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About half of my clients are male, and with reference to the cocooning suggestions mentioned earlier in the postings, these guys love the sheet/blanket/table warmer I use...I have never had anything but appreciative comments from the men (and the women) and they look forward to getting under the sheets, winter OR summer (because of the AC.) I wouldn't even consider not using this method, not because I'm a prude but because everyone likes it so much. I include LomiLomi and full body strokes quite often. Any sheet can be deftly folded out of the way for access to the body portion you're working on, it just takes practice.
I tend to agree with Marilyn in her comments. Air conditioning can make a massage room very cold and chilly, especially to help the LMT not sweat. We use heating pads when the weather is cooler and flannel sheets to keep our clients warm, even in summer. What is the use of giving a great massage that warms the body and then expose them to cold air that brings the muscles into spasm again? I think that "YES" there may be therapists who can work with undraped male or female clients because that is something they became accustomed to doing; there is an equally valid reason for not viewing the undraped body in massage. We are still a modality that is questioned by many as a luxury, a sexual encounter, etc. So unless and when the massage therapy industry as a whole in the United States, decides that LMTs are "professional", we will always have people who push the envelope of non-professionalism while acceding to the wishes of some clients to be left undraped during massage. That is not to say the therapists who can work with clients undraped lack professionalism; NO OTHER PROFESSIONAL who works in the medical field, works with patients or clients undraped.
Are we holding the massage industry to high standards or not?
Marilyn St.John said:About half of my clients are male, and with reference to the cocooning suggestions mentioned earlier in the postings, these guys love the sheet/blanket/table warmer I use...I have never had anything but appreciative comments from the men (and the women) and they look forward to getting under the sheets, winter OR summer (because of the AC.) I wouldn't even consider not using this method, not because I'm a prude but because everyone likes it so much. I include LomiLomi and full body strokes quite often. Any sheet can be deftly folded out of the way for access to the body portion you're working on, it just takes practice.
LOL! Just today, I saw a female from India, a male from Dubai, and a woman of Asian descent. It was a "melting pot" kind of day. Looking back, I think other cultures enjoy "luxuriating" more than Midwesterners at least, and while people from the USA seem to feel guilty about "luxuriating" but will seek massage therapy when they are in pain, other cultures are very unabashed about it ~ they see it as an important pleasure they certainly deserve and are not reserved about spending their money to get it, ranking right up there with weekly facials (?!) in the case of the woman from India, who has given me many great ideas in the past. All of these people commented on how good the table felt (it was 68 degrees outside, 72 inside) and I always use flannel sheets plus a polarfleece blanket plus the table warming pad, set on medium or low--but some actually like it hot and I'll adjust it that way, as long as it doesn't toast them.
As an aside, my daughter brought home an old textbook over the summer from the University of Chicago that she and her co-workers found when they cleaned out a cabinet in their office. It was written in the 1970's and contained line drawings of various massage techniques. EVERY drawing showed a nude figure (that, incidently, looks just like my husband--Gasp #1) on the table with NO draping whatsoever...and the THERAPIST is drawn in the nude as well! (gasp #2) So perhaps draping is indeed a "cultural" thing. For those of you who weren't adults in the 1970's, there was a sense of Love Thy Neighbor that we don't see today...and it was pretty much accepted as normal, apparently by the textbook people too! Hilarious...but then again...
...and the THERAPIST is drawn in the nude as well! (gasp #2)
I have never been nude in front of a doctor during a checkup --male or female, or nurse for that matter. There is draping in the medical profession as there should be in the massage therapy profession.
Lynn Johnson said:I have never been nude in front of a doctor during a checkup --male or female, or nurse for that matter. There is draping in the medical profession as there should be in the massage therapy profession.
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The doctor refused to see her unless she put on the gown. Then he proceeded to take the gown off her upper body to palpate her breasts and then flip the gown up to her waist to examine her nether regions.
If we truly were to approach draping the same way doctors do, we would fold the sheet down to the waist of our clients to massage their upper bodies and fold the sheet up to their waist to massage their legs.
Lynn Johnson said:I have never been nude in front of a doctor during a checkup --male or female, or nurse for that matter. There is draping in the medical profession as there should be in the massage therapy profession.
They must practice medicine differently out in Colorado. When I get a checkup I don't get a gown. I just remove my shirt or drop my pants as needed. The two times I've had surgery I was naked and exposed when they moved me from the gurney to the operating table, and I wasn't covered until after the tubes and monitors were all in place.
Draping by medical professionals is much more about custom and not getting sued than about patient modesty. A client who preferred no draping for her massage laughingly told me about the time she decided not to put on the little gown for her gynecologist's exam. The doctor refused to see her unless she put on the gown. Then he proceeded to take the gown off her upper body to palpate her breasts and then flip the gown up to her waist to examine her nether regions.
If we truly were to approach draping the same way doctors do, we would fold the sheet down to the waist of our clients to massage their upper bodies and fold the sheet up to their waist to massage their legs.
One thing to remember when we compare ourselves to medical professionals -- massage is the only type of health procedure that I can think of that is intended to be pleasurable as well as therapeutic. Most massage therapists go out of their way to create a massage that is a sensual (which is NOT synonymous with 'sexual') experience for clients. We play soft music (often offering the client a choice), we arrange soft lighting, we use aromatherapy scents, and we provide a heated table with soft sheets. So why should we deny clients the chance to let their bodies breathe as they are massaged?
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