Are massage parlours a devil's den?

Ugandans are known to wallow in luxurious lifestyles. We compete to own big flashy cars, which we ornament with personalised registration plates. We scamper for the latest mobile phones, wear some of the flashiest designer clothes. And within every little free time, we hang out and party, spending exorbitantly like Hollywood superstars.

The latest luxurious fad emerging is the visit to massage parlours. Every evening and weekends, men and women are seen lining up for massage sessions.

Massage is basically the soothing of the muscles and joints with slight gentle finger strokes using special remedial oils. The person being massaged has to lie naked on a table with only a towel covering his/her waist area. It is an intimate process requiring the masseur to explore the client’s whole body anatomy.

To cater for the growing demand, massage parlours are sprouting in every entertainment nook and hotels within the city centre and suburbs. The parlours are packaged with gym, aromatherapy, sauna, spa and steam bath services.

But a recent survey carried out in massage parlours around town revealed lurid sex tales and unrestrained advances from men seeking sexual pleasure in the guise of having a massage. As a rule in massage parlours, girls message male clients, while men message female clients.
It was discomforting to ask a straightforward question: “‘Do men you massage ask for sexual favours?” or more bravely, “Do you offer massage-sex to men who come for massage?”

I decided to initiate my interview with less discomforting questions about the health benefits of a massage. But as soon as I tried asking about their experiences in the parlour, some masseurs refused to talk.

The first masseur I talked to was an attractive lady, probably in her mid 20s, in one of Ntinda’s massage parlours. She was taught how to massage by a friend in 2003. She took me through the basics – explained the importance of having a massage at least twice every week.

“Most people come for massage because they want to relax. Others come because they have joint and muscle ache. Some are stressed and a good massage helps them rediscover themselves,” she explained

Throughout the interview, she was relaxed and seemed to enjoy talking. Considering the intimate nature of her job, I asked if men ever get aroused and how she handles such situations.

She became hesitant at first. But eventually vowed to only talk under one condition for fear of loosing her job. I had to promise not to mention the massage parlour in which she works or her name. Deal.

It turned out that every massage parlour I visited, the masseurs (mostly attractive young girls between the age of 20 and 30 years) either made similar demands or refused to talk to me.

So, Christine Kalungi (not real names), the lady in the Ntinda parlour, said the parlour is her second workstation but many things caught her by surprise the very first time she walked into a massage parlour.
“On my very first day of work, all the guys were very excited to see a new face. I thought they really liked me so much. But I soon started facing problems,” she says.

While some men genuinely went to her for a massage, the majority “wanted something else.”

“Men began promising me marriage, a lot of money or expensive gifts if I performed certain sexual acts with or on them,” she says. “Some wanted me to perform oral sex or help them masturbate. It was disgusting.”

When she moved to the Ntinda parlour, she only managed to change the work environment but not the problems. Men continue asking her for sexual pleasures. Actually about two months ago, something happened that she will live to remember.

“A regular client in his late 30s, one of the many men who is consistently seducing me, wanted to rape me. I had said ‘no’ to him for the hundredth time I think. He persisted until I threatened to scream if he tried anything stupid.”

Kalungi said she immediately stopped the session and the client begged her not to tell anybody what had happened. He has since disappeared.

She thinks massage rooms are seized by the devil. “You have to be resolute, professional and principled to be able to resist advances and offers from men.”

Men offer tips between sh3,000 and sh20,000, depending on the type of parlour and person being massaged. Such an offer is too tempting considering the fact that most masseurs are paid on commission basis with only a few enjoying a monthly salary ranging between sh …

In most massage parlours, the price for a full-body massage lasting between 45 minutes to an hour, costs between sh5,000 and sh10,000. In such a case, a masseur is paid sh2,000 to sh4,000.

The girls said some regular clients pay to simply get into a room for a romantic chat with them.

