If there’s an unofficial headquarters to the erotic massage industry, it’s the working-class community of Flushing, Queens. Like a cab license or a bodega, a massage parlor - illicit or otherwise - is seen as a pathway to success in America. The owners take home much more, and an Urban Institute found that profits are primarily put into other businesses or property. The Rutgers study found that sex workers in Los Angeles took home, on average, $7,200 a month. The trade is fueled by hopeful immigrants like her - predominantly from China, Korea, Thailand and the Philippines. A friend offered a crash course in deep-tissue therapy, which led to her new position as an unlicensed masseuse. The single mom left her country for a better life, starting work in a Manhattan nail salon until she could no longer stand the fumes. “It doesn’t take a lot to bridge that gap.” The Flushing pipelineĬlaire never intended to become a sex worker. Plus there’s a general interest in society at large in getting legitimate massages. And setting up a low-level massage parlor doesn’t take a lot of capital. ![]() “What explains the growth?” asked James Finckenauer, who co-authored the 2010 Rutgers study with fellow professor Ko-lin Chin. The industry has become a pipeline for new immigrants, and brought paid-for sex to Main Street America with a veneer of respectability, or at least mystery. The Department of Labor expects the massage industry to grow by 23 percent between 20. If each place clears $20,000 a month, a figure that two Rutgers University professors found was the average among illicit parlors, the industry’s yearly profits would top $1 billion. Approximately 1,200 are open just in New York City (which, by way of comparison, has some 2,500 bars and nightclubs, along with 280 or so Starbucks). She arrived in New York from Shanghai in 2012 on a work visa, part of an army of Asian workers who support the booming business of illicit massage.Ī research study last year by the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, found 4,790 erotic massage parlors on just one site,, which posts addresses and user reviews. “I thought, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ ”Ĭlaire is not her given name, of course. Go in the morning, jerk a bunch of dudes off and go home at night. (Employees) say it’s just like a 9-to-5 job. But the encounter left her in tears, shocked at how much her life had changed from her time in China, where she worked for 20 years as an accountant for a respectable business. She slapped him twice in the face and he bolted, fumbling with his clothes as he ran out. One grew furious and slammed her against a wall. She refuses.Īnd while most customers shrug it off if she turns them down, some take offense. Claire could make more - as much as $150 per session - if she went further and had sex with her clients. Though Claire is careful not to discuss a price for this beforehand, she knows that providing a mid-massage “manual release” is likely to garner her a gratuity of $60 per customer, money she says she needs to support herself and her 16-year-old son. “They need help, and I help them,” she said. Mostly she says no, but sometimes she agrees for those she considers “a nice person,” particularly for those undergoing trouble in their romantic lives. Her parlor does not advertise happy endings - that all-too-familiar euphemism - but many clients expect them, she said. Soon the place would fill with customers, so Claire changed into a strappy zebra-print dress and steeled herself with a smile for the job of giving massages, and occasionally more, to a parade of men, something she does for 80 hours a week. ![]() Inside, it was as dark as a movie theater, the paper and heavy curtains blotting out any sunshine. On a sunny fall morning, she took the train from her home on Long Island to a storefront in Chelsea, where the windows were taped over with yellowing paper.Ī maroon sign with white letters provided the only clue about what business was being conducted here: “Spa.” In the happy-endings business, it pays to put on a happy face.Ĭlaire knows this well. Shop the new Therabody RecoveryAir wireless compression boots now Shop the Therabody sale for up to $100 off Theragun massage devices Relax, Dad - Celebrate Father's Day with up to $300 off Theragun devices Get this next-level at-home massage chair, now 68% off for NYP readers
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