07/08/2023
I’d like to talk about a bias I’ve noticed in the bodywork world, namely that “bodywork” is considered higher status than “massage.”
I think the foundation of this separation may have originally come about in the attempt to make massage therapy a professional health service, rather than something seedy and sexual. Remember massage parlors?
Even now in the US, massage is seen by some as a code for sexual services, as witnessed by the arrest of men paying for just this in a massage establishment in Florida a couple of years ago.
While I fully support the professionalization of my industry, I think the division between bodywork and massage reflects the domination of the masculine and the denigration of the feminine that has resulted in so many of the problems we now face.
To be clear, I consider all humans regardless of gender, have an inner masculine and feminine, and I’m equating bodywork with the masculine principle, massage with the feminine.
Therapeutic Bodywork, with its emphasis on fixing a problem, is seen as more legitimate and valuable than relaxation massage.
I understand that the cost of a session is expensive for many and that people want to get the most bang for their buck, but it makes me sad that we don’t value relaxation and the feminine enough to want to pay for it, and that the industry itself has adopted an attitude where bodyworkers are accorded more status than massage therapists.
From my viewpoint, relaxation is the MOST needed experience those caught in the gerbil wheel of late capitalism need. In a world moving so fast, it’s impossible to see there are solutions to help us move beyond the feeling of inevitable doom that haunts our society. Relaxation, which can provide clarity and a feeling of well-being, re-establishing our safety in the body, can be a remedy just as powerful as fixing a specific problem like a tight muscle.
I’m told by many clients that I provide the best of both, and I’m proud of that, for it’s evidence that I’m operating from the holistic, offering clients deep relaxation and fixing specific problems at the same time.
