now comes the weekend
A few days ago, I was having a discussion with a male colleague who made the comment, in a rather resigned tone, that after 10 years in the massage business he has found that, by and large, in a spa environment it's difficult for a male massage therapist to acquire as many clients as a female therapist would. All this because most clients, both male and female, seem to prefer being worked upon by women. This, of course, set my brain a-rolling, thinking back to the discussions I had with guys in my class, with colleagues after graduation, with assorted friends on the whole, about the nature of touch and the line (or lack thereof) between sensuality and sexuality. Admittedly, there is a market for male therapists in many spas that cater to gay clients: that, though, brings up the question of whether it's because these clients are simply more comfortable with the idea of being touched by another man, or if it's more a matter of wanting to be touched by another man (which, then, loops back to the supposedly mostly hetero or mixed clientele in other spas - is it that they want to be touched by a woman or is it the apparently non-threatening perception of women that makes female therapists "safer"? We're all professionals, right? So professional behaviour should be the order of the day, but when body and hence mind are in play...)
Now, I toss the issue out there for you all to chew upon and maybe toss a thought or two back my way by way of reply. I'm interested in getting the non-therapist perception. I present the questions in no particular order or importance; just see if something pops out at you.
If you have a massage, do you have a gender preference for your therapist?
If you haven't had one yet, what do you think your preference would be, if any?
Could you see that preference or lack thereof changing, the more massages you get?
Why?
And, inspired by a later comment from that first-mentioned colleague, where does preference for a therapist end and prejudice against certain therapists begin?
That's all for the moment, but no doubt I'll have yammerings about little black piglets fleeing into the Everglades in the ever-deepening dusk to post later this week :0)
ciao, bellos,
H
Now, I toss the issue out there for you all to chew upon and maybe toss a thought or two back my way by way of reply. I'm interested in getting the non-therapist perception. I present the questions in no particular order or importance; just see if something pops out at you.
If you have a massage, do you have a gender preference for your therapist?
If you haven't had one yet, what do you think your preference would be, if any?
Could you see that preference or lack thereof changing, the more massages you get?
Why?
And, inspired by a later comment from that first-mentioned colleague, where does preference for a therapist end and prejudice against certain therapists begin?
That's all for the moment, but no doubt I'll have yammerings about little black piglets fleeing into the Everglades in the ever-deepening dusk to post later this week :0)
ciao, bellos,
H