The profession of massage therapy has been a victim of the prostitution industry for too long. It has a sad back story I don’t have space for here. I’m told people don’t care about history these days, anyway. This past February, the arrests of a large prostitution / human trafficking ring was announced, including the names of some very prominent clients. The media once again used their beloved term: “massage parlor.” Of course, this perpetuates a very undesirable stereotype and puts legitimate massage professionals not only in a shadowy light, but in actual physical danger. Instances like this continue to perpetuate the negative stereotypes and references to our honorable profession. I’m tired of our profession being smeared by prostitution, human trafficking, and the way media outlets report enforcement activities.

Regrettably, there is a demand for prostitution but our society has made it illegal, so it hides, too often using massage as its “Front.”  How do we stop the illicit operations from defaming our profession? Why do we allow ourselves to continue to be demeaned by those who use our title inappropriately? When we went for licensing, one of the hoped-for benefits was that it would drive prostitution to find another cover. Depending on how effectively the individual state statute was written, it had some positive effects. Then we gave exemptions to certain types of massage which now prevent effective enforcement of the protection of our title (“Massage”) and its practice in many instances. We wrote our laws very poorly. Worse, the model legislation recently proposed by the Federation of Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) is more flawed than any of the laws we now have on the books. It should be burned. But, that’s another story.

Our State massage boards and are not presently equipped to handle the current situation alone. However, if the enforcement clauses were rewritten to allow massage boards to work directly with local and state law enforcement, much more could be accomplished.

It is up to us, massage professionals, to clean up this mess. No one else is going to do it for us. In service to our profession and our lineage, to the victims of this evil human trafficking-prostitution trade, and to the public, it is time our associations develop a nationwide campaign dedicated to either passing effective, enforceable anti-prostitution laws or regulating prostitution in a way that prevents it from using the terminology or practice of massage as a front. Let’s create some meaningful model laws that end this curse on our profession and get them passed. How about a media awareness campaign to get them to stop using the term “massage parlor” for a start? Let’s end the use of the term, “massage parlor” once and for all. It is time to “put-up-or-shut-up.” Either we do something effective, or stop complaining every time we are associated with the prostitution industry.