don't moderate the content for anyone.16
For many tourists the fact that Langtrees 181 looks so 'normal' and 'clean' inside is one of the most surprising things about it. In the words of Dan, an American tourist:
I was smiling when we actually walked into Langtrees as I would never in my wildest imagination have pictured myself crossing the threshold into a brothel ... I guess that I had conjured up images of lingerie-clad women lustily calling after walkers-by, trying to drum up business, ala Dolly Parton's girls in 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'. The foyer reminded me of a dentist's office or of the reception area of a Red Cross Blood Donation Centre.17
Another American tourist, Kate, thought it was 'similar to a hotel' until she took a 'closer look at the products sold in the gift shop, or the sign that told the hourly rates that were offered'.18 Dan found the actual tour to be 'eye opening':
The historical tales of the remarkable beginnings of the prostitution business in Kalgoorlie were interesting to hear and certainly framed the tour in a different light. Two or three times during the guided portion of the tour, our guide made rather crude jokes or overtly sexual innuendoes. My first reaction was to gulp and shake my head. I needed to constantly remind myself that I was actually IN A BROTHEL ... It was one of the most interesting places that I have ever visited, as the tour shed light on an industry about which I know very little. Everyone on the tour seemed to be equally intrigued by this world that is usually hidden behind the doors of cities' red-light districts.19
Visitors report being genuinely intrigued by the historical aspects of the tour:
I did the tour with Scotty when I was in Kalgoorlie in May and I found it incredibly interesting and thought that the evolution of the sex industry from what it was in the goldfield days, through to the present where staff from Langtrees have actually taken their female employer to the industrial relations committee over contractual disputes a very interesting evolution indeed. And besides mining, the history of the prostitution and brothel trade is one of Kal's main cultural history strengths.20
The operators of Langtrees 181's 'World Famous Bordello Tour' in Kalgoorlie seem to have hit on a winning combination of titillation and 'education'. They claim it holds a unique place in the international history of sex work. According to the promotional brochure:
Only in Kalgoorlie can you visit a real working brothel. Interesting, educational, stimulating and sensational are the comments of those who have taken part in this world first tour.
A similar point is made by the guide at the start of every tour:
This is a world first. There is no other brothel in the world where you can go and actually get a guided tour. You will see all our working rooms and we will not hide anything from you.21
Remarkably, few tourists are bothered by the innuendo and sexual details which form part of the tour. Age does not appear to be an impediment. Scotty claims the oldest woman to do the tour was 94, and that she has only ever had one tourist walk out because they were offended.22 Kate, an American tourist in her early twenties, found
comfort in the fact that there were ten seniors on the same tour as me. I figured if grandma could go on the tour, then I should be able to handle it too. Though I did have my initial reservations about the tour, I actually found it to be enlightening. It was a little weird at first to be talking about sex and prostitution so openly, coming from a staunch Catholic background; however, I was able to get over it and actually learn something.23
By the end of the tour, Kate's perspective on prostitution had been altered.