In a Wandegeya massage parlour for instance, a 23-year-old masseur said, after paying, some men enter the room and say they simply want to talk with her. She remembers an experience with a client in his 40s who entered the parlour with a condom and asked her to have sex with him. “I was shocked because he had always looked like a respectable person.”

Hadija, a masseur in Kamwokya, said Pakistanis taught her how to massage seven years ago. Since then she has worked in five different parlours. In each of them, she has experienced similar sexual harassment with male clients who get excited during massage sessions. She,however, declines to say how she handles such situations.

“I handle them my own way. I am not at liberty to discuss that with you,” Namale said. “But most times I tell them that I cannot do more than massage because I love my job. So I move out of the room and let them cool off.”

In a new massage parlour in the city centre, a 23-year-old masseur only called Carol, chatted with me freely until I popped the question about handling advances from men. She became tense and shy but soon came around.
“When they get aroused, they disturb and beg me to have sex with them. One man told me, ‘if you fear having it here, we can do it elsewhere’. When I insist that I cannot offer what they are asking, some men get angry and never return.”

Carol, who was taught by Chinese, has worked as a masseur for a year. Like most girls, she was naïve about what to expect. Midway the interview, she was called aside by two of her workmates; young girls, also in their early 20s, I presumed to also be masseurs. When she returned, she refused to continue with the interview!

“If I continue with this interview, I will get fired. Please leave.” she pleaded.

The parlours, according to the masseurs, have strict work ethics. Sex is prohibited and any kind of sexual indulgence between a client and staff is tantamount to a sack. But why then should talking about experiences in a parlour warrant similar punishment? Is there a sexual mystery in Uganda’s massage parlours?

Unlike Uganda, in more liberal western societies, massage parlours are synonymous with prostitution.

Across the United Kingdom, notably in south Wales, southeast and northwest England and across London, victims of sex trafficking were found in saunas and massage parlours among other places. In some cases, brothels advertise their services under the guise of being massage parlours.

Perhaps not to the level of western countries, but Cathy and Kalungi agree that massage parlours in Uganda are being misused by men and that is changing society’s perception of people who work in massage parlours and the men who genuinely go for massage.

“We are considered prostitutes and the men who come for massage are looked at as infidels. I am embarrassed to say what I do because people will look down on me,” said Hadija

Despite widespread confessions about numerous sexual advances from men, all the female masseurs deny giving in to the men’s demands because “we are not allowed.” But do all the girls, working in massage parlours, remain faithful to their ethics?

On one of the HIV prevention and safe sex forum hosted on www.medhelp.org by Hunter Handsfield, a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Centre of AIDS and STD, University of Washington, an expatriate working in Uganda confessed having exposed himself to HIV in one of Kampala’s massage parlours. In the message that was e-mailed on Friday August 4, the expatriate writes that he visited a local massage parlour for a massage and after 40 minutes, “the lady doing the massage managed to work me up. We ended up in a steamy oral sex session.”

The expatriate also confessed having two similar sexual engagements with two different girls.

Some of the men who go for massage confessed that it is hard not to get excited during a massage because the whole process is very intimate.

“Even if you have gone for a genuine massage, it is hard not to get sexually aroused,” said Tom Kalagala. “It is a refreshing and relaxing experience but very intimate. You have to try and keep your mind off the sexual fantasies, which is even harder to do if the girl working on you is very pretty.”

Another regular fan of massage parlours, who only preferred to be called Patrick, said he almost hinted a word to a girl who was working on her. “She had her hands warmly caressing my body. She even accidentally touched between my legs. She was killing me inside but I didn’t tell her anything. I was not sure if sex was an additional service or not,” he said.

“I have gone to the massage once. During the session the masseur started flirting with me. She was an attractive girl so I played along. We exchanged telephone numbers. She invited me for two more sessions and the flirting intensified. It was getting very tempting so I decided to pull out of it and out of massage parlours,” said another client of massage parlours.