Sometimes, you just need a break. And sometimes, a massage can assist in helping you relax. But let’s say that you are new to town, don’t know where to get a massage, or, like many people, have barely left the house since March and are in a bit of a brain fog. How do you determine which massage parlor to visit? How do you not get busted at a new massage parlor?
If you are looking for a legitimate business to visit, often, the outside of the establishment. This goes for many different businesses. I know when I lived in Fort Lauderdale, there was a store with no front windows that purported to sell discount trains. It was open the same hours as the Fetish Factory, which was right down the street. Parents might not have wanted to take their kids to the Fetish Factory, but at very least, their business was a legitimate one. Who in the world knows what was actually sold at the Discount Trains store on Oakland Park Boulevard, especially at 10pm on a Sunday night?
The same applies for massage parlors. If the hours seem strange, and a giant flashing OPEN sign is lit up late into the night, then you can tell there might be some illegal activity occurring. If a particular massage parlor is indeed a front for any sort of prostitution, sometimes the people who work there can be a telltale sign.
For example, many parlors that particularly employ women from China and South Korea are a sign that the parlor may be engaged in illegal activity. Massage parlors that are breaking the law tend to employwomen from those countries, who often find themselves deeply in debt, and then are then lured into sex work.
Additionally, prostitution laws are very different in other parts of the world. And as many prostitution rings are fronted by supposed Asian spas, many countries in Asia have prominent and complex sex trade industries. In some Southeastern Asian countries, thesex worker industry accounts for more money than the drug trade.
While there are some legitimate places to get a massage, even one dubbed an erotic one, customers have to be careful. Mostbusts of parlors are not intending to ensnare customers, but rather those running the brothels and other illegal activity. Of course, if you’re a high profile customer like Robert Kraft, visiting a massage parlor in sleepy Jupiter, Florida, you might get caught up in it anyway.
If you are really concerned for the well-being of sex workers, you can also advocate for thedecriminlization of sex work. The movement is less about the pleasure of customers and for thelegal protection and autonomy of sex workers.
Like any new business you frequent, you’ve got to do your research when heading off to get a massage. If you’re looking mostly on how not to get busted at a massage parlor, you can look up some legal advice or simply say farewell before the very end.