I would probably recommend the tour to others if they were visiting Kal. First of all, the whole thing was pretty hilarious. The different theme rooms were quite outrageous. I was surprised that some of the seniors did not have a heart attack, I almost did. But beyond that I actually think that it makes you think twice about your opinion on legalising prostitution. Langtrees offered an alternative to having disease-ridden people street-walking and the crimes that are associated with that.24
Other tourists contrasted the working conditions of the sex 'slaves' of Kalgoorlie during the 1890s, to today where 'workers had a say in who and what they did' and 'had a cut of the money'. Whereas 1890s clients were viewed as predatory creatures, the modern day 'regulars' at Langtrees 181 'sounded like they were just after some human contact and compassion'. Viewed from such a perspective, prostitution becomes a virtual 'community service'.25 |
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This is, of course, one of the intentions of the 'World Famous Bordello Tour'. It is designed to highlight the injustices and indignities suffered by previous generations of sex workers in Kalgoorlie, and to contrast that with the cleanliness, comfort and 'safety' of working at (or visiting!) Langtrees 181. The tours are as much an advertisement for legalised prostitution and the sex industry as they are a voyeuristic peek behind the velvet curtains of a working brothel. Indeed, sales of 'sex toys' and other souvenirs in the gift shop at the end of the tour are an intrinsic part of the Langtrees 181 experience. According to Scotty:
You'd be amazed how many [tourists] buy dildos and vibrators and a lot of them, especially the more mature ladies, they won't buy them in front of all the other tourists. But we often get them coming back the next day and say 'Scotty can you put it in the bag so my friend won't see it'. I sell heaps of those vibrators.26
According to Kim, a receptionist at Langtrees, some female tourists stay back and ask if they can talk to the sex workers. The tourists generally want to know why individual women got involved in the sex industry, and 'how they deal with doing it, and things like that'. On a few occasions, Kim has noticed that at the end of a tour some males also 'hang back':
Some girls start at 6.00 pm and some start at 8.00 pm, so by the time the [last daily] tour is finished it is about 8.30 pm or 9.00 pm and all the girls are on the floor then and you get tourists, like most of them will leave but you will get a few stragglers, that sit back and have a coffee. A small percentage of them who are left behind will go through with a girl ... It is funny sitting back, you know, watching and I think, 'I know what you are going to be doing. I know you are going to book-in in a minute'.27
Undoubtedly, the appeal of the 'World Famous Bordello Tour' at Langtrees 181 is primarily voyeuristic. Many tourists commented that they came on the tour because they were fascinated to see inside a working brothel. On the tour, however, they learn about the sexual history of Kalgoorlie and are encouraged to empathise with the sex workers, both past and present, who are represented as doing a difficult job in a town where prostitution has always been considered at worst a 'necessary evil', at best an important social institution. The perspective adopted is very much that of 'sex work' rather than social deviance. The tour is essentially an elaborate argument for a safe, legalised and regulated sex industry, which will benefit the wider society as well as sex workers. History, in this case, is utilised to entice customers into the brothel (where they may otherwise have feared to tread), and to convince tourists that sex work is an essential part of Kalgoorlie's past, present and future. Perhaps mainstream museums should take note of the success of this approach. Whilst not suggesting that they turn themselves into working brothels, the public response to the tours suggests that the subject is not as sensitive as many fear, and that many people are genuinely interested in exploring this aspect of social and labour history. |
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Langtrees is not the only example of a sex-industry museum initiative. In early 2001 the Canberra-based Eros Foundation, a sex industry lobby group, opened a small sex museum in a prominent location on Northbourne Avenue, Civic. As its promotional brochure pointed out, 'the National Museum of Erotica is located in the heart of Canberra, not far from Parliament House and the National Museum of Australia. It sits right on the bus stop for the free Canberra Bus Tours'.28 Its founders aimed to 'fill the gap' left by the new National Museum of Australia which completely overlooked the subject of sex in its representation of Australia, its people and their cultures.29 The museum claimed that its
primary function is to chronicle Australia's erotic culture and history. This will be achieved in a number of ways including the provision of collection and display points for a wide variety of erotica. Art, craft, collectibles, memorabilia, publications, films, audio recordings and new technology are all integral components of this chronicle. The collection of stories about Australia's erotic past is also of paramount importance.30
