If you're like most women (i.e., trying to cram 72 hours' worth of stuff into one day), the idea of a 90-minute or two-hour massage is laughably unrealistic; basically pure fantasy.
No, not fantasy of the sexual variety, mind you; just fantasy regarding strong hands and hot river rocks (not sexually) kneading away your stress and your lower back pain.
Again, not sexual.
Apparently, though, there are some massage therapists out there, straight male ones, anyway, who think otherwise.
Bay News 9 reported Thursday that a 52-year-old woman is suing the Tampa-based Essentials Massage and Facials in the wake of a July incident in which a male massage therapist allegedly sexually assaulted her during a two-hour massage.
Plaintiff Kristy Yarcho said her massage therapist, 21-year-old Dakota Scott, began to sexually assault her over the course of the massage. When she told him to stop, he did so and then apologized, Bay News 9 reports, but the incident was reported to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Health later that day.
There are no records showing an arrest for Scott following the incident, and the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office declined to bring charges against him.
The accusation is far from the only possible massage therapy-related instance of sexual assault to be spotlighted in recent months.
Last month, nearly 200 female former clients of the national chain Massage Envy filed suit over numerous alleged incidences of sexual assault, which suggests such behavior is rampant. One Florida woman who was part of the suit said her massage therapist forcibly attempted to perform oral sex on her despite her attempts to make him stop.
The same week, another victim came forward about the behavior of a Massage Envy staffer during a massage she received.
Getting a massage can be pretty awkward to begin with, given that you're basically naked except for a sheet, and the person charged with pummeling and cracking your musculoskeletal system is probably a stranger. So the fact that female massage clients now have to worry about whether their masseur is a creep doesn't exactly scream total relaxation, does it?
