Outside the Ladies Lounge

#42—When is it OK to discriminate? And should we do it?

Welcome to Mind Flexing, your weekly thought expedition to everywhere and anywhere. Strap on your boots (or put your feet up), take a deep breath, and let’s get flexing.  

---

Nothing is more intriguing than a curtain you’re forbidden to peek behind and, on this occasion, the curtain is green. Emerald to be precise. It opulently shrouds the rectangular space in front of me, its folds shimmering in the mischievously dim luminescence of Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona). I stare at the curtain for a while in the manner in which people stare at things in art galleries, as if staring will give me x-ray eyes into its inside.

There’s no sign to tell me what this space behind the emerald curtain is—there’s no descriptions on anything at Mona, all words are tucked away within the interactive app, hidden, much like the gallery itself, carved deep into the sandstone like a cool, dark cave. And here in this underworld, I don’t need words to know what I’m looking at. This curtain is infamous. This is the Ladies Lounge, dormant now for the past six months. Mona could have removed it but, in its wonderfully theatrical nature, it has kept it in situ with its curtain drawn to all. I imagine the room’s lonely ornate chairs facing a blank wall. The butler has gone, having wheeled the trolley of unused champagne flutes back to the bar in the downstairs void selling cocktails, pizzas and emptiness. The space, which was for women only, is smaller than I expected, somewhat cozy and intimate.

I look around and then back to the curtain half hoping a head will pop out and say, ‘pssst, come in, this way.’ Stranger things have happened at Mona. But no. At least, not today.

The Ladies Lounge was closed because of a man, a man who, museum ticket in hand, was infuriated at being denied entry to view the purported Picasso paintings designated for female-eyes only. He was so infuriated that he complained and the case was sent to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. And what a spectacle it was, and in Hobart of all cities—a city that never sleeps—when artist Kirsha Kaechele, creator of the lounge in question, paraded into court followed by a wall of 70 women in navy blue power suits, each with a hand delicately placed over her left ovary. But it was to no avail. The Ladies Lounge, which had been at Mona for four years, was ordered to end its gender-based discrimination or pull its curtain shut. So shut its curtain it did.

Artist Kirsha Kaechele, creator of the Ladies Lounge outside the Supreme Court of Tasmania. Source: Mona.

What that man didn’t realise was that he wasn’t being denied the experience of the Ladies Lounge—he was experiencing it—because the Ladies Lounge is the artwork. It’s an experiential role-reversal that mimics traditional men’s clubs—places women have been historically excluded from—inviting women in to be spoilt with compliments, wine and art, and prohibiting men. To allow men entry would be to destroy the art, to erase the experience of gender-based discrimination.

Not that the men are really missing out on much as they wait on gold-rimmed seats facing a wall of 76 sculpted vaginas. But there’s something in being excluded that taunts the ego to the extent that it wants nothing else other than what it can’t have. What exactly do the women have inside the Ladies Lounge? Not as much as it may have seemed. Fated to ever be short changed, Kaechele recently admitted that the supposed Picassos inside the lounge were fakes she painted herself. Even so, a sombre weight drags at my feet and prevents them from moving away from the emerald curtain. I am disappointed. It would have been nice to take part in the experience.

And as I stand there I wonder; is it ever OK to discriminate? To segregate? Even in the name of art?

There are of course clear instances where the answer to those questions is an emphatic ‘no’. Instances where the exclusion is propelled by prejudice, racism, homophobia, sexism and a host of other isms and phobias, instances in which those in a position of power seek to dominate and repress those without. But what about the grey spaces? Society seems quite comfortable with maintaining separate men’s and women’s restrooms. A women’s only gym? I think all women, whether they use such a facility or not, recognise the importance of safe places for women to exercise without fear of their bodies and movements being sexualised. There are culture-based clubs, LGBTIQ+ clubs, women’s clubs and men’s clubs. Interestingly, same-sex clubs are exempt from Australia’s Equal Opportunity Act, an exemption that does not extend to other groups.

