The killings of eight individuals at three therapeutic massage companies in Georgia have centered consideration on an industry that has lengthy been a goal of regulation enforcement scrutiny.
Although many therapeutic massage parlors are simply that — locations to get a therapeutic massage — specialists say there are greater than 9,000 such companies within the United States which might be fronts for prostitution, and that many of the ladies working there are being exploited.
Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, burdened that the Atlanta Police Department had not had any calls to the 2 spas in her metropolis the place the shootings occurred on Tuesday.
“We are not about to get into victim-blaming, victim-shaming here,” she stated. “And as far as we know in Atlanta, these are legally operating businesses that have not been on our radar, not on the radar of A.P.D.”
The homeowners of the three companies the place the shootings occurred couldn’t be reached for remark. The suspect, Robert Aaron Long, instructed the police that he suffered from sexual habit and considered the spas as a temptation. The Atlanta police stated on Thursday that Mr. Long had been a buyer of the 2 spas that have been targeted within the metropolis.
In 2020, Street Grace, a faith-based anti-trafficking group, used a in style web site utilized by those that frequent such spas to identify 165 illicit therapeutic massage companies in Georgia, greater than three quarters of which have been within the larger Atlanta space. The group arrange cameras outdoors the outlets and reviewed the feedback on the evaluate web site, RubMaps, to estimate that the illicit therapeutic massage industry in Georgia has greater than 1,000 clients a day and an estimated annual gross income of greater than $42 million.
Yvonne Chen, an advocate for sex trafficking victims who works with Asian girls who work at therapeutic massage companies, stated not all of them are prepared to offer sex to their purchasers, however those that refuse are sometimes attacked by their clients.
“I don’t think there’s enough discussion of the violence that comes from the buyers,” she stated.
Customers typically go on membership-only evaluate web sites the place they describe intimately what sexual companies workers at a given spa are prepared to offer. The two spas targeted within the assaults in Atlanta, Aromatherapy and Gold Spa, have dozens of feedback on RubMaps.
Law enforcement businesses throughout the nation continuously conduct raids and infrequently shut companies down, however nimble spa homeowners frequently set up shop elsewhere, in keeping with regulation enforcement officers and anti-trafficking advocates. The spa homeowners typically run as a unfastened community, with girls typically spending solely a few months at one spa earlier than shifting to a different state to work at one other, they stated. Owners typically maintain on to workers’ passports and require them to pay lease as live-in staff.
The Polaris Project, an anti-trafficking group, estimates that the industry generates no less than $2.5 billion a 12 months in revenues.
Many of the ladies who work on the salons are lured there with guarantees of good jobs or journey visas to the United States, and solely discover out later that the job includes providing sex for suggestions. They are sometimes so indebted financially by the point they arrive, that they see no manner out, Ms. Chen stated.
