Survey Results

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In 2022 the BBC ran a documentary (BBC Sounds) looking at dangers to the public from rogue massage therapists and they revealed some disturbing cases of sexual assault from people posing as massage therapists or using massage therapy incorrectly. The question was never posed the other way around, what risks do we face as therapists working 1-1 with clients and members of the public.

Listen to any comedian on TV talk about massage and there will be some reference to ‘happy endings’ or ‘extras’. Tell someone that you are a massage practitioner and there will always be someone who raises an eyebrow. That the sex industry uses the term massage to describe sexual services makes a tough job tougher and paves the way to therapists being harassed, approached for sexual services and receive unwanted advances. How widespread the problem is within the industry has been a bit of an unknown and we have relied on anecdotal evidence.

In November 2022 ThinkTree launched a survey to try to gauge the extent of the problem within the industry. There were 123 respondents of which 106 identified as working in massage, 1 worked in Reiki, 2 in beauty and aesthetics and 13 worked in ‘other’. The description of ‘other’ work included Shiatsu, Coaching and Bowen Therapy along with a wider mix of specific modalities of which 4 would be classed as modalities that do not usually involve physical touch.

–16-24	0.81%1
–25-34	5.69%7
–35-44	27.64%34
–45-54	35.77%44
–55-64	26.83%33
–65+	3.25%4
TOTAL	123

The age profile of therapists was mixed as shown above.

This does raise a question as to whether the survey missed responses from younger therapists although there is no reliable data as to the general age profile of therapists. It does however clearly show that this is not just a problem faced by younger members of the industry.

60% of respondents had some form of vetting procedure before meeting a client, how this vetting took place varied as shown below:

We then asked a series of questions to see what problems people encountered at work. 102 participants answered this question.

ANSWER CHOICES–	Response
People asking for sexual services or ‘extras’	68.63% 70
Clients making inappropriate sexual jokes or comments during a treatment	58.82% 60
Clients commenting on your treatment in a sexual way	37.25% 38
Clients refusing to pay for their treatment when you refuse sexual services	0.98% 1
Clients touching or grabbing you during a treatment	25.49% 26
Being otherwise sexually harassed during a treatment	17.65% 18
Being sexually assaulted during a treatment	2.94% 3
Responses Other (please specify)	28.43% 29
Total Respondents: 102

The ‘other’ responses included clients removing all clothing despite being asked to leave underwear on, deliberately exposing themselves to the therapist, touching themselves or masturbating. It also included asked for a ‘sexier therapist’, being sent ‘dick pics’ and being sent other inappropriate communications, refusal to provide sexual services had resulted in smear campaigns against the therapist concerned.

Over 10% of therapists were asked for sexual services weekly or monthly, 27% had this happen every 2-3 months or a few times a year, for 25% it was annually or less and 36% had never experienced this.

When it came to clients making sexual jokes this happened less frequently:

Over 44% of therapists had clients commenting on them in a sexual way at least annually. When it came to being asked about clients touching or grabbing the practitioner during a treatment 23 respondents elaborated on what had occurred. These are some of the comments made:

3 times in my 33 year career. From sexual assault, stalking me on my way home, client masturbating. Requests for S&M services.

A client grabbed me around the waist when I asked him to turn from prone to supine. I froze and then told him to let go, then I continued his treatment because I was in his house and didn’t know what else to do. I now only take on a very small number of mobile clients, in very specific circumstances, as I no longer felt safe as a mobile therapist after this happened.

Clients touching me had happened twice in 13 years. The last time it happened was recently. I told the owners if the spa what happened. They did not believe me as did nothing, I called the police and quit the job.

Twice in 5 years. The first one grabbed my hand as I was working on his arm. He then asked me out for a drink which I declined The second was this year, a man kept trying to expose himself and kept moving in order to try and touch me

It has happened several times, I have redirected and asserted this is not appropriate and even extracted myself during the massage.

Once. I was doing chair massage in a workplace and the client reached forward and grabbed my crotch. I terminated the treatment. I reported to management and lost my contract.

17.6% of responders reported being ‘otherwise sexually harrassed’ whilst giving a treatment. There is some overlap here with responses in the previous section but again we have given some direct quotes from these responses to give an idea of what practitioners are having to endure as part of their working life: 

I recently decided to refuse a client further treatment because I felt some of his comments during the treatment were red flags. He had commented a few times on how attractive I was and asked if I had a panic button in my room. Afterwards, I had kept replaying it in my mind, and realised I was trying to make excuses for him. I sent him a kind letter outlining that I had been made to feel unsafe in our treatment and that if he is developing an attraction then it is much better for him to be treated elsewhere. He did apologise and said his comments were only out of care for my safety but I maintained that it was best for him to seek treatment elsewhere.

Client flashed me twice . He was taking off his robe while I was still bringing him into the room. I told him to sit for a foot bath and now his robe falls open in front of me. I was in shock because I had just worked on his wife. She is very lovely. They seem like a lovely couple I figured it was an accident. I could not believe what was happening. Later he tells me he usually gets massages in Asian parlours. He says he doesn’t always get a good massage therapist there. It’s hit or miss. It does feel good to get a happy ending. Later when he turns over he is masturbating a bit, then gets an erection. Then he starts begging me to give him a happy ending with my hand and starts trying to grab me. I stay away from him. He is yelling at me to come and massage his belly. I say no, that’s illegal. I stay away and it’s time to end. I end like usual and act like nothing happened. I’m so in shock and can’t believe what happened. Later I see him in the hallway. He gives me a big smile. I smile back. It’s like we have a secret together. It feels really icky a d strange. I walk him down the stairs and he seems sweet and gives two $5 bills. I realize he’s going to want to come back and do this again.

