Massage parlours offering sexual services are not hard to find. There are online adult forums, where clients leave comments and write reviews of their experiences. There are community websites and forums, where some massage businesses openly post ads seeking "ladies" and gay men who can massage and provide so-called "extra" services. Joy is a Thai masseuse in her 30s who has worked at several massage parlours in Sydney for about a year, but her name and voice have been changed to protect her identity.
She is in Australia on a student visa, studying English and accounting, and works at parlours that masquerade as straightforward massage parlours. When I first started working as a masseuse, I was actually surprised to know that this kind of service existed. But after so many clients asked me, I thought to myself, 'Okay, I'll do it,' because I get a lot of money and it is less tiring than normal massage.
Any "extra services" are negotiated directly with the clients. And she says the business owners benefit from the extra bookings brought in by masseuses who offer sexual services so they often ignore such transactions on their premises. Dr Helen Pringle, a senior lecturer in social sciences at the University of New South Wales, has a particular academic interest in human trafficking and sexual slavery.
She says the massage business often involves a grey area. So this is kind of a grey area that a lot of massage parlours operate in, between normal, ordinary massage and brothels. A lot of workers in that grey area feel pressured to provide extra services in that way. A massage business owner from Melbourne, Ann explains there are three main types of massage parlours in Australia.
ANN: Thai, then translated: "The first type is 'out-in-the-open' massage shops, whose owners tell their clients about available sexual services and advertise new staff. The second type is 'one-eye-closed' massage shops, whose owners pretend these sexual services are not available, yet allow their staff to offer them.
