The Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE) was pleased to participate in a series of meetings with national massage organizations to address the issue of human trafficking, the impact on its victims, and the implications for massage education.

As the organization that serves as an independent voice, advocate and resource for the massage therapy and bodywork education community, it is important to us to share this document with you. As stakeholders in quality education, it is imperative to address the ongoing problem of massage therapy education being coopted by perpetrators of human trafficking.

The apparent recent shift into infiltrating massage training indicates an ongoing need for continued dialogue and education of massage schools, educators, students, potential students, and the public. We acknowledge that the biggest concern here is the harm to victims of human trafficking.  It is the responsibility of the massage profession to close the loopholes that make it easier for our profession to be a conduit for human trafficking. 

In our view, addressing the issue of “diploma mills” (illicit massage schools) is important. Placing a certified educator in every classroom or course may be part of the solution to the problem.  We value education standards relating to ethical therapeutic relationships between teacher and student and ultimately between graduates and their clientele. This is reinforced through our Certified Massage and Bodywork Educator (CMBE) program. The therapeutic relationship is missing in both an illicit massage school and in illicit massage businesses. These illicit activities have little to do with massage. Through training of educators, consistency in the message separating professional ethical massage educators and schools from those who participate directly or indirectly in human trafficking will become more evident to the consumer.

AFMTE is getting involved because of the historic lack of focus on strong local and national infrastructure. This has created loopholes in education and regulation that are allowing people to be harmed. Misogyny, racism, nationalism and our cultural discomfort with sex have led us to draw straight lines where they don’t exist.  We welcome the opportunity to talk with others in our profession about how to shape our discourse so we can uncouple any discomfort with sex, lack of understanding of sex work as a profession, and the underlying assumptions about how, why, and where human trafficking happens. This will support educators in clarifying  the classroom topics of this nature for themselves and their students.

Human trafficking is a serious issue and, for the safety and health of our communities and all humans, it is important that we do what we can to end its existence and to close the loopholes that allow perpetrators to use massage therapy as an avenue of exploitation. This is a living conversation that will change over time and in which AFMTE vows committed and ongoing engagement.

-Coalition Statement-

Joint Statement from

Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE)

Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP)

Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA)

Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB)

Massage therapy is an allied health and wellness profession; massage therapists are found in hospitals, long-term care facilities, medical clinics, integrative health centers, hospice care, spas, and wellness centers, as well as in their own independent practice settings. As such, massage therapy education includes anatomy and physiology, ethics, manual soft tissue techniques, business and professionalism, sanitation, and basic research literacy. Annual continuing education and current competency generally are required in order to maintain licensure to practice, and professional society membership. 

The profession has long struggled with attempted infiltration by actors trying to hijack the term and settings of massage therapy for illicit activities such as human trafficking and prostitution. For the general public, the focal point is often stories about prostitution taking place within massage “parlors” directed by organized crime. Their avenues for infiltration include establishing illegitimate schools, taking steps to enable non-professionals to cheat on profession entry exams, and presenting individuals as massage therapists who lack proper training and ethics.

While the vast majority of the 900+ massage schools are lawful institutions of postsecondary learning, a number of massage schools have recently been identified as “diploma mills,” purporting to teach massage therapy but simply providing certificates for a fee to facilitate fraud and illicit passage into the profession. These so-called “schools” are eroding public trust in the profession, creating confusion for students who want a legitimate education, and generally perpetuating the conflation of the sex trade with massage therapy.

Illicit massage businesses pose a risk to the public and the massage profession—practitioners, students, instructors, and schools. Illicit activity does not come from the massage profession; it comes from organized crime. To make it increasingly difficult for these businesses to pose under the guise of massage therapy, enacting the measures below would serve to protect the integrity of the massage profession and its stakeholders. In combating these issues, the massage profession itself must take an active role in the fight. A multi-pronged approach would be most effective, including the following elements:

Education

• Rapidly accelerating the adoption of massage-specific programmatic accreditation by massage schools nationwide; state boards of education and massage therapy alone are not adequate and not sufficiently funded to police fraudulent schools
• Enabling pathways toward more robust teacher qualification and training/certification for every teacher in massage training
• Requiring continuing education on human trafficking and ethics, to empower professionals to better support and protect their chosen field

Regulation/Law Enforcement

• Establishing an education campaign to aid/instruct law enforcement and state authorizers on what constitutes legitimate massage therapy, and what does not
• Educating regulators and law enforcement on the purpose/role the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Examination (MBLEx) plays in licensure
• Encouraging states’ participation in the Massage Therapy Licensing Database (MTLD) 
• Exploring the merits of regulatory oversight of massage establishments
• Helping schools, students, and therapists recognize and report illicit activity in their communities

Legislation

• Establishing language that helps authorities easily identify those with appropriate education and practice standards
• Identifying and eliminating loopholes that allow “schools” to sidestep licensure rules
• Enforcing laws for practicing massage therapy without a license
• Eliminating laws currently on the books that treat massage therapists as presumed sex workers (adult entertainment)
• Requiring schools to keep accurate and complete student records on all students
• Requiring state disclosure of approved schools and current status

These aims are by no means all-encompassing, and each of the participating organizations will have their own priorities and beliefs. However, collectively we feel strongly that the massage profession has been unfairly maligned for too long, and what we do as a profession can make a difference. We endeavor to collaborate to achieve these aims to ensure a more vibrant, healthy, safe massage profession for the public and for the individuals who have chosen this noble career choice.