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Most of the premises were occupied by a shop selling various 'erotic' products, such as 'erotic wine', 'original Karma Sutra miniature paintings and stone carvings', and 'the very sexy Bedroom Bubbly Champagne and Museum champagne glasses'. The collection of posters and artefacts was very small. It conformed more to the 'glorified sex shop' model, such as the Amsterdam Sex Museum and Venus Temple, than educational museum. But it was a pale shadow of the extensive Amsterdam museum, with its giant sculptures of penises and huge range of sexual aids and pornography from all over the world and many time periods. However, the Canberra museum was more than its collections and merchandise. The museum offered a range of courses for its patrons, including erotic life drawing classes, the Eros Foundation course in Sex and Censorship, erotic video appreciation course and classes in erotic cuisine. |
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The National Museum of Erotica closed its doors in late 2002, but one of its products continues: 'The Love Bus educational tour of the ACT's adult industry'. These tours pre-dated the museum, starting in 1995 after a successful tour by a group of politicians inspired the concept of public group tours of the territory's legal sex industry. The three-hour tours claim to mix 'fun and education' by providing information on Canberra's sex industry and the laws under which it operates, 'behind the scenes visits to peep shows, X-rated duplication plants and a dungeon', live adult entertainment performances and champagne and canapés as well as an 'erotic gift pack worth over $70!'31 Like the commentary at Langtrees, the message is explicitly political and explicitly pro-legalisation. However, while the Love Bus tours have been very successful, and the concept is being extended to Melbourne, the museum itself never flourished. Despite its prominent position, many locals were surprised to learn of its existence. Lacking the attraction of the brothel tours — of providing a glimpse inside an actual brothel — the museum alone did not offer enough in the way of exhibition content to appeal to the public. Focusing as it did on the sexual/erotic element of prostitution, the museum also lacked the appeal that Langtrees has of exploring the changing working lives of prostitutes. |
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Sex Work and the Heritage Industry | |
| That 'real' brothels have an appeal to a curious public is something which the museum and heritage industry can exploit without apparently giving offence to a general audience. While nowhere near as successful as Langtrees, Australia does have one example where mainstream heritage preservers/presenters have embraced the history of the sex industry. Located in the heart of the historic port precinct of the Riverina town of Echuca, the Brothel Museum is potentially a wonderful example of how heritage can address sensitive themes which are nonetheless a major part of the social history of a community. As the focus of a busy river traffic, sexual services were much in demand in late nineteenth century Echuca. The two-storey wooden house was classified by the National Trust in the late 1970s and preserved as a brothel museum. It conveys a sense of both the geography and atmosphere of a busy brothel. The structure has been preserved virtually intact, largely because for years it was simply used as storage for an agricultural machinery yard on the site. The building consists of six identical whitewashed rooms. One of the downstairs front rooms has been restored to recreate a brothel room, furnished simply with a fireplace, bare boards, an iron bed and washstand and occupied by a mannequin with long, auburn tresses dressed in an off-the-shoulder crimson evening dress. This model is embracing a male mannequin in workingmen's clothes. The interpretative plaque on the exterior of the building records the history of the site, and draws the visitor's attention to the convenient layout of the house and garden, with a side entrance into a lane, so that customers could enter and leave the building without being observed. The historic hotel backing onto the brothel also has a plaque pointing out the connection between the liquor and sex industries, and the role of music in the commonly sought-after evening's entertainment. |
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Helen Coulson, Manager of the Port of Echuca from 1976 to 1991, recalled that at the time there was a 'bit of a bally-hoo' about the proposal to open a brothel museum, but when the sign went up outside 'people thought it was hilarious — dying to go inside'.32 Unfortunately, lack of funds for staff means that the building itself is open to the public only two or three times a year, although the curious visitor can get a sense of the interior by peering through the window.33 The brothel was also the subject of an attack by local 'twits', who thought it might be fun to smash the windows and throw the prostitute model into the river.34 Despite these problems, the Echuca museum suggests that the contemporary public is not as sensitive as many curators fear, providing the content is not too confronting. The neighbour who described the vandals as 'twits' was clearly disapproving of their action, and displayed an almost proprietorial pride in the brothel site. |
