Karen Parker, a researcher at La Trobe University, booked a Brazilian wax at Brazilica, in Brunswick, as a birthday present to herself in October last year.



However, when the waxer saw Parker had not had sex reassignment surgery, she immediately said it wasn't possible.

"She said ‘Let’s get started’, I took the towel off, she looked at me in horror," Parker told BuzzFeed News. "I felt really humiliated."

Parker explained she had specified that she is transgender when making the booking, and nobody had indicated it would be a problem.

Parker said the waxer then went to get the manager, who explained they did not have the training to wax "male genitals".

Georgia Locke, the owner of Brazilica, told BuzzFeed News "We do transgender clients all the time, but don't offer male genital waxing".

"It’s not on our menu," she said. "In the same way we don’t offer a manicure, a pedicure, or anything else. We’re not trained, we’re not set up to do it."



Locke said the issue was not about gender identity, and on the day Parker came in, she was offered a wax on anything else she wanted.

"I get asked all the time ‘Do you do male Brazilians, how much?’ or whatever. There are plenty of places that do do it."

Parker sent a complaint to the salon and said she felt "insulted" by the response, which reiterated they do not offer Brazilians on "male genitalia".