WHAT is this foxy minx doing wrapping herself around a pole in sleepy Rydalmere?

Well, Rydalmere happens to be one of the favourite places of Zahra Stardust, world-class pole dancer and burlesque queer performer.

And, as the sex capital of Parramatta city, Rydalmere is not so sleepy with a reported nine brothels and popular sex club Aarows.

The colourful Zahra, aka Marianna Leishman, came to town to beat the drum for the maligned sex industry after Parramatta councillor Michael McDermott and residents said ``enough is enough’’ in brothel town.

Cr McDermott and his fellow councillors want to turn Rydalmere into a ``smart rather than smutty’’ area, with hi tech replacing high sex.

As a law graduate and smart cookie, Zahra said Rydalmere could be ``smart as well as smutty’’, pointing out that many smart and respectable people patronised the sex industry.

Zahra does more than twirl around a pole in exotic costumes as a member of the Australian Sex Party, she ran a high-profile campaign as a candidate in the Bradfield Federal by-election last November, scoring more than 2000 votes on the ``respectable’’ North Shore. So she feels she is more than qualified in understanding the range of people straight, gay and queer who indulge in sex services of all sorts.

Many ``straight and married people’’ also enjoyed the sorts of shows on offer at Aarows, which is the only swingers club catering to the whole sexual spectrum.

``We were quite devastated when we read Cr McDermott’s comments in the Advertiser (December 16 2009),’’ Zahra said.

``His comments were hurtful and did not represent who we are. His comments were quite divisive and there already is enough stigma attached to the sex industry.’’

Zahra said that the ``undesirables’’ Cr McDermott refers to were the same ``residents, decent family people’’ he praised.

``You can have undesirables in the supermarket as much as you have frequenting brothels and sex clubs,’’ she said.

Source: http://parramatta-advertiser.whereilive.com.au/