Most people would agree that there’s no problem in forming clubs that allow people with like interests and experiences to socialise, and in the majority of circumstances, only those for which the club is designed care to be a part of it. And if I am to single out a men’s-only club as a fabulous and positive example, I would choose the Australian Men’s Shed Association, which welcomes all men into their supportive community. Such spaces are an asset to society.

But there are some clubs that leave you scratching your head, like The Australian Club—the oldest and most prestigious private men’s club in Australia; a club that only admits the extremely wealthy and requires as many as eight club referees to join. A club that voted as recently as 2021 to continue to exclude women. The club—and similar exclusive private men’s clubs like the Melbourne Club and Athenaeum Club—is a ‘discrete’ network of rich and powerful businessmen and politicians, the sort where deals are done and decisions made. A few from within their own ranks have questioned why they would not want to benefit from admitting successful and powerful women. One can only wonder. But perhaps I’m being too tough on these clubs for powerful men. Perhaps they too need a space in which they can feel comfortable among their own and sheltered from the plebs—and women.

And it’s precisely this arrangement that Kaechele flips in her Ladies Lounge. So why is it that same-sex clubs like The Australian Club can exist, but an artist cannot exclude one sex from entering a part of an artwork? If the Ladies Lounge had been an actual club, there would have been no problem, said the judge. He ruled that the intention of the artwork wasn’t clear (really, he expects artworks to come with an explanation of their intention?!?) and that it didn’t meet the requirements of permissible discrimination.

There’s a very amusing interview with Kaechele on Mona’s website in which she discusses how the artwork can be made to conform to the requirements of permissible discrimination, including those of religious grounds in which the Ladies Lounge could provide Bible study sessions, or transforming it into a facility, such as a toilet, or permitting men in on Sundays to iron and fold laundry. She’s brilliantly excentric, and it’s worth noting that Kaechele is married to the gallery owner David Walsh, an equally excentric mathematical genius, professional gambler and art collector.

Still staring at the emerald curtain, I know one thing for certain; the Ladies Lounge won’t be defeated. I may not be allowed inside, and I may not be provided with such an opportunity again, but women will sashay behind this curtain once more. I know this because just a day before I arrived at this curtain, a remarkable thing happened—Tasmania’s Supreme Court quashed the tribunal’s decision. The judge found that the lounge was designed to provide equal opportunity for women and could therefore exclude men. The case will now return to the tribunal.

I haven’t mentioned the name of the man who brought the case against the Ladies Lounge. It’s published in many places, but it’s largely irrelevant and there’s no need to victimise him personally for feeling discriminated. Besides, Kaechele seems delighted by it all, describing the court case as an extension of the artwork. What’s more, all the attention has certainly ensured that the Ladies Lounge will now likely tour the world after a month-long celebration at Mona.

What will be inside the Ladies Lounge when it reopens? I stare at the emerald curtain and wonder, then turn to disappear into the gallery’s shadows. For now, I am denied entry because of a man. I would like to say it’s ironic, but the feeling is eerily familiar.

Have you been into, or left out of the Ladies Lounge? How did you feel?

---

Things I’ve enjoyed on Substack this week

• Fragments—by

  Summer Brennan

  It was wonderful to read fresh words by Summer Brennan, who’s returned after some time away from our screens. She always manages to pull me into another realm.

• Tales from the Wood and Lizzy May—by

  Steve Fendt

  Two separate stories that intertwine in the 1970s to tell the tales of young Pauly, a soft kid in a fractured town, and his grandmother Lizzy May, who lives in a council flat on the outskirts of London. Chapters 1 have just begun, so jump on board now.

• Part 1 of The Charlotte Brontë industry: Victorian victimhood and literary legacies—by

  E.J. Barnes

  I enjoyed this essay on the ‘legend’ of Charlotte Brontë, as terrible as it is to see how people cash in on their supposed loved ones. And I must add, for those who read it, I am a big fan of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (and Kate Bush’s song too, for that matter).

Etymology Monday

And this week’s word is:

toboggan

Where do you think it comes from?

---

Thank you for Mind Flexing with me. If you enjoyed this essay, please subscribe, comment, click the ❤️ button, or share it with someone who would appreciate it. I’ll be back next week. Until then, keep 💪.