A
massage parlor is a business where customers can
receive a
massage. Sometimes the term is
synonymous with
brothel as the term
"massage" may be used as a euphemism for paid sexual favours.
In countries and regions, particularly where brothels are illegal,
massage parlours (as well as saunas, spas or similar
establishments) may be fronts for places of prostitution. Illegal
brothels disguised as massage parlours are
common in the US, UK, Canada, South Korea, Philippines and many
other countries.
However, not all massage parlors are involved in
prostitution.
Thailand
Even
though Thailand
is rather
well-known for its unique spa experience and
particularly healthy and non-sexual traditional Thai massage, this section refers to the most
mentioned type of massage parlors when thinking of the term in
Thailand, Sexual massage.
The internal traffic of Thai females consists mostly of 12-16 year
olds from hill tribes of the North/ NorthEast. Most of the
internally trafficked girls are sent to closed brothels, which
operate under prison-like conditions.Thousands of women from rural
Thailand, China, Laos, Burma and Cambodia are sold to brothels in
Bangkok or in other countries by "job brokers," who often operate
in organized international syndicates.One million women from Burma,
southern China, Laos, and Vietnam have been trafficked into
Thailand.
In 1996, foreign women made up the majority of prostitutes in 40
sex establishments in 18 border provinces that are brothels
masquerading as karaoke bars, restaurants and traditional massage
parlours. In some venues, there are no Thai women at all. (Kritaya
Archavanitkul, Institute for Population and Social Research,
Mahidol University, The Passage of Women in Neighbouring Countries
Into the Sex Trade in Thailand, "Academic urges action in war
against flesh trade," Yindee Lertcharoenchok, Mukdawan Sakboon, The
Nation, 28 May 1997)In mid-1997 an increasing number of young
girls, more than 60% of which are under 18 years old, were entering
Thailand through Mae Sai checkpoint into massage parlors, brothels
etc.
50% of the prostituted women in Chiang Rai are Burmese. Thousands
of indigenous Burmese women from Shan State in the north and from
Keng Tung in Eastern Burma have been sold into brothels in Bangkok
and throughout Thailand.
United Kingdom
In the UK, prostitution itself (exchanging sex for money or goods)
is legal, but associated activities such askerb crawling,
soliciting in public, engaging in sex in public or operating a
brothel are outlawed (see
Prostitution in the United
Kingdom). Many illegal brothels are disguised as "massage
parlours".
In 2005 it was reported that, in Manchester, there were around 80
"massage parlours" which were fronts for prostitution and that the
police ignored those establishments, focusing instead on reducing
street prostitution.
On October 12, 2005 the
Evening News reported that "A
self-confessed
pimp walked free from court
after a judge was told police had 'turned a blind eye' to organised
prostitution in massage parlours in Manchester."
In December 2007 the
Manchester Evening News removed all
advertisements for massage parlours from its personal columns. The
move follows a meeting between ministers and newspaper and
advertising industry representatives. It followed comments by
Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, in the House of
Commons on October 25 that some local newspapers were promoting
slavery by running sex adverts for foreign women.
The meeting between the government and news and advertising
industries -
chaired by Home Office
Minister Vernon Coaker - included Ms Harman, Margaret Hodge, a
junior minister at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport,
Solicitor General Vera Baird, Newspaper Society Director David
Newell, Christopher Graham from the
Advertising
Standards Authority, Baroness Buscombe of the
Advertising Association and Roger
Wisbey of the
Committee of Advertising
Practice.
Mr Coaker said after the meeting, on November 1 : "We agreed a
number of important steps today, and will continue to work
together.
"The Government will continue to work with the Police and Local
Authorities, and the Newspaper Society has committed to strengthen
its guidance to local papers on what adverts to accept, and to
raise awareness of this link to trafficking.
"This is just one strand of a range of initiatives, which together
will work to eradicate this intolerable trade once and for
all."
Canada
In
Canada
, operating a brothel or
being found in a brothel is illegal, and so
is public solicitation (see Prostitution in Canada).
Illegal prostitution does happen in some massage parlors. In
Toronto, massage parlors are now beginning to call themselves
"holistic centres", and branching out to
aromatherapy and
shiatsu, but 5% of them will still offer sexual
services . Nevertheless, places that offer massages (called "body
rubs" in Toronto legal jargon) are licensed and regulated
differently than places offering "complementary touch therapies",
such as shiatsu, and those who offer these services resent the
possibility of being categorized with massage parlors.
United States
38 states
and the District of
Columbia
require some type of licencing for massage
therapists.
In
Rhode
Island
, prostitution was legal "behind closed doors" from
1980 until 2009. For this reason, massage parlors, also
known as "spas" were known to be involved in prostitution. See
Prostitution in Rhode
Island.The 2009 documentary
Happy
Endings? explores the Asian massage parlors in Rhode
Island, and the debate to criminalize prostitution.
See also
References
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