Maxine Fensom (born 30 August 1958) is an Australian entrepreneur well known in the adult industry for founding a number of strip clubs, strippers' agencies, themed events and adult online stores. She also is the owner and founder of the Australian Adult Industry Awards, established in 2000 to recognise achievements in the Australian adult industry, as well as the national Miss Erotica and Miss Dream Girl pageants. Maxine acquired the licensing rights to Sexpo to hold the first ever exhibition in the United States launching in April 2023.
Early life and education
editFensom was born on 30 August 1958 in Brisbane, Australia. Moving to Melbourne at the age of two, Fensom was educated at Camberwell High School and Brinsley Road Free School in Camberwell and had a modest upbringing, the only child of a single mother. She trained as a psychiatric nurse at Swinburne Technical College, but eventually her passion for dancing and acting led her to setting up a promotional dance troupe, which performed around Melbourne successfully for a number of years. Fensom also acted on television,[1] appearing in various episodes as "Bouncy Miss" in the acclaimed Australian Broadcasting Corporation miniseries The Damnation of Harvey McHugh. She has also had a biography written about her life as the most recognisable female face in the adult industry.[2]
Career
editFensom currently operates a gentlemen's club in the suburb of Brunswick in Melbourne. Other businesses she operates include event agencies, a topless bar, an adult merchandise online store, a concierge service and adult party services.
Her career in the adult industry began as after her three-year stint on the daily horoscope segment of Channel Nine's In Melbourne Today show ended. Hosting bucks parties and private functions, Fensom's business grew exponentially, taking on corporate customers[3] and establishing a business headquarters with the support of high-profile porn publisher Larry Flynt[4] and Harry Mohney. Fensom has also been featured in Australian Playboy as a playmate of the month, in their "Girls from Melbourne" edition.
As a prominent female face in the male-dominated adult industry, Fensom has had her fair share of challenges, including social media bullying.[5] Fensom is a strong supporter of female empowerment and helping women exit the adult industry, more regulations around employment in the adult industry and increased sentences for perpetrators of violent crime against women; running as an independent candidate in Victorian state elections in 2002 and 2010. Currently residing in Las Vegas, Fensom is also the CEO of the Las Vegas Cannabis Chamber of Commerce; where she also is an ordained minister regularly performing marriages.
Fensom's cannabis sightseeing tours have also gained her recent recognition by The New York Times.[6] as well as Forbes[7]
References
edit- ^ "Maxine Fensom". IMDb. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
- ^ Leigh, Jeanette (2004). Maxine stripped naked : tales from the sex industry. Essendon: Pennon Publishing.
- ^ Halliday, Claire (17 January 2004). "Naked Ambition" – via The Age.
- ^ Elder, John (16 December 2007). "Hustle Strips Away Hassle For Madam" – via The Age.
- ^ Elder, John (21 March 2013). "Disliking Maxine: sex industry feud hits Facebook" – via The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ Weed, Julie (13 July 2021). "Travel's Back. And It's High Season". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ "Las Vegas Cannabis Weddings Marry Matrimony and Mary Jane in Sin City". Forbes.
Further reading
edit- Las Vegas Cannabis Tours | https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/travel/legal-weed-travel.html | New York Times, July 13, 2021
- Battersby, Lucy (11 April 2013). "Liquidator claims in writ that stripper photos led to dismissal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- "Maxine Fensom wants the adult industry stripped bare". HeraldSun. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.