Erotic reasons to touch
A fetus kicks in the womb and the father rubs the mother’s tummy. It soothes her. A little boy trips and skins his knee; his Mummy dresses and kisses it. He feels better. An executive leaves the office after dark and goes to a familiar place. The attendant that he chooses mixes her oils and disrobes. Already he is relaxing, anticipating her first touch.
Touch has the power to do many things. The ancients understood this and developed the skill of touching to be a recognized craft that promoted health. Aesthetician Gaudia Chevannes explains that the “formalized series of touch is a massage. It is an art form. A therapeutic application that relieves psychological stress that results in well-being and benefits the receiver in all areas of interpersonal relationships.”
The human body has more than 600 different voluntary muscles that are fed and protected by our glands, nerves and organs to perform work. A competent massage technician is well informed about the body, and knows muscle groups as well – if not better – than a medical practitioner. Although massage is an established health and ‘wellness’ procedure, the pleasure that touching brings has also led to it also associated with sex for sale.
All Woman learned that ‘sensuous/erotic massages’ advertised in newspapers could be a cover for offers of sexual services that include escort services. Our contact who is intimately affiliated with the industry defends the practice.
“The girls go through a process that is three weeks to one month long. They do in-house training in various techniques. Better parlours have started to send them to recognized places such as the UWI physiotherapist course.”
Not too far away in Florida, technicians have to be licensed by the State to practice their craft. To gain a diploma, schools mandate 500 hours of theory and a 50-massage practicum. Chevannes, who studied in Europe, spent 24 months in basic training and bolstered this with experience in the USA and the Caribbean.
Our ‘sensuous’ contact says, “Naked masseuses or sexy lingerie are a requirement. Some clients may get unruly but it is not commonplace. Private security is close-by or private police who moonlight. You select your masseuse based on her looks. It is a sexually exciting experience and they (the clients) look for someone who is sexually exciting to them. Some parlours offer sex, but the more professional ones do not. It is very discreet. What happens there stays there.”
“Never in my 18 years have I been asked to take off my clothes,” Chevannes insists and while saying that she is not qualified to speak on what happens in such parlours, maintains that the technician’s nudity changes the encounter from being a massage into something else.
Our contact who is not a massage technician, says that in common parlance a “sensuous massage is a full body massage that ends when the person climaxes.” There was no need to ask Chevannes if this crosses the line; genitalia and breasts are not muscles.
To gain a fuller understanding, All Woman booked a session with such a parlour. We were also seeking to observe if, as Our contact maintains, “the girls do it for the money, fun of meeting people and the power of playing with a man’s genitalia. They may have that special client that they give more services. Professionals, bank managers and lawyers break the rules for their special clients so do these girls.” He illustrated the point of special clients by saying that his regular supermarket has a set policy of not accepting third party cheques, but does not hesitate taking his.
We chose our parlour because we got to know them first in privacy on their Web site. A telephone call confirmed the opening hours and the possibility of having a two-on-one session with one of 27 semi-nude staff pictured on the website. This parlour fitted the outline given by our contact that, “there are about 30-40 parlours around town. Townhouses, fancy (uptown) apartments, housing schemes with 3-4 bedrooms. Also a number in Portmore in Ocho Rios, Mandeville and Montego Bay.”
After being presented a menu that included sadism and playing with toys, six women came to us one-by-one and introduced themselves. They were dressed in revealing clothing and ranged in age from adult teenagers to women in their mid 30s. We chose “Latté” because she had charm and chic. She fits into the range of woman that our contact says makes about $15,000/wk for eight-hour shifts. “Students and women with a poor background and low education.” For $1,300 a person can have a sensuous (or not) full body touch that takes 45 minutes.
Latté invited us into a room that was carpeted, had a ceiling fan, as well as air conditioning. It was furnished with a chair and a massage bed covered with a white sheet. There was also a small closet and an adjoining white-tiled bathroom, all clean. She offered a thick white towel and pointed out the shower. Below is a composite of some of Latté’s responses in conversation. She has a soft voice, merry disposition, does not talk to us in patois and does not know that we are spies.
“Do you prefer me naked or not? You are the client it’s what you want. I prefer to be naked. Sure, ask me anything I am here to talk. If I have a problem with a question, then I won’t answer. Nobody likes this kind of job. I am 20 years old and have been doing this for a year and hope to finish in the next four months. I would have done my subjects already, but I come from a complicated situation. I paid for my little sister to do hers. She got through. I don’t know what I want to study as yet; here, some girls study while they are waiting. I don’t know how many girls work here; I am just hoping that things work out for me. I went through one week’s training.
They show you how to give a massage, but not how to do the climax part. They only tell you and then you are on your own. I used to work at another parlour before this. I just called the number in the newspaper and went for the interview. I had to take off my clothes so that they could see my body. This is a better place, probably the best. The clients move around a lot, they like to try the different services from different places. No, I would not go further and do this as a career. Why I did not choose a job like in a fast food restaurant? Too many eyes…can you imagine working in a place with so many people around? The best part of this job is that you meet some nice people; but some of the men are pricks. I don’t do (sexual act) but I can’t speak for everyone. Sure it goes on. Yes, women come here. Some come for a massage, but others want to get their freak on. I think that it is because their men are not doing their jobs. It is possible to work all week and if no one chooses you, you do not get any pay. No, not even a base pay for coming to work. It’s true that this is not a good job for relationships. Sure, I would tell my boyfriend what I am doing. I tell my mother that I do massages, but of course I don’t tell her everything that goes on. It was really nice meeting you, I hope to see you again soon.”
Clients are allowed to shower before they leave. On making our exit, the receptionist apologized sincerely. She had overcharged us by not applying the double discount and gave us back the difference with an icy mint.
Like the visual and performing arts, massage too is an art and open to many interpretations and levels of training. However, guiding principles of massage are towards wellness, including improved health and beauty. There seems to be a need to separate this from the erotic reasons to touch.
Gwyneth Harold is the author of the booklet, Storyteller
