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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Nick Buckley

Pouring champagne and ironing knickers: my day serving the matriarchy as a topless male waiter

Two men wearing barrister's wigs and white neck ruffles, with no shirts on, stand in front of a green velvet curtain on which white sculptures of penises of different shapes and sizes are mounted. One man is holding a wine bottle, another holds a bunch of grapes.
Mona’s Ladies Lounge reopened this month after a sex discrimination complaint first won by a male patron was overturned in lutruwita/Tasmania’s supreme court. Photograph: Mona/Jesse Hunniford

“Mum”, a drag mistress sporting a severe blonde bob, dresses me in a black tuxedo jacket and tie, chest and belly exposed – then puts me to work ironing knickers. Later, I’m handed a feather duster with which to polish an array of white porcelain dicks – alternately girthy, proud, veiny and shrivelled – protruding from the rich green velvet drapes (Peter Lundberg’s 91 Penises).

This is the price of entry to the Museum of Old and New Art’s Ladies Lounge – if you’re a man.

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