For your local law enforcement officials, there are two main issues that law enforcement need to be made aware of: The fact that Massage Therapists have to deal with sexual harassment and possibly sexual assault by clients or potential clients and the brothel’s disguised as massage businesses that may or may not be involved in human trafficking.
Sexual harassment comes in many forms. Seemingly innocent text or email messages asking for extra services, explicit requests for extra services with photos of their….um members. While most massage therapists have learned how to screen clients and not allow those people to make appointments for massage, things can happen on the massage table that can lead to a massage therapist being harassed and assaulted. Reporting them to law enforcement is recommended, but it is nearly impossible to prove things like this. We need a safe way to be able to report these things and need you to know the risks we have of being a massage therapist.
Brothels disguised as massage businesses is the other issue. They are all over in our communities disguised as Asian Massage Spas, Foot Massage, Thai Massage, Tantric Massage and Spas. Asian Massage Spas are the most obvious disguise. There are very legitimate forms of Asian Massage and the massage therapists that are trained in types of massage from Asia use their exact names like (taken from the American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia®):
- Acupressure
- Jin Shin Do®Bodymind Acupressure®
- Amma
- Amma Therapy®
- Chi Nei Tsang
- Jin Shou Tuina™
- Nuad Bo ‘Rarn (Traditional Thai)
- Tuina
- Medical Qigong
- Five Element Shiatsu
- Integrative Eclectic Shiatsu
- Japanese Shiatsu
- Macrobiotic Shiatsu
- Shiatsu Anma Therapy
- Zen Shiatsu
- Shiatsu
Licensed Massage Therapists have specific training, testing, background checks and are required to obtain a state massage license and in some cases an establishment license. There are also laws in place in many states that make it so a licensed massage therapist will have to have their massage license on the wall of the office and their license number in any and all advertisements including on their websites. Some also require photo ID on the license or require that the licensed massage therapist must carry photo ID. The reason for this is that many of the places under disguise will do things like have one license on the wall with a name that could be applied to any person and when the so called therapist is asked for ID, they say they don’t have any making it difficult for law enforcement and the public to know if they are licensed. Most states also have a website to verify massage licenses. You can view more about each states licensing requirements and find the links to verify massage licenses in your state below.
Most states have laws that make it illegal to use the words massage/massage therapy if you are not licensed with the state although most are civil laws with a few having criminal laws. This alone should be enough to start your investigations and close businesses down.
