- Image via Wikipedia
By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer
Whilst researching around the internet, I found a link to a chat room thread that exemplifies one of the problems massage therapists face to this day: the misconception that massage therapy is a sexual service. In this thread, a young man inquires how to go about getting sexual services from a “legitimate massage therapist.” Which is really an oxymoron.
All too often, men (and some women) think that massage IS a sexual service and get confused as to what they are getting when they schedule a massage session. This makes it tough on those of us that are legitimate massage therapists. How do you know if your massage therapist or massage center is legit or a cover for prostitution?
Massage is Not Prostitution, But Massage “Parlors” Are Often Fronts for Prostitution
Because prostitution is illegal, prostitutes and massage parlor operators look for creative ways to mask the real intent of their product: Sex for hire. And what better way to conceal your true product than to market it under the name of a similar product or service: Call it “massage.”
Massage parlors don’t typically use licensed massage therapists. Why bother? Licensing for massage therapy requires at least a year or so of schooling, including anatomy and kineseology, at a cost of about $10,000-$12,000. And in Illinois, massage therapists get fingerprinted and go through a criminal background check–tough to pass if her or she has a record of convictions for prostitution.
Who Are Legitimate Massage Therapists?
Which brings me to my point. How do you know the difference between a legitimate massage therapy center and a massage parlor? Let’s run through a legitimate massage therapist’s goals, training and ethics to demonstrate how we differ from massage parlor masseuses.
Massage Therapy Goals
Legitimate massage therapists are people that like to help other people, non-sexually. We aim to relieve muscle pain, relax your nervous system and give you a period of time in which you and your wellness is the focus (which is tough to find these days between work, family, fitness and social obligations).
Legitimate massage therapy gives clients a safe space to relax. Licensed massage therapists are trained to respect client’ boundaries, be non-judgemental and compassionate.
True, there is a wide range of skill levels between licensed massage therapists, and some are far better than others, but overall, legitimate massage therapists strive to provide a clean, safe and relaxing massage session for clients.
Massage Therapy Ethics
Legitimate massage therapists agree to abide by a code of ethics that prohibits sexual massage. In fact, if a legitimate massage therapist is convicted of giving sexual massages, aka prostitution, she/he can lose their massage therapy license, face disciplinary measures from their professional association and be barred from performing professional massage.
Massage Therapy Training
Licensed massage therapists train in massage techniques as well as proper draping techniques to ensure your genitals are never exposed during your massage. In massage therapy school, we learn about skin conditions and how to avoid contagion.We learn about good hygiene and general health conditions. We undergo extensive testing in each massage class as well as at the end of our training in order to obtain our massage therapy licenses.
In Chicago, legitimate massage therapists must apply for and maintain current licenses with the State of Illinois. Any massage therapist that has been disciplined for performing sexual massage can have this license revoked. You can look up the validity of a massage therapists license online here. Your can also request that your massage therapists show you his or her state license. In addition, in Chicago, every Massage Therapy “Establishment,” from the Working Well Massage chair massage station at Whole Foods to the big spas, must have a Massage Establishment License.
Where Do I Find a Legitimate Massage Therapist?
You can find legitimate massage therapists on massage locater services such as ABMP, or Massage Today’s websites. Link to my previous post, “How Do I Find a Good Massage Therapist?” here.
A massage therapy session can be a wonderful, positive, relaxing experience. Or it can be a way to relieve muscle pain, heal from injury or help you better cope with stress. What it’s not is an open invitation to harass, proposition or fondle the massage therapist!
Working Well Resources' Blog 
[…] commentary on our elected officials view of the massage profession. As I said in my post, “Massage and Prostitution–Whats’ the Difference,” yes, there are some shady operators that open up massage “parlors” and use […]
That’s an important point you’re making! I’ve been thinking about that as well lately and the thin line between massage therapy and prostitution. If you visit pretty much any other manual therapist, you talk about your symptoms and the practitionner will choose the best treatment to help you out. Very often, in the massage therapy, the patient will ask the therapist the type of treatment he wants and, in my book, this is closing in to prostitution.
Bon Jour Fred,
Thank you for reading my blog and commenting!
It is interesting that you view a massage therapist asking a client what type of treatment he or she wants as closing in to prostitution. I am not clear on the connection you are making. I think it really depends on the setting of the massage. If someone is visiting a U.S. spa, then it is customary to ask clients what type of massage they want because spas market massage based on type. For example, “Swedish” massage, “Sports” massage or aromatherapy. In the U.S. most massage therapists in spas are not seen as health care providers, but more personal service providers like hair dressers. This is unfortunate because many U.S. massage therapists are not trained to do much more than Swedish massage. When massage therapists try to do “deep tissue” massage, they often tend to simply provide a deep pressure Swedish massage. And even if the massage therapist does know how to give clinical massages, clients often do not know what to ask for and may not get the massage they need if they ask for a specific type of massage. It really is best to leave the techniques used in a massage up to the massage therapist, not the client, for this reason.
That said, for those of us U.S. massage therapists that do see ourselves as health care providers, we tend to ask clients what areas they need us to focus on or avoid and ask them questions about any problems they may have such as low back pain or neck pain. Most clinically-oriented U.S. massage therapists do not ask clients what type of massage they want because the client won’t know. We may use a variety of techniques that may be considered Swedish, Deep Tissue, Sports or Positional Release, by other clinical massage therapists.
As for prostitution masquerading as massage therapy, I think asking clients what type of massage they want can actually be useful in weeding out clients who are not legit. If a client wants a sexual massage, he (or she) will likely ask for something that sounds sexual. And that is not on the menu of any legitimate U.S. massage therapist, spa or otherwise!
Thanks again for reading and commenting, Fred!
Sue
I like your article, however, I am not a licensed massage therapist, but I have extensive training and my goal is to help people heal and relax in a safe and dignified environment. Just because I am not licensed doesn’t justify that I should be harassed on regular basis and degraded to a level of a prostitute. These men don’t even bother looking at the website and finding out about the nature of the massage I provide, they just see the massage and immediately think prostitution. My Massage has a spiritual nature to it and is well described in my website and has nothing to do with sexual services, most people who have written a review on my google are women, but still I get calls and texts on daily basis from men that are asking for sexual services. It is so frustrating, ulgly and awful.
Hi Nina,
I am so sorry to hear about the harassment! Your experience is so frustrating and awful. Unfortunately, you are learning what many licensed massage therapists deal with as well. Not having a license makes it even more likely that people will seek you out for sexualized massage, because most sex workers pretending to be massage therapists do not have licenses. My advice is to learn to be short and sweet on the phone and use the opportunity to educate callers that you do not do sex work, but do spiritual work. And make sure your website is geared towards spiritual versus bodywork. If you do not advertise massage, but more the spiritual work, you will likely get less of these types of calls. Hang in there, you are not alone.
Sue