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In both Kalgoorlie and Echuca the key to success in representing the history of the sex industry lies in tying displays strongly to the local area. Evoking a sense of place as well as sexual economy works, especially when there is a building/street in which to locate the display. Sovereign Hill in Ballarat has also recognised that the viewing public is able to cope with representations of sex work and the sex industry, and includes actors dressed as prostitutes in the range of historical characters who populate this recreated goldfields town. Other local opportunities also exist, but remain to be developed. One example that we are aware of is Lily Street in Innisfail, north Queensland. The surviving purpose-built 1920s brothel in the former Chinese quarter would make an excellent museum, dealing with the local sex industry alongside the history of the Chinese in the district. |
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As well as the various permanent exhibitions discussed above, Australia has several examples of temporary exhibitions in local museums which focused particularly on the history of the sex industry in that locality. Both have emerged out of what used to be called the 'new social history' and both were funded by progressive government agencies keen to engage with the new climate. In January, 1982, the Constitutional Museum of South Australia opened the first special exhibition in Australia devoted to the history of the sex industry. The exhibition was launched by notorious madam and campaigner for decriminalisation of prostitution, Stormy Summers, who commented that she thought the museum was 'quite adventurous' in its choice of subject matter.35 Like Sydney, Adelaide has a tradition of being avant-garde in its attitudes, and the museum was rewarded for its adventurousness: over 1,300 people crowded through the small museum on opening day and the event got national and international press coverage. Peter Calahan recalls drinking tea out of china cups with Stormy and her two big 'Yugoslav' minders before the opening, 'which itself was a right regular scrum'.36 |
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Based on the doctoral research of historian Susan Horan, the exhibition gave an overview of the history of prostitution in Adelaide from its appearance in the early years of European occupation. As in the case of Langtrees, the intention was overtly political as well as educative. The pro-decriminalisation message was less than subtle, as this extract from the accompanying booklet makes clear:
The Millhouse Bill, introduced to the South Australian Parliament in 1980, failed to become law but had it succeeded, prostitution would no longer have been a criminal offence, possibly resulting in the disappearance of the worst aspects of the trade — the harassment, the extortion and the criminal connections. Those involved in the business would be able to claim the protection of the law in the same way as other citizens.37
Implicit in this approach is the conceptualisation of prostitution as work, and the construction of sex workers as entitled to the same rights and protection as other workers. |
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Almost 20 years later, the Liverpool Regional Gallery in Sydney's western suburbs mounted a special exhibition on the local sex industry. Although the economy/sex work model is explicitly stated, here the political content was more muted. In his foreword to the booklet which accompanied the Madam Liverpool exhibition, Con Gouriotis, Director of the Liverpool Regional Museum, explained why the museum had chosen to mount an exhibition which explored the history and presence of the local sex industry:
It is a topic that generates strong opinions, but whether we agree or disagree with the issues, the sex industry is part of our society and needs to be acknowledged. Without understanding the complex choices people make in relation to their sexuality, we cannot begin to make decisions on human rights and freedom of choice in our society. Taking an economic rather than a moral standpoint, Madam Liverpool examines the state of the industry in Liverpool six years after the legalisation of brothels in New South Wales. This exhibition will generate vigorous debate about very important concerns in our communities.38
The exhibition recounted the history of Liverpool's brothel industry from its origins during World War II when it drew on the custom of the nearby army base. It also explored the recent legislative changes and their impact on the local sex industry. The exhibition, although taking an 'economic' approach, did not shy away from some of the human aspects of the industry: the effect that performing sex work had on the psyche of workers; the evidence of illegal trafficking in women from Thailand to supply Liverpool brothels; the power dynamics between brothel managers and their employees. |
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Showing throughout April and May 2001, Madam Liverpool attracted thousands of visitors and was certainly as controversial as Con Gouriotis anticipated. Surprisingly, though, most of the opposition came from within the sex industry, who distrusted the curators because the museum was associated with the local council.39 Councillors were also reluctant to co-operate, apparently fearing potential controversy. The visiting public seemed more accepting, with the curators reporting a lot of interest and visitors spending a lot of time viewing the exhibition.40 The public response vindicated the museum's strategy to mount exhibitions on topics of direct relevance to the experience of the local community. |
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National Museums | |
