Wikipedia

Draft:Mary Brennan (activist and madam)


Mary Brennan (born 1961) is a New Zealand public figure most well known for her work as a sex worker rights campaigner, dominatrix, and madam.

Early and personal life

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Mary Brennan grew up in a working class Catholic family in the coastal village of Eastbourne, in the Wellington region of New Zealand. She attended San Antonio Catholic Primary School, Eastbourne, and Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt. She was fascinated with Mary Magdalene from a young age.[1]

She married Brent Robb in 1990, and the couple remained together until his death in 2002. She married Mikel Surridge in 2006. She underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2001.[2]

Career

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After five years in London, United Kingdom (1988-1993), Brennan returned to New Zealand and bought a fish and chip shop in the South Taranaki village of Manaia, and with her husband Brent, started a fresh fish delivery service to farmers in the surrounding areas. The shop burnt down in 1995, after which she moved to Wellington to work in the management side of the sex industry.[3] At this time, sex work was still criminalised in New Zealand, including brothel keeping, and living off the earnings of prostitution. She began working as a dominatrix in 2005, as Mistress Mariah, at which time she also opened the brothel Funhouse Wellington.[1]

She is more popularly known as Madam Mary, brothel owner and as sex work educator. The Prostitution Reform Act of 2003 banned common brothel practices such as fines, withholding payment, and coercion to see clients, and research suggests that worker protections have increased significantly as a result. This includes the successful prosecution of both clients and brothel owners who have acted illegally.[4][5] However, the transition out of illegal brothel practices in New Zealand has been inconsistent in places.[6]

As of 2015, Brennan was the country's highest paid dominatrix.[7]

In 2015, she and Eleanor Black wrote the book Some Kind of Fantasy, a telling of Brennan's life story, which was published by David Bateman Ltd.[7]

Activism

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Brennan was part of the successful campaign for the decriminalisation of sex work in New Zealand, enacted through the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. She was a contributor to the New Zealand government’s post-decriminalisation review of the law reform.[8] She is active in campaigns for sex worker safety, access to justice, and to counter the consequences of the stigma associated with sex work. Brennan owns the brothel Funhouse Wellington,[1] which opened in 2005. She has described her involvement in the sex industry as a fundamental part of her life, calling it her passion.[9]

Brennan has advocated for brothel compliance with sex work law, and for ethical employment practices beyond what is stipulated by law. As part of this advocacy, Mary Brennan was invited to be part of the New Zealand government’s review of The Prostitution Reform Act.[8]

While advocating internationally for the New Zealand model of decriminalisation[10], Brennan has also critiqued the late amendment to the Prostitution Reform Act which specifically excludes non-New Zealand citizens and residents from working in the sex industry. Along with the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, she has argued that this makes migrant sex workers vulnerable to exploitation from both bad managers and clients[11][12].

Film, television and print media

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Brennan has featured in national and international film, television and print media to discuss sex worker rights, particularly relating to working conditions. Interview subjects include exclusion of sex workers from debates on sex work, safety in different sex work contexts, and the greater precarity experienced by street based sex workers and migrant sex workers.

She has appeared on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,[10] Alice Snedden's Bad News,[11] and TVNZ 1news.[12]

Documentaries

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  1. Inside Sex Work in New Zealand [13] (2019). Vice.
  2. The Oldest Profession - Inside The Fun House[1] (2016) Radio New Zealand
  3. Buying Sex (2013).[14] Dir. Teresa MacInnes, Kent Nason
  4. ‘Let’s talk about sex’ (2008).[15] Directed by Lisa Burd and presented by ‘Real Housewife of Auckland’ Julia Sloane, the documentary opened the Wellington Doc Edge festival.

Radio and audio recordings

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  1. Different desires (2009) Oral History Project[16]
  2. Mary Brennan: domination and submission (2015) Radio New Zealand[17]
  3. Oral history audio recordings of interviews with Mary Brennan are kept in the New Zealand National Archives.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Parsons-King, Rebekah (2016-10-26). "Inside The Fun House". RNZ. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  2. ^ "Interview with a dominatrix". NZ Herald. 2015-06-12. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
  3. ^ "From fishmonger to brothel boss - secret life of Kiwi dominatrix". NZ Herald. 2021-08-25. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  4. ^ "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  5. ^ "Former army officer jailed after raping Wellington sex worker". RNZ. 2024-03-20. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  6. ^ "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  7. ^ a b Clifton, Emma (2015-08-25). "The dominatrix next door". Now to Love - New Zealand. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
  8. ^ a b New Zealand Government (2008). Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the Operation of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. New Zealand Government.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  9. ^ McClure, Tess (2018-10-01). "Meet the Women Selling Sex in New Zealand". VICE. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  10. ^ a b LastWeekTonight (2022-02-27). Sex Work: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). Retrieved 2024-11-15 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ a b "Alice Snedden's Bad News | Episode 1 - Migrant Sex Workers". 2020. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  12. ^ a b 1News (2018-09-25). Calls for foreigners to be able to legally operate in New Zealand’s sex work industry. Retrieved 2024-11-15 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ VICE Life (2019-02-01). Being a Sex Worker Where Prostitution Is Legal. Retrieved 2024-11-15 – via YouTube.
  14. ^ "Buying Sex". www.nfb.ca. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
  15. ^ "Let's Talk About Sex, Trailer". Flicks.co.nz. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
  16. ^ Wilton, Caren (2009). "Different Desires". Te Ara.
  17. ^ "Mary Brennan: domination and submission". RNZ. 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
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