After watching the first episode, I’d like to believe that it will have no impact whatsoever. It’s a dramatization of a woman’s life – a woman who happens to be a massage therapist and who makes the choice to supplement her income performing sexual “extras”. Massage therapists aren’t the first ones to be misrepresented by entertainment and media. Take the well-worn stereotype of lawyers, for example. And more specifically, I am sure that the Showtime series Weeds didn’t suddenly give all widowed mothers of young children the reputation of being drug dealers any more than Dexter makes people believe that all forensic experts are murderous criminals. The show is full of so many overworked cliches that it’s almost funny. There are the obvious jokes about one therapist’s strong grip being the reason she makes so much money (that joke didn’t even take any creativity) and the correlation of performing massage for 8 hours as foreplay (massaging clients for 8 hours is absolutely exhausting, it’s not a turn-on). My favorite, though, is probably the montage of old, sick, hairy, unattractive people who are bad tippers implying that only young, uber-buff men tip well, but only if you give them “extras”. But it’s not as simple as these cliched misrepresentations.
Massage therapists care about your health and wellness. We want to help you reduce pain and find balance in your body. We want to empower you, help you recover and ease your mind. We don’t provide sexual services. Period. I have been fortunate to have worked with incredible clients who wouldn’t dream of compromising my safety. But, it happens. There are places that offer massage therapy as a front for sex acts. And there are people who think it’s acceptable to be aggressive and sexually harass massage therapists. I feel that perpetuating the stereotype with shows like The Client List continues to breed the opportunity for potentially unsafe circumstances. Do I think the show could single-handedly set the profession back to its 1800s status? Of course not. But I believe our time is better spent educating the public and standing up for the legitimacy of our profession than indulging in complacently watching a show that clearly demeans the field of massage therapy.
Katherine is a New York state licenced massage therapist with an Associate of Occupational Studies degree and medical massage certification from the Swedish Institute in NYC, and a B.S. degree in Forest Products Marketing from Virginia Tech. She is proud to lend her writing skills to our blog, and her professional massaging skills to Massage Williamsburg.
One Comment
Just to clarify that LMTs in the whole of NY state (not just NYC) are required to complete over 1000 hours of educational requirements to qualify to sit the licensing exam. Thanks!