| The challenge of how to incorporate the history of prostitution into national museums is different to that of local museums. Is there a national story to be told, and can it be represented through material culture? We would say yes, on both counts. The sense of place that is important in this case is the nation/country/continent of Australia. The story to be told is of how policy makers and administrators attempted to intervene in sexual economies for 'national' reasons, and what this meant for people engaged in the occupation. The debates about the 'damned whores' of the convict years are well known, but nonetheless still worthy of display and discussion. Likewise, the military and the sex industry have a long historical relationship in Australia, from the Contagious Diseases Acts of the nineteenth century through the Cairo brothel riots, to the Vietnam War. These issues could be explored by museums such as the Australian War Memorial without necessarily casting a slur on 'our fighting men'. Managing the inevitably high demand for sexual services so as to preserve the morale and health of the troops has, after all, been an important consideration in both peace and war. Less well known but nonetheless well-documented is the way in which the so-called White Australia Policy was used in the twentieth century to exclude foreign sex workers from Australia.41 |
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Engaging the Visual Narrative | |
| While the opportunity is clearly there to explore this history in a national context, the transnational nature of the sex industry both in the past and the present makes it an appropriate subject for exhibitions with a broader focus. Sydney recently hosted a special photographic exhibition dealing specifically with the sex industry. Red Light was an exhibition organised by the Australian Centre of Photography in Oxford Street, Paddington, open throughout September 2002. It surveyed imagery of prostitutes and prostitution in a number of countries in the twentieth century and into the present. The exhibition included celebrated works such as Bellocq's Storyville Portraits, Brassai's Secret Paris of the 1930s and Larry Clark's images of hustlers in New York City, alongside contemporary work by established artists, including Tracey Moffatt (Nice Coloured Girls, 1987), Max Pam, Davina Singh from India and Atta Kim from Korea, as well as emerging artists such as Megan Spencer and Lee-Anne Richards. The Australian material included two short films and an installation featuring the bedroom and biographical material relating to sex worker, Tara. Moffatt's 1987 film is well-known, exploring the complex ways in which Aboriginal women negotiated their relationships with white men, often through the men's sexual interest in them. Megan Spencer's recent film, Strange Hungers explores the world of the dominatrix through an interview with Mistress Ursula. |
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Again the approach was consciously informed by a theoretical approach which sees prostitutes as workers. Its advertising material pointed out that 'Red Light takes a humanising rather than a sensationalist approach to its subject'. The Centre's Director, Alasdair Foster, explained that:
It's not really an exhibition which seeks to shock through sexual explicitness, it's more about actually who the people are. We've asked Roberta Perkins (author of three books on prostitution and founder of SWOP) to open the show, because one of the points she made in her books, was that prostitutes are differentiated from other people by their occupation, not by anything else. We kind of assume that it's a package and it comes with some demi-monde lifestyle, but in some cases it does, and in some cases it doesn't.42
As part of the exhibition program, sociologist and outspoken advocate for sex workers, Dr Roberta Perkins, gave a well-attended public lecture on contemporary sex work. Tara herself also became part of the installation on the weekends, when she sat in her 'room' on her pink fur-covered couch and chatted with visitors. |
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The response to the exhibition, judging by the comments in the visitors' book, was for the most part very positive. D. Brown, for instance, thanked the organisers 'for a lot of history of sex work, & for bringing it to the "lite" & for including male sex workers, very inclusive'. He/she went on to comment that 'we need more acceptance & understanding. This will only be accomplished by coming into the "lite"'.43 A visitor signing herself 'Mistress Synna' 'enjoyed it, esp Bombay sequence, Tara's Room, & doco's. I liked them because they had context rather than just being a version of cheesecake'. Robert Green found the exhibition 'sad & intriguing — loved the humanist approach'. 'Tara' was particularly popular with visitors, who were fascinated by her motives for revealing her life in this way, and for going into the sex industry. Jennifer described her as 'Very Brave, very bold to let us in on your life story', while an anonymous commentator was pleased 'to see proud workers speaking for themselves'. Visitors were also intrigued by Tara's six-year marriage, and how she managed this relationship as well as a job as a sex worker.44 |
