‘Madam Lash’ is the stage name of Gretel Pinniger, born in New South Wales in 1945. Young Gretel became fascinated with the relationship between pleasure and pain while being taught about the Crucifixion. By the 1970s the once-introverted Pinniger had transformed herself into ‘a pin-up girl for straight men who fantasised about being disciplined by a woman’. The so-called sexual revolution had gained ascendancy in Australia, and Pinniger’s whip-wielding performances fascinated and shocked the public. In the decades that followed, Pinniger continued to make headlines with her paintings, outrageous public appearances, property purchases and legal battles. A brush with cancer in 2003 forced her to reduce her hectic schedule. Nevertheless, Everingham reports that, at the time of writing his book, Pinniger spent ‘most of her waking hours’ creating art in her Sydney home.

The text is well researched and much less sensationalistic than its title might suggest. Everingham captures the shifting attitudes towards sex and sexuality in Australia since the 1950s. He never judges or condemns his subject. Pinniger is portrayed as philosophical and unpredictable, a woman who has, by her own admission, ‘expanded’ the minds of those around her through her commitment to True Art. As one friend reports, ‘Gretel just adores fantasy’ and has been ‘courageous enough to live out her fantasies’.

I disagree with Pinniger’s argument that ‘women’s lib’ is anti-sex and repressive. This is a disappointingly common refrain amongst libertarians. Otherwise, Pinniger’s candid and often amusing recollections about her eventful life make Madam Lash a pleasure to read.