Residents of Warren, Ohio are fed up with the "massage parlors" located in their city, for many reasons. One of the reasons is that human...
Residents of Warren, Ohio are fed up with the "massage parlors" located in their city, for many reasons. One of the reasons is that human trafficking in Ohio is a problem, one that introduces and keeps women in sex trafficking or prostitution. While the owners of the massage parlors say that their employees only work with providing massage therapy, it's clear from other sources that the parlors are havens for prostitution.
Sex trafficking, and human trafficking in general, is a scourge on our society. Women who are forced into this work have their health, and mental and physical well-being put into extreme risk of danger and permanent dysfunction. While this is a global problem, seeing it in our own communities presents us with the obligation to not only be aware of the problems, but to also act on our instincts to provide safety to our neighbors.
Newspapers in Cleveland consistently display sexually-explicit ads for the massage parlors in Warren. True massage businesses are open to both men and women, but the massage parlors make it clear in their advertisments and storefronts that women are not the targeted audience. And women are the ones who are employed to provide the massages to the male-only clientele. This situation has alarmed citizens that their city is under seige by potential prostitution, which doesn't bode well for attracting businesses to the city.
In response, Nate Brown of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative has worked with citizens and city council members to draft and support legislation for massage parlors that will fight human trafficking, and bring professional massage knowledge to the employees. One of the components of the legislation would require 100 hours of massage therapy education for each employee who gives massages to clients. Vocal council members, like Cheryl Saffold, originally sponsored the legislation. She, along with John Brown, Eddie Colbert, Greg Bartholomew, Jim Valesky, and the new mayor, Doug Franklin, publically signed-on to support the stricter legislation on January 10, 2012.
Should the legislation pass on January 25th when Warren City Council puts it up to a vote, law enforcement officials will have more power to intervene in massage parlors where human and sex trafficking appear to be in practice. The new education policies will provide parlor employees with updated and professional massage skills. Supporters of the legislation hope that some of the parlors will close permanently.
Local news covered this story:
Story: http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/566432/Spas-under-fire-i...
Video: http://www.wkbn.com/content/news/local/story/Group-Working-to-Regulate-M...
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