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However, a note of unease was evident in some of the comments. One visitor asked 'Is this show about exploiting women?' Another anonymous visitor thought it was a 'fantastic show!!!!', but was disturbed that 'Only again modern day prostitution has been depicted as sleazy, tacky, severe or repression'. 'What about', she asks, 'the sex worker who has travelled the world with her profession, yet saved tons of money, sailed a Sydney to Hobart, dined with Lady Di on her last visit to Australia, was able to become an Australian citizen, competed in ballroom in Parliament House & Sydney Town Hall, & has walked in & out of here without anyone knowing who I am'. Others were more strident in their criticism. Chris Jones found the exhibition
highly offensive and simplistic: To suggest sex workers in brothels might be outlaws who control the sexual channel between nature and cultural is to gloss over and glamorize the integrity of the photographer of the image; the photojournalistic integrity embedded in the image and, most importantly, the integrity and humanity of the people in the image.
Press coverage of the exhibition was generally positive or neutral. Robert McFarlane reported that 'The life of sex workers comes into sharp focus in this stirring exhibition'.45 Emma Tom, writing in the Weekend Australian, drew a connection between the photographic exhibition and the recent spate of books and plays dealing with the sex industry. She claims that collectively these sex-industry inspired works show that 'pornography has infiltrated the mainstream', and has become something of a fashion statement: 'The bawdy house, it seems, is the new black'.46 Tim Benzie's thoughtful review found the images 'fascinating but troubling', and noted the 'creeping sense of exploitation' suggested by many of the photographs. He wanted to know more: about the relationship between the photographers and their subjects; about the cultural context in which they were created. 'Was the work originally viewed as noble, exploitative, titillating or purely aesthetic?' he asks.47 But regardless of reservations about aspects of the exhibition, the overwhelming response was appreciation that the subject had been tackled in a serious and sensitive way. Noone suggested that it was not an appropriate topic for an exhibition. |
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Conclusion | |
| Representing sex work and the sex industry in museums and galleries raises important questions about the relationship of such museums and galleries to the sex industry. Is it possible to represent these subjects without becoming part of the sex industry, or being seen as promoting pornography and prostitution?48 Presumably, the 'pornographer' allegation could be made about any historian who writes on the history of prostitution. Those of us engaged in this activity would argue, of course, that our project is about education, not titillation. However, the history of the sex industry, like any other form of history, is never neutral. Some sex industry entrepreneurs see this only too clearly. As well as her venture into heritage tours and brothel museums, Mary-Anne Kenworthy, the proprietor of Langtrees 181 in Kalgoorlie, has funded research into the history of Hay Street, in the belief that such research will strengthen the case for legalisation.49 |
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Like historians, museums have to decide how they deal with the political dimensions of their subject-matter. Commercial pressures will also play their part in encouraging museums to venture into more 'popular' areas in a bid to attract visitors. Sex is always interesting to a large number of people, but the problem will be to strike the balance between sensationalism and sensitivity. |
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In our new century there is also a growing awareness of the use of museums as powerful institutions for shaping our sense of historical memory. The decision of the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University to dedicate two special issues of its journal to the issue of 'the future of museums/museums of the future' is symbolic of this. One contributor argued that contemporary museums 'have been drawn into debates about the past, its representation and ownership' in an unprecedented way. Carol Duncan has similarly drawn an explicit link between museums and citizenship, contending that:
What we see and do not see in our most prestigious ... museums — and on what terms and whose authority we do or don't see it — involves the much larger questions of who constitutes the community and who shall exercise the power to define its identity.50
It is here that the issue of representing the history of prostitution becomes most contentious and most crucial. A moralistic approach, based on an understanding of commercial sex as being about sexual deviance and/or immorality inevitably tends to marginalise and exclude this history. We would argue that approaching the issue from the perspective of the history of an occupation allows museums to be inclusive, to recognise that sex workers are citizens too, and that the sex industry has played an important role in our collective past. |
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Endnotes
* The authors would like to thank the many people who contributed advice and suggestions for this article, especially Bruce Scates, Amanda Bass, and the anonymous referees. Tony Harris contributed valued research assistance. This article is part of a larger project, 'Selling Sex: a History of Female Prostitution in Australia since 1788', funded by an ARC Discovery Grant, 2002–05.
