Prostitution Causes the Massage Industry to be a Victim Twice

Law enforcement authorities arrested a large number of Koreans involved in prostitution. There is nothing particularly new in the world of prostitution except that the Mustang Ranch, a legal brothel outside Reno, just reopened. As far as I can tell, the famed den of inequity has nothing to do with the Korean investigations.

Prostitutes trolling for clients on the streets and in hotels and bars stand out fairly quickly. In contrast, brothel prostitution provides advantages over the street bound prostitutes. Other than a few legal brothels in Nevada, brothels were in short supply. That is until Asian prostitution (both Chinese and Korean) entered the scene. Asian prostitution raised the bar by masquerading as legitimate business establishments: massage; chiropractic; acupuncture; aromatherapy; and spas. Read it here, here and here.

Prostitution investigations are manpower intensive and law enforcement looks for innovative ways to tackle an age old problem. Not too many years ago, Asian prostitution was discovered masquerading as legitimate massage establishments. Cities began revamping municipal codes to highly regulate the legitimate massage industry and stamp out the prostitution. And they can be successful at a price of harassing and/or driving out of business the legitimate massage industry. The conflict between law enforcement and the legitimate massage industry is occurring all over California. The problem is so bad that many in the massage industry are demanding that the State enter the arena by licensing massage therapists and removing jurisdiction from the municipalities.

The massage industry has found itself in an unenviable position of being victimized twice as a result of Asian prostitution. As the public becomes more aware of the large presence of Asian prostitution in their communities, the age old stigma of prostitution and massage are further ingrained in the public psyche. And, this is at a time when massage is beginning to blossom and make a real contribution to the health of the nation. The massage industry is thus victimized for the first time.

The massage industry is victimized a second time by the very people who are charged with protecting the citizens from criminality, the police. Many police administrators, city attorneys and city bureaucrats for some reason abandoned common sense and wrote city ordinances punishing the legitimate massage industry for the crimes of prostitution businesses masquerading as legitimate business. It appears that in their zeal to suppress prostitution, which sometimes resembles a self-righteous zeal, city officials seem to care very little for the welfare of the honest citizen. One may wonder how such a situation comes to pass. One possible explanation is that there is a lack of understanding of the operational parameters of the massage industry. Another potential problem occurs when the formation of public policy in entrusted to city employees who are uneducated about the dynamics of public policy formulation. A third problem arises when a city employee’s personal views on human touch becomes an agenda. If a city will make a good faith effort to reach out to the massage community before formulating public policy and municipal codes, there is a good chance that the objectives of the police department, as it pertains to prostitution, can be obtained without jeopardizing and harassing the legitimate massage industry.

A knowledgeable voice in the world of massage and politics is Keith Eric Grant, who blogs at Ramblemuse. Go here to read his A Review of Issues in Massage Governance.