LISTEN: A Closer Look At Illicit Massage Parlors

WGBH News and the New England Center for Investigative Reporting launched a multipart series today about illicit massage parlors. Barbara Howard interviewed one of the reporters of the story to learn more about the women involved in the industry. To read part one of the series, click here.

Barbara Howard: So just what did happen to that Chinese woman who ended that report. Investigative reporters Philip Martin and Jenifer McKim from our partner the New England Center for Investigative Reporting put that piece together, and Jenifer McKim is with me now in the studio. Hi, Jenifer.

McKim: Hello.

Howard: That Chinese woman, do you know what happened to her?

McKim: So she was later arrested, and we are going to discuss more about her case in our series next week. But what's remarkable about her is that we actually hear her voice. So many of these women do not speak or are afraid to talk to law enforcement, even people who want to help them, afraid both by fear and shame. Most of them are not really shackled like you would think of sex slaves, but more they owe money to traffickers or people back home. So what's really interesting is hearing her voice it all.

Howard: And how typical is she? She seems pretty typical.

McKim: Very typical.

Howard: What kind of women do end up in these situations, mostly?

McKim: So many of these women come from Asian countries — China, Philippines, Thailand. They come here often on fraudulent visas, and they come through Flushing, New York and Los Angeles and they're trafficked all over the U.S.

Howard: When you say they owe money, what to the equivalent of a pimp?

McKim: They often spend a lot of money to come over here and then owe that money. They also owe money just back home, and that is sort of lorded over them by the people who get them involved in this business.

Howard: Well, you did get a man who had frequented these places. He said he spent tens of thousands of dollars in these places. What kind of money are these women seeing?

McKim: Often the house gets $60 and the tip might be the same amount, so they do get money as part of this, but they often also owe a lot of money. They're charged often to stay in the places. Many of these women live in the massage parlors, we understand, sleeping actually on the floor, or on mattresses, and they have to pay the operators for the food and the homes that they're living in. Often when they come here to Massachusetts, they've taken buses. Often they don't even know what town they're in when they arrive, and they'll stay for weeks on end without leaving the place at all.

Howard: You know, your report said that 7,000 of these storefront operations nationwide. What are the numbers in Massachusetts?

McKim: There's about 185 of them that are active here in Massachusetts that are reviewed on one the review boards we were examining.

Howard: Now, what if prostitution were legalized like marijuana. Would that give some protections to women?

McKim: Many of the people who I talked to who are in the anti-trafficking movement don't believe that legalization is the answer because these women are, many of these women are, being trafficked. It will not solve that problem. There's a lot of argument that prostitution should be decriminalized for the women, but not the men, that this is one way to do it — you should hold men accountable for buying, but consider the women to be victims and help them and provide services rather than arresting them.

Howard: And that's happening, I think, already some in some places.

McKim: There's definitely a movement around the country to think more of the women as exploited and victims, both in Massachusetts and across the United States.

Howard: In that report there was talk of a loophole. Tell me more about that loophole.

McKim: Massachusetts has a state law to focus on massage parlors. But there's a loophole where if you a consider yourself ‘body works’ you don't have to be licensed and that means that police and licensing can't come in and knock on your door, take a look, and see if it's insured, see what kind of education people have. So there's a lot of concern within law enforcement that this loophole is making it harder to regulate.

Howard: So this loophole just means if you don't use the word ‘massage’?

McKim: If you say you're doing ‘body works’ rather than ‘massage’ then you do not need to be licensed in Massachusetts. There's currently legislation right now to fix that, but it has been attempted over years and so far has not passed.

Howard: OK, so this is the first of a multipart series, what else are we going to be hearing about?

McKim: So we are focusing over the next weeks on different parts of this industry. We're going to focus more on the women who work behind closed doors. We are going to talk to the men who frequent these places and really fuel the economy and we're going to look at different ways, places, and other parts of the country and here trying to deal with the problem.

Howard: OK, thanks so much for coming in, Jenifer.

McKim: Thank you very much.

Howard: That's Jenifer McKim of WGBH News partner the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. She and WGBH Radio Senior Reporter Philip Martin have put together this ongoing series. It's edited by Aaron Schachter. If you or someone you know are a victim of this system, you can get in touch through our website, wgbhnews.org.