Minding Your
Own Business?
If you think you are not affected
by sex trafficking, consider this: if
for safety reasons you have chosen
not to have a private practice, or
to work only in settings where a
second person is in the office at all
times, you have made career-limiting
decisions due to the inappropriate
cultural stereotype of massage as
a sexual service. Sex trafficking is
hurting you, but there are some simple
things you can do to fight back.
First, we should not tolerate illicit
inquiries about our practices. When
a joke is made about "happy endings,"
you can say, "Massage therapy is never
sexual. What you're talking about
is usually sex trafficking, which is a
crime. Thousands of young women and
children are sold for sex every day in
this country and buyers and sellers are
facing arrest, fines, and public exposure
for their crimes."
Use your voice to educate about the
difference between massage therapy
and massage parlors. When people
use the term massage parlor, explain
how this is a well-known euphemism
for brothel, and therefore offensive and
dangerous to therapists. Explain how
it suggests that massage therapy is a
thinly veiled sex industry and increases
the likelihood that misinformed clients
and sexual predators will seek out sexual
services from practitioners, putting
massage therapists everywhere at
risk. In the same vein, encourage media
outlets to use appropriate language
when reporting sex trafficking stings.
Help them make the distinction
between massage establishments and
brothels or sex trafficking operations
posing as massage establishments.
Second, report incidents of
trafficking. By keeping quiet about
the storefront down the street that
poses as a massage business, we are
joining the list of sex trafficking
Massage
therapists
are uniquely
positioned on the
front lines of this
issue, with the
potential to have
an enormous
impact.
facilitators. Put the National Human
Trafficking Resource Center hotline
in your phone (888-373-7888).
Use your caller ID info to report
particularly offensive requests from
would-be clients via your business phone
line. Find potential sex trafficking
operations posing as massage businesses
in your area by searching for sites
created by and for buyers of sex, and
report them to your local police.
Massage therapists are uniquely
positioned on the front lines of this
issue, with the potential to have an
enormous impact. Human trafficking
has become our problem, and it's too
late to look away. Together, we can
work to make a difference.
Notes
1. Rub Maps, accessed November 2012, www.rubmaps.com. Warning: this site contains graphic
material.
2. US Department of State, "Human Trafficking Defined," accessed December 2012,
www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2008/105487.htm.
3. Shared Hope International, "DEMAND," accessed December 2012,
www.sharedhope.org/resources/demand.aspx.
4. Shared Hope International, accessed December 2012, http://sharedhope.org/trafficking/
faqs/#HowoldarethechildrenexploitedthroughsextraffickingintheUnitedStates-15.
5. Protecting Innocence Initiative, Executive Briefing live broadcast, recorded Thursday,
December 1, 2011.
6. The Health Law Firm blog, "The Number of Massage Licenses Suspended in Florida Now
Almost Doubled," accessed November 2012, www.thehealthlawfirm.com/blog/posts/
the-number-of-massage-licenses-suspended-in-florida-now-almost-doubled.html.
7. Florida Department of Health, "Florida Massage Therapy Schools Transcript
Integrity Report," September 26, 2012, www.thehealthlawfirm.com/
uploads/MT-School-Transcript-Integrity-Report_9-26-2012.pdf.
8. US Department of Health & Human Services, "Administration for Children
and Families," accessed December 2012, www.acf.hhs.gov.
9. Federal Bureau of Investigation, accessed December 2012,
www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog/operation-cross-country.
Heather McCutcheon is a freelance writer, massage therapist, Reiki Master
teacher, and philanthropist. She can be reached at mindfulmarketing@gate.net.
www.abmp.com. See what benefits await you. 79
