Deciding on Getting a Male or a Female Massage Therapist

Deciding whether you want a male or female massage therapist is one of the first questions you're faced when you get a massage.

When you make an appointment, the receptionist generally asks if you have a preference for male or female massage therapists. There are more female massage therapists in the business, and both men AND women tend to prefer women. Some of the reasons people prefer female massage therapists include: 

• People feel vulnerable when they're nude, and want to feel safe.
• Women believe male massage therapists will be judging their bodies.
• People are worried the massage will be sexualized with male massage therapists. Men are afraid male massage therapists are gay....and women are worried they aren't!
• Many hetereosexual men find a woman's touch pleasant -- even when it's not sexual -- and find it easier to relax.

Massage therapists are trained to respect boundaries and use proper draping techniques, so these issues shouldn't be a problem. But since male massage therapists aren't as popular, anyone who doesn't state a preference will likely get booked with a male. 

More experienced spa-goers often don't care whether massage therapists are male or female. They're comfortable with the routine, and know the most important factor is skill, not gender. 

Some experienced spa-goers actually prefer male massage therapists. Male massage therapists often have more strength, which can be helpful with deep tissue massage And gay men, who are big spa-goers, tend to prefer male massage therapists. 

Whether you prefer male or female massage therapists, feel free to state it up front. It's your massage, and you should enjoy it. (Source)

I found this article today and decided to share it with you. I know you have asked me to post an article on the difference of ratio of male therapist to female. There are about 80% more female therapists than male. Male are having a hard time getting booked and hired compared to woman something to consider before going off to massage school. Massage therapy is a hard profession to begin with and has a burn out rate within the first three to six years. The compensation is low and the work is hard. There are benefits if you decide to launch a business and as a male therapist adding modalities and being a business owner is a way of making ends meet. You will need to be very patient and tenacious to have a long lasting career. The public still hasn’t been exposed to enough knowledge about massage and the benefits or know enough about it to allow a more neutral mentality towards gender not be an issue. Things evolve in life but sometimes not fast enough for some people.

I no longer give financial or business advice to massage therapist because I feel books have been written and there are others who are covering the issues better than I ever could. If you decide to be a massage therapist do it for the love of what you are doing and put your clients first the rest are details.