/ 3 May 2002

Press clipping

Prostitutes at a well-known Perth brothel were left reeling from exhaustion following an influx of United States sailors stressed from their time spent on duty in the war against terror.

New Zealand-born madam Mary-Anne Kenworthy said she was forced to close the doors of her Langtrees brothel in Perth on Wednesday because her girls were so worn out they could no longer provide a quality service.

She said the brothel had done a week’s business in three days after 5500 American sailors disembarked in Fremantle on Sunday, many of them stressed from their encounter with war.

Three US warships were returning from taking part in operations linked to the US-led campaign in Afghanistan.

”A lot of it was about stress they had been in the war zone,” Kenworthy said. ”And they were a lot more agitated sexually because they had been at sea too long. All the sex workers in Perth would have been exhausted.”

Kenworthy said she shut up shop when she realised some sex workers were taking money when they were not up to the job.

Sapa-AFP, May 2 2002