1. Kay Daniels' 1984 collection, So Much Hard Work: Prostitution in Australian History, Fontana/ Collins, Sydney is still the major published account, but other important studies include Barbara Sullivan, The Politics of Sex: Prostitution and Pornography in Australia since 1945, Cambridge University Press, 1997. For a succinct overview of this history and historiography, see Raelene Frances, 'Prostitution', in Graeme Davison, John Hirst and Stuart Macintyre, The Oxford Companion to Australian History, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1996; also Raelene Frances, 'A History of Female Prostitution in Australia since 1788', in Roberta Perkins, et al., Sex Work and the Sex Industry, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1994.
2. See for instance, Barbara Sullivan, 'Feminism and Female Prostitution', in Perkins, et al., Sex Work, p. 253–268; Roberta Perkins, Working Girls: Prostitutes, Their Life and Social Control, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, 1991; Sheila Jeffreys, The Idea of Prostitution, Spinifex, Melbourne, 1997; Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988; Cheryl Overs, 'Prostitution: We Call it Sex Work Now', Lilith, vol. 6, 1989, pp. 64–8; Christine Overall, 'What's Wrong with Prostitution', Signs, vol. 17, no. 4, 1992, pp. 705–24.
3. For further discussion of these issues, see Raelene Frances, 'Australian Prostitution in International Perspective', Australian Historical Studies, no. 106, April 1996, pp. 127–41.
4. A copy of this token is held by the Perth Mint but has not been put on public display, reportedly because one of the security officers, a former policeman, feels uncomfortable about displaying something 'illegal'. It is interesting to ponder why such attitudes are not applied to other illegal activities (such as bushranging) regularly commemorated in Australian museums. Email to Rae Frances from Anthea Harris, 19 June 2002.
5. This is probably a reference to the establishment of the brothel tours at Langtrees 181, which were opposed in April 1998 by the 'Kalgoorlie branch of the Australian Family Association' (according to Christianity Today magazine), who were planning 'further action' if the theme rooms in 181 were used 'not for a nostalgic look at prostitution but for modern-day practitioners'. Mary-Anne Kenworthy was given permission to renovate 181 Hay St as a 'museum of prostitution' after a 7–to–6 vote on the Kalgoorlie council in early 1998, a decision which caused a 'small but vocal number of Christians' to protest the adverse affects such an establishment would have on the 'physical and spiritual health' of the community. 'Prostitution Museum Prompts Protests', Christianity Today, vol. 42, no. 5, 27 April 1998.
6. On the impact of the US presence in Western Australia, see A.J. Barker & L. Jackson, Fleeting Attraction: a Social History of American Servicemen in Western Australia During the Second World War, UWA Press, Nedlands, 1996.
7. Email from Elizabeth Willis to Rae Frances, 19 November 2002.
8. This project is administered by a committee comprising: Arts Victoria; City of Melbourne; Heritage Victoria; Melbourne Convention and Marketing Bureau; Monash University; Museum Victoria; Melbourne Museum; Old Treasury. It offers both guided and self-guided tours.
