The Elephant in the Massage Room
Whether you found this article yourself, or were directed here by a member of our team, welcome!
We're going to talk about the elephant in the room: the misconception that a massage therapist is receptive to requests for intimate or sexual services.
It is true that some sex workers offer "massage" as a euphemism for sexual services. However, this does not mean that people providing massage services are open to sex work.
Trust me on this. Legitimate massage therapists are sick to death of being asked for intimate massages, "happy endings" and so on.
It doesn't matter whether you were serious or only joking - you will find that your massage therapist will get very frosty if you even hint about getting sexual favours.
Background of the problem
In the UK, prostitution is legal. That means you can accept money or gifts in return for sex. However, soliciting is illegal. That means you cannot offer or advertise sex in return for money in certain public places. It's okay to advertise online, but you can't put ads in bus stops, phone boxes (not many of them left), or at the side of the road.
It's also an offence to keep a brothel, or allow a premises that you're responsible for to be used as a brothel.
Furthermore, there are often negative attitudes in local communities towards sex work. All of this makes it a bit tricky being openly "on the game" without running into problems.
Ever since the late 19th century, sex workers have tried to minimise these problems by using "massage" as a euphemism for their services.
This still happens today. You don't have to look very hard to find sex workers advertising under the banner of "massage". They are usually pretty easy to spot; a scantily clad young lady in a provocative pose, perhaps with terms like "sensual" and "tantric", and so on.
There are some establishments were you may even be offered "extra service" without asking. These are very rarely professional massage salons or home-based therapists with a studio in their property. More likely, it will be someone operating from a bedroom, or the "salon" in question is a thinly veiled brothel.
Very few people find themselves in such an establishment by accident.
Our policy at The Lazy Frog
While most people don't treat a legitimate massage therapist like a sex worker, unfortunately there are a minority that still feel it's okay to request something "extra" from their therapist.
We will protect our staff and absolutely will not tolerate any form of sexual propositioning or harassment.
So, please don't embarrass yourself by asking for anything more than a massage. If you do, you'll ruin the rapport with your therapist, and there's a good chance that you will be asked to leave. There's nothing remotely happy about that ending.
