'I spent the day with a brothel madam. These are the things I really didn’t expect to see.'

When Newcastle's queen of the sex industry invited me to meet her at her place of work, I was curious and also nervous. But mostly very curious.

On a gloomy Monday morning a few days later, I met brothel madam and sex club owner, Anna Morrigan* at Club 687 in Newcastle's CBD.

As I strolled up to the club's discreet entrance, two men with bulging calf muscles and tattoos loitered outside before being sent a few doors down to the brothel. Once despatched, the door reopens, and I am welcomed inside by Anna, a petite redhead with sparkly eyes.

"Excuse the mess, there was a kink party here at the weekend," she laughs, "the cleaners are on their way."

She starts by offering a guided tour of the premises. A small entranceway opens up to a large open room filled with various pieces of curious furniture. There's a black leather ergonomic sex bench "to get you in the right position" that Anna scored after another sex club closed its doors due to COVID. 

There are two ornate thrones that Anna mostly uses to help women find their Goddess energy and a submissive cage where guests can curl up to escape and watch the action or submit to someone else's power. 

Watch: Sex/Life Season 2 Official Trailer. Post continues below.

We climb a set of stairs, where the first stop is the bar, lounge and pole dancing area. Fairy lights twinkle above a Marilyn Monroe mural and a large red leather couch has room for at least 20 partygoers.

I am surprised when Anna says she prefers to keep alcohol at her events to an absolute minimum. 

"We mostly serve soft drinks in here. Occasionally people will bring a bottle of wine and that's fine as that's their choice, but the focus is not on alcohol.

"We don't make conscious sexual decisions when we're drunk and we actually can't even consent properly and for me as a party host, it's really quite important that we are present in our bodies, able to consent."

We then visit a 'medical' themed room for wax and needle play. There's a leather message or dentist-type chair front and centre and a sexy nurse's uniform hangs on the back of the bathroom door. 

Anna apologises for the hardened wax all over the floor from the weekends' escapades. In the corner, there's a 'grope box', a kinky changing room with multiple holes for hands to reach through and touch. An old-fashioned bell is fixed to the wall and used to signal when the person hidden is ready for the groping to begin.

There are three bedrooms, two with showers and one with a floor-to-ceiling golden pole ready to be shimmied up or down. Mirrors are prominent and lighting is subdued. Boxes of tissues sit on shelves ready to be whipped out when needed and all bed sheets are black. 

The styling is Victorian-era-meets-Playboy-mansion-meets-nightclub. Velvet VIP ropes sit outside each room to be set in place across doorways or removed as required; depending on whether guests can take part in the bedroom action or must remain outside as voyeurs.

Club 687 used to be a brothel, Anna purchased the business after the previous owners went bankrupt.

"COVID-19 was hard on the sex industry," Anna says.

"I already owned a brothel up the road, so I diversified and only use this space for sex parties, private functions and educational events.

"I have worked in this industry for decades now but am very passionate about this arm of my business now."

The final destination on the tour is the sex dungeon. This room is very much a departure from the rest of the top floor; painted in a deep red it gives off a major Games of Thrones vibe.

"There are chains, whips, a sex swing and a St Andrew's Cross – everything you need if BDSM is your thing," Anna laughs.

"There's evidence that humans have enjoyed BDSM for thousands of years so really we have been into kink for a long time."

Anna in the sex dungeon. Image: Supplied.

We journey back downstairs past piles of sheets, towels and cushions ready for washing.

"People come here and to the brothel to feel safe and in the hands of professionals. Guests and clients need to know that we've taken absolutely every effort to keep it clean."

As we settle into our thrones back downstairs, Anna tells me she has worked in the sex industry since before the AIDS epidemic in the mid-1980s. She has consistently dealt with many misconceptions about sex work.

"I became a sex worker when I was far too young to be one and at a time when it was illegal. I was private school educated, so it was a conscious choice for me. I think at the time I was simply being rebellious!"

Anna continued as a sex worker while studying law and eventually owned her own brothel by the age of 20 in Victoria. She relocated to Queensland and spent a few unhappy months in prison. It was shortly after her stint inside that the HIV/AIDS epidemic hit Australia.

"The adult industry was smashed in the early to mid-'80s and it was a really scary time for anyone in sex work. But what I and a lot of other people learned was ways to work in the sex industry without having sex.

"This was when I became interested in tantric energy and that you can create something far more special by not having penetrative sex. Afterwards, I became known as 'the girl who didn't have sex' because I realised I could give clients a really good experience without penetration. Tantric methods and conscious sexuality remain my passions."

Listen to Mamamia's podcast about sex, Sealed Section. Post continues below.

As a lawyer with a psychology degree to boot, Anna doesn't 'have' to work in the sex industry anymore, but it remains her choice, even now as a mother to four adult children. Her three eldest children are aware of their mum's business, but the youngest (who is not yet an adult) is not.

"I don't want the parents of her friends to ban them from coming to visit our house. There are many things that I have to do to protect my kids from other people's stereotypes and judgment."

Anna's business might be in Newcastle but for reasons of privacy, she lives out of state and regularly flies in and out when parties or meetings are held. 

"I have two quite separate lives. I don't think I could live and work in Newcastle because aside from my kids, I would walk down the street and people would want to have a chat with me about their sex lives! My partner of 11 years is also from Newcastle."

Anna has strong and perhaps surprising views on porn and the effects it has had on the industry and people's sex lives generally.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anna Morrigan (@club687_)

"I can't remember the latest statistics exactly, but there's something like about 60 per cent of men under 40 have erectile dysfunction from watching porn which is just horrendous. Watching porn actually rewires the neural pathways of the brain so that the body no longer responds to a real person. 

"At the club and in the brothel we see a lot of young men not able to get an erection, and they don't understand it's because of porn. They blame the woman in front of them for not doing bizarre enough acts. So we've got pressure happening for women from the men creating a lot of anger and upset. 

"My preference is to see people coming back to their bodies, back to having conversations with the person in front of you about what they like, what they don't like, not making any presumptions, and bringing people back to actually communicating. About 70 to 80 per cent of the work I do with couples is about trying to undo the damage porn has done to their relationship."

Anna's passion for educating people, and particularly women, to have better sex is inspiring.

"I see very much that porn and escalating disconnection means people are not present when having sex. I'm running courses at the club to try to provide information and education that help to get rid of that disconnect and allow women to connect to their bodies and enjoy sex again. 

"I believe it takes women a good hour to really sink into their bodies and relax. I make time for that so that when they arrive here they feel safe. And when women feel safe, they've got a much greater chance of accessing pleasure. For a lot of women, that's something that's never happened and that's terrible."

I could have talked to Anna for days, but as we finish our chat and I take a final tour to take some photos, the cleaners arrive to start their big job. 

Anna winks and smiles as she waves me off and invites me to a party in the future. 

I tell her I will think about it, and I smile back.

Laura Jackel is Mamamia's Family Writer. For links to her articles please follow her on Instagram and TikTok.

Feature Image: Supplied / Canva.

*While Anna is known to Mamamia, this is not her real name.