9. Email from Justin Francis, Project Manager, Melbourne's Golden Mile Heritage Trail, to Rae Frances, 20 June 2002.
10. Tour figures provided by Langtrees 181 staff.
11. From tape of Langtrees 181 Brothel Tour, 3 October 2002.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Interview between Simon Adams and 'Scotty', Kalgoorlie, 1 April 2002.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Email from D. McGinty to S. Adams, 14 November 2002. Similar sentiments were expressed by other tourists. Email from A. Bass to S. Adams, 11 December 2002; email from L. Green to S. Adams, 28 December 2002.
18. Email from K. Hayden to S. Adams, 16 November 2002.
19. Email from D. McGinty to S. Adams, 14 November 2002.
20. Email from Catherine Belcher to Rae Frances, 19 June 2002. Also, Email from L. Green to S. Adams, 28 December 2002; email from A. Bass to S. Adams, 11 December 2002.
21. From tape of Langtrees 181 Brothel Tour, 3 October 2002.
22. Interview between Simon Adams and 'Scotty', Kalgoorlie, 1 April 2002.
23. Email from K. Hayden to S. Adams, 16 November 2002.
24. Ibid.
25. Email from A. Bass to S. Adams, 11 December 2002. Email from L. Green to S. Adams, 28 December 2002.
26. Interview between Simon Adams and 'Scotty', Kalgoorlie, 1 April 2002.
27. Interview between Simon Adams and 'Kim', Kalgoorlie, 31 March 2002.
28. National Museum of Erotica brochure. See also www.nationalmuseumoferotica.com.
29. Time Magazine, 26 March 2001.
30. National Museum of Erotica brochure.
31. The Love Bus brochure. See also www.lovebus.com.au.
32. Phone interview between Rae Frances and Helen Coulson, 24 August 2002.
33. Ibid.
34. Interviewed by Rae Frances, Echuca, 24 August 2002.
35. Constitutional Museum of South Australia, Media Release, March 1982–015. Our thanks to Lynn Drew for her assistance with material relating to this exhibition.
36. Email from Peter Calahan to Rae Frances, 20 June 2002.
37. A Century in the Shadows, Speakers Corner, No. 1, 1982, Constitutional Museum of South Australia. Text by Rod Keeley based on research by Sue Horan. The exhibition ran from 6 January to 5 February 1982.
38. Nadya Stani, Madam Liverpool, Liverpool Regional Museum, Liverpool, 2001.
39. Ibid, p. ii.
40. Interview, Tony Harris with Nadya Stani and Glenn Capps-Jenner, Newtown, 25 February 2003.
41. See Raelene Frances, 'Sex Workers or Citizens? Prostitution and the Shaping of "Settler" Society in Australia', International Review of Social History, vol. 44, supplement 7, 1999, pp. 101–21.
42. Muse, Issue 82, 22 August 2002, p. 8.
43. Comment in visitor's book, 29 August 2002. Our thanks to the staff at the Australian Centre for Photography for providing copies of material relating to this exhibition, including the visitors' comments.
44. 'Tara's turning tricks and heads', Sydney Morning Herald, 9 September 2002, p. 16.
45. Sydney Morning Herald, 11 September 2002.
46. 'Out from under the covers', Weekend Australian, 14–15 September 2002, p. 18.
47. 'Red Lights, Flashbulbs', Sydney Star Observer, 5 September 2002.
48. This allegation was made about the new Museum of Sex in New York, and the academic historians who acted as consultants: 'Sex Museum Says It Is Here to Educate', New York Times, 19 September 2002.
49. Nevertheless, she has recently fallen foul of the law with her approach and at the time of writing was facing charges for living off the proceeds of prostitution.
50. Duncan quoted in W.R. West, 'American Museums in the 21st Century', Humanities Research, vol. 9, no. 1, 2002, pp. 57–58. Also, D. Chakrabarty 'Museums in late democracies', Humanities Research, vol. 9, no. 1, 2002, p. 7.
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