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Massage Profession Protests The Client List
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A television series that depicts a day spa's therapists working as prostitutes in their massage session rooms is scheduled to debut on Lifetime in April—and massage therapists have initiated a protest in response.
"The Client List" is about a housewife deserted by her husband who takes a job "at a seemingly traditional day spa in a neighboring town," according to Lifetime's website for the show, but finds that "other services" are also offered by the spa's therapists. "The series will follow Riley as she delicately balances a moral conflict between two starkly different lives," the website states, "one as a single mother in a conservative town struggling to provide for her family and the other as a savvy and ambitious businesswoman working with a raucous, sexy and unpredictable group of women."
In a promotional video for the program, star Jennifer Love Hewitt is shown surrounded by men wearing towels around their waists and then dropping their towels; later Love Hewitt says in describing the series, "hot girls in lingerie is always a good starter [and] the men
The promo also shows Love Hewitt standing next to a massage table wearing a white blouse unbuttoned in front to reveal her black bra.
The American Massage Therapy Association recently posted a statement to its website reading in part, "AMTA sent a communication to the President and CEO of the A&E Network, copying other executives for the company that owns Lifetime, about the implications for massage therapists and the profession. The association will be monitoring their response and will consider other action to emphasize the importance of respecting the professionalism of massage therapists."
Social networking company Wellx has launched a petition protesting the series, titled "Clip the Client List! Stop the degradation of professional massage therapists," posted to the petition site (www.thepetitionsite.com).
Watch the promotional video for the show here.
Click here to read and sign the petition.
Lifetime's phone numbers are (310) 556-7500 (Los Angeles, California); (312) 464-1991 (Chicago, Illinois); and (212) 424-7000 (New York, New York).
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Comments
Location: DC
I would like to call attention to the zoning laws in washington dc. In DC an individual massage therapist may not receive a certificate of occupancy to do business in a mixed use residential area. The zoning permit fee's and business permit fee's are 10X that of other businesses. There is over- regulation to a degree that it is impossible to be non-compliant. Oh- and its illegal to perform cross gender massage- all of this in a city where a licensed massage therapist has never been brought before the board for prostitution. All this to say, if you are going to be mad and indignant, lets try to educate the policy makers. This makes me mad- because this is a public policy that treats me like a prostitute. Perhaps this show could be a jumping off point- to show that this is a popular belief/ fantasy about massage- but the reality is very different.
Location: SA TX
While, I appreciate Jennifer Love Hewitt as an actor, this series totally takes away the dignity of the profession that I take very seriously. I worked at a "spa" that only men went to. I only worked there 2 weeks. I left after a man asked for the "younger prettier girl" when it was my turn to do a service. I did not have to resort to this type of behavior to make ends meet. A real therapist would lose her license!! This is also a reason I do not like to be called a "masseuse", it has a perverted connotation that I do not appreciate. I am a licensed massage therapist, I am so very blessed to have my clients, and the only happy endings you get during my service is the wellness and healing you feel after a one hour session at IJN Wellness. ~Namaste~
Location: Noltee
Really? really? We have worked so hard for our licenses and certifications and it is very frustrating, not to mention downright demeaning. It is my duty to educate people in my own community. I am disgusted. As a massage therapist this is upsetting to me that our profession can still be viewed as borderline prostitution. My colleges in the community include some of the most qualified, professional, fully licensed Massage Therapists, MD, DO, chiropractors, physical therapists, mental health professionals, acupuncturists.....