Didn’t realise man was naked under towels (I’d already briefed him at the start saying ‘dress down to your shorts’). This man was thick set and muscular. He also talked about his experience in martial arts. He was intimidating. Not long into the massage he was chatting but using more and more swear words which made me uncomfortable. Then he started groaning, saying how nice it felt. Then during a stretch I realised he was naked with an erection. I left the room and told him the treatment was over and he needed to leave, which thankfully he did. In that moment my heart was racing and I honestly didn’t know what he was going to do. This experience massively affected me for months afterwards. I felt very anxious about every male client after that, even those I’d known for years.

They have said “you look really strong and good with your hands”while leering, “I am not a prude so you can do anything you want”, “I don’t really care to use a towel for covering”, “I’m ready for my sensual part now”

Client stripped and exposed his aroused private area and asked to be touched there.

Person invited me to have intercourse. I declined and he accepted this without further harassment.

1 client had his penis removed from underwear. I needed to be in and out of room so he must have taken it out at some point when I left the room. Another ‘came’ face down on the bed. He said he suffered spasms in his legs I didn’t go near his genitals but he still ejaculated on the couch.

I had a client expose their genitals after requesting psoas work. I’ve had a client ‘play’ with their genitals after requesting a scalp massage. I’ve had clients hump the table during treatment.

Although I wouldn’t describe myself as being harassed during the treatment, I have had to end a number of treatments early, either because the clients were persistently asking me to do extras or they began gyrating and making sexual noises.

Over the course of 1 year working in home based clinic, I had to ban (ie refuse too see them further) 9 male clients who were constantly over stepping the boundaries despite my professional manner and set up and qualifications. They all were different in there approach. Some would ring at weird hours like 12 midnight or 9pm asking for massage, ask for rubbing on the inner thigh, constantly have erection or leave wet patches on the table. Ask for “body slides” ask for kissing ask for ‘hand relief’, ask to pay for extras or full service. Tell me they are in love with me, ask to see me after work on a date, talk constantly about sex, ask me to where a costume while giving massage , ask if I would do massage naked or topless!!!

I have been asked in person and via messages for happy endings. I have terminated the treatment and/or banned those persons from the practice. I came to change the towels over to find semen on them from a client who had masturbated after the treatment.

We then asked “If you answered yes to the question as to if you have ever been sexually assaulted in the course of your work please tell us as much as you are comfortably able to. Please also let us know if you were able to press charges and the reason for this answer”. Not many people answered this question but those who did talked about either ringing security (for hotel/ spa-based services) and one was waiting to hear back from the police having reported an assault. Many more talked about the assault but did not report it or were not believed by their managers.

What does become clear from the responses is that these are not one-off issues and that there is a problem with the way massage is perceived by some members of the public. The majority of respondents were UK based while 21 were from Australia, 4 from New Zealand/Aotearoa, 7 from the USA, and 1 person from each of the following; Albania, Turkey, Belgium, Ireland and Spain. So this is clearly not a localised problem to one area and each country has different entry points and licensing rules for Massage and other Holistic Therapies. This suggests that the solution is not simply to move to a licensed system, although this may assist, we need more data to be able to provide a proper analysis of this, but this alone is clearly not enough.

Practitioners were already trying to protect themselves through a range of means, including very clear signage, strong vetting prior to appointments, ensuring the environment is clinical and professional. 4 respondents no long take male clients at all, 11 only take men by referral and 27 will only see a male client if someone else is present in the building.

The survey had two questions that looked at what the industry as a whole can do to help improve things for practitioners. There were a number of suggestions here, many of which came down to “educating men” and “separating massage from sex work”. There was acknowledgement that, in the UK, the government had made things worse by referring to massage and other holistic modalities as “massage parlours” (with attendant sniggering in Parliamentary discussions) and that there needed to be wholesale reform.

Some respondents wanted licensing so that all legitimate massage was licensed and non-legitimate ones were closed down. Others called for the sex industry to be licensed so that they were able to advertise actual services and not hijack the term massage instead. Some respondents called for specific legislation to protect those doing close contact massage/bodywork and for harsh punishments for those clients who assaulted therapists. There was a need for both the police and employers to take matters much more seriously. There were calls for centres to be designated ‘women only’ and alternatively a push to encourage more men into the industry so that it isn’t seen as a largely female domain. Clinics moving to using identity checks before bookings are allowed and using CCTV to record those entering and leaving the premises were all discussed. More education for trainee therapists on how to both protect and professionally project themselves was recognised as a need and more consistent use of language – dropping the terms masseuse and parlour (perhaps only used by the government these days anyway). 

The question of an industry standard logo was discussed, Over 78% of respondents though that a “Safe Working” logo which specified “No Sexual Services” either could or would be useful and this something that ThinkTree is looking to action in the next couple of months. A logo works better than a website statement as it will not be picked up by search engine bots.

At ThinkTree we are passionate about making work safe for all practitioners and will be looking at how we can work to action some of these suggestions, starting with the logo as above. We will also be approaching the BBC to see if they will now tell the other side of the story, not members of the public being hurt by a rogue practitioner (who we would want to see thrown out of the industry anyway) but our side, of practitioners being harassed and the need to change perceptions of what the massage and holistic therapies industry actually does and the positive contribution we make to health and welfare, we hope the BBC will take up the challenge.

Maureen Abson Managing Consultant ThinkTree Hub

Email: thinktreehubmaureen@gmail.com