The Hands Off Approach of the Mega Chains
My situation with Top Gun parallels the nonchalant, hands-off approach to sexual harassment of the mega chains. Our community is packed with horror stories. The formula is the same nearly every time, a client touches or solicits a massage therapist for sex, the therapist reports it, and nothing is done. Sometimes management promises to move the client to someone else, but it happens again and the cycle repeats.
This stuff breaks massage therapists and it is destroying our industry. We need to protect the sanctity of our profession from the creeps who want to sneak into our soul, and the managers who allow them to slither around freely.
The Industry must protect its therapists
Facing these situations in the treatment room is unnerving and scary; and is impossible to escape unscathed. Every time it happens it sears our soul with a terrible burn and leaves a scar behind that will always remind us of what happened. We need to prevent these situations from ever happening by setting the professional stage and shaping reality to meet our needs.
Once we allow a serpent into our home it is hard to find where they snuck off to. Instead of allowing them to slide on in and get comfortable we need to close the door so the pests cannot enter. Creeps are like cockroaches, where one is, others will soon be found. Likeminded people congregate and share, we don’t want to be their topic of discussion at the water cooler. To prevent this we must safely guard our professional palace by presenting our place in a way that makes them feel unwelcome.
6 Ways to Ward off Creeps
There are six areas we can focus on to ward off creeps and protect our professionals: the school administration, our education system, branding, marketing, clinic appearance, and therapist appearance.
The schools administration: Our potential is limited by the institution that trains us. If their values are murky their instructors will be blind and the time we serve under their tutelage will be saturated with disharmony and hardship. The school should reflect our best possible workplace. Students need to see how the system functions so they may emulate it in the professional world.
If an administration is detached and uncaring it encourages the student to believe their workplace will be the same. They will learn to accept belligerent and disparaging atmospheres, and when they face hard times they will not have the personal power to overcome them. We need to cultivate our educational facilities by placing true leaders into positions of authority. Massage therapists need role models, mentors, and a safe place to open their heart. If they do not learn and experience this in school they probably won’t have it in the future.
Our education system: Teachers must inspire and cultivate their students in the classroom. They need to be mentors who have been gnawed on by the meat grinder of massage and want to use their hurt to help others. We need interactive discussions, roleplaying, and creative expression in our classrooms. Students must be encouraged to find their inner light and burn as bright as the sun above. When they graduate they should radiate a personal power that allows them to overcome any obstacle.
Branding: The branding of a business sets the tone for how it operates and experienced by the public. It is the spirit and personality of the company. The branding is the narrative that guides clients through the story of their spa experience.
When designing the branding of a company we must avoid sexualizing its spirit. This means refraining from various colors, shapes, and words that may suggest undesirable connotations. It must be clean, welcoming, and wellness focused.
Marketing: The images we use in our marketing paints the personality of our company. Every image and word must be painstakingly selected to ensure it sends the correct message. Avoid images that inappropriately accentuate or sexualize the body. This includes photographs that are sexually charged, are rife with innuendo, or teases the viewers a glimpse of the breast and buttock.
Clinic Appearance: Creeps search for specific signals when they are searching for a new lair to slither into. Design your facility to ward off the serpents who seek to slip passed your guard.
- Place your clinic on a main road, facing the street. Do not place it in an alleyway, inside a boring office building, within an industrial park, or on the back of a building.
- Use easily discoverable, and readable signage. Avoid simply using the word massage as your company’s identifying marker.
- Have a spacious lobby that is viewable from the outside and sell products that are professionally arranged.
- Pick a place that has a well maintained and lit parking lot.
- Avoid putting up curtains in your windows and never decorate with lace.
- Build a clean, easily navigable website that clearly describes your prices and services.
- Avoid late evening appointments, require a credit card to book a session, have a strict cancelation policy, and refrain from asking about the client’s gender preferences.
- Have a surveillance system installed in the common area and employ a receptionist.
Therapist Appearance: We cannot control the actions of others but can influence how they react to our appearance. A massage therapist sets the client’s expectation for every session. If we look messy and unprepared our client will expect the same from our massage. First impressions are important. They set the tone for how others decide to treat us. Take control of the perceptions of others by presenting yourself in a way that controls the narrative.
A massage therapist should be in uniform when performing a service. Their attire should match the team, this shows unity and cohesion. They need to be clean, wrinkle free and desexualized. A uniform should be worn to minimize the wandering gaze of a client’s eyes.
If we combine these six areas of focus we can help protect our staff from the slithering snakes. Hopefully it will be enough for them to avoid our facility to find some other place to pester.
