The Unknown World of Male Masseurs

Abstract

Massage as a camouflage for prostitution using the online dating application is one of the rarely explored topics. This qualitative study, in the form of a narrative, presents a comprehensive story of the lives and situational experiences, vulnerabilities, and resiliencies of five freelance male sex masseurs. A narrative approach was used in the study. Specifically, this study highlights personal and social circumstances of the participants and the participants’ motivation and exposure to engage as a sex massage therapist. The study revealed that participants had varying reasons for entering this kind of career; the common denominator in offering extra service was that they came from poor families, were abuse victims, and had low academic performance. The love for their families, easy money above all, a personal choice motivates them to engage in sex massage. For most participants, part of their motivation is the economic benefit, which bolsters the position of an economic necessity to alleviate their financial conditions. Further, their current personal circumstances, specifically the lack of job opportunities due to their educational attainment, limit their choices of profession. The results of this study conformed with the understanding that the most common reason for engaging into sex work concerned the financial benefits; that most participants enjoyed being male-sex masseurs; and the participants have positive improvements in their psychological health in terms of increased self-esteem, self-confidence, and the ability of the work to reduce feelings of depression and isolation.