The author, lounging in one of the rooms. All photos by Rebecca Colquhoun. Le Boudoir is one of Melbourne's few brothels to be run entirely by women. Jill, who has been in the industry for 40 years, opened the place in She's a sharp but kind lady, in a no-bullshit way, and after a few meetings Jill invited me and my photographer friend to come spend Valentine's at her establishment. I had some questions about Valentine's that I thought only a brothel could answer. It's often assumed women care about Valentine's and men don't.
As a single bartender I usually spend the day witnessing other people's traditions rather than creating my own and honestly, from the other side of the bar, it doesn't look like I'm missing out. I don't think about Valentine's and I don't get lonely, even though I know a more than a few single women do.
Having said that, I wondered about this supposed gender divide on Valentine's loneliness and decided a brothel could offer some insights. Is it true that lonely men just want to fuck? Or does Valentine's have no bearing on the sex industry at all?
Past the front door we found ourselves in a public waiting room decadently furnished with two sofas and lots of gold. No one was around but I felt underdressed. Is there even a dress code for visiting a brothel? I rang the doorbell and a receptionist let us into the inner sanctum.
The deal is that people can come in off the street, staff can eye them off via CCTV while they sit in the waiting room, then decide whether they're going to let them in. I wondered what kind of conversations arise while dudes hang around the waiting room. Phones in the inner waiting room.
