Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/365665
I t p a y s t o b e A B M P C e r t i f i e d : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 97 America in the past, but it was always an outside service. They didn't get the official Olympic volunteer uniform. I wanted massage therapists to be official members of the community of volunteers. I was in a position to do that, so I did. It just made sense. I worked with the general medical team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, but specifically with the US Olympic team in 2004 in Athens, 2008 in Beijing, and 2012 in London. I was senior massage therapist for the team in London. I also worked as a massage therapist at the Track and Field World Championships in 2003 in Paris, 2007 in Osaka, and 2009 in Berlin, and at the World Indoor Track and Field Championships in 2011 in Istanbul. Berlin was pretty cool. The 2009 World Championships were held in the same stadium used for the Olympics in 1936. Of course, I know the story of Jesse Owens [the black track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, defeating Adolf Hitler's hopes of proving white superiority during the Games], so as an American, and a black American, I was very proud to be where Jesse Owens made his mark. I tried to imagine as I walked through the old Olympic Park and the stadium what it was like in 1936. M&B: People of color are still a minority in massage therapy, and so are men. What are your thoughts on diversity in the profession? Diversity begins with how different groups see and accept touch. In my experience, in the black community in America, touch is not seen as therapeutically as in other cultures. It carries connotations of restraint, attack, or incarceration. Touch meant something very different for black people in a slave-based society. The only time you got touched back then was in a bad way. There was a concerted effort by plantation owners and slave traders to break up family bonds, restrict interaction, and forbid collaboration. Touching is a sign of connection, and connection was a thing to be disrupted. That DNA is still in the black community in America today. This is just my take on it—my opinion. I think the way we continue to introduce massage to more people of color is for those of us of color who are in the profession to continue to be as visible as we can be, and as inspirational as we can be. Men in the profession have to deal with what I think is part of a homophobic epidemic in America. Even when I began, in my early days, some of my teammates told me later that they were "worried" about me because I had gone into massage. What were they worried about? What they were really saying was, "We were kind of homophobic back then." I think in the black community, homophobia is probably greater than in other communities, and that's just from my personal observations. I can remember when I began in this profession, black men saying to me, "I'm not letting some guy touch me." I reminded them Muhammad Ali, the toughest man on the planet, had a black man as his trainer, and that trainer massaged him. But I do think it's getting better. It's certainly a whole lot better than when I began my career. M&B: The double cultural barrier as a black man in the massage profession makes it all the more impressive that you have been as successful as you have. Yes, and the reason I've been successful is that I've adhered to the highest standards of ethics and professionalism. I mean the highest. And the reason I did is that I had to. I had to be better than my white counterparts. I had to do better at all times, in all areas. I was not given any margin for error; I was not given any margin to not get it right. All I had to do was get it wrong one time, and I'd have been finished. When I began my career in 1974, for the first two years, I would only see male clients. In the deep South, a black man massaging a white woman? They lynched black men for just looking at a white woman! So I hired a female therapist to take care of female clients. However, I had many women who would ask, "Why can't I get an appointment with you?" So I came up with a system where I would massage a woman only if she was referred to me by one of my male clients. That was how I protected myself. And even then, I moved into it apprehensively. But, of course, as my professional reputation grew, I started getting people from all over. They came to see me and they looked past the fact that I was a man, and they looked past my color. But from the very beginning, I was aware I had to work at the highest ethical level, and I still practice those ethics to this day. I don't leave a stone unturned when it comes to ethics and being professional with all clients. M&B: When would you say, roughly, that this change happened, when people began to look beyond your color and gender? I'd say about 1982. And let me just say, even today—even today!—there are times when people show up at my clinic and they have a shocked look on their face when I greet them, like, "You're Benny Vaughn?" They've heard these great things about me, so they just assume I've got to be a white guy. That's in 2014. I'm still experiencing this.