"This is a respectable occupation"
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By Merituuli Ahola
The sign in the window of a Thai massage parlour on Viipurinkatu says that the premises offer "Traditional Thai Massage". Posters of the human anatomy and of acupressure points on the soles of the feet have been taped to the window.
Sitting on a sofa in the blue-painted reception area are two angry Thai women, Somdee Prakob and Somboon Heikura. Although there are some problems with the language, their message comes across loud and very clear.
"There is too much bad stuff being thought and written about Thai massage. It is not every place that is selling sex services", they say.
"Then again", Somdee Prakob adds, "Every second customer we get would be eager enough to buy such services."
Prakob opened up a Thai massage parlour on Vaasankatu in Helsinki's Kallio district at the beginning of the summer. Before that she had a similar place in Sörnäinen, but the lease ran out.
Somboon Heikura has not been overly fortunate in her timing, at least as regards when she started up in business. She opened her own salon on Viipurinkatu just a month ago.
No more than a week after she set up in business, along came the Helsingin Sanomat article that reported that all of the Thai massage places that the journalists had visited had offered sex services of one form or another.
Last Monday, the Minister of the Interior Anne Holmlund (National Coalition Party) called on the Helsinki Police Department to conduct their own enquiries with a view to seeing if anything can be done about it.
"And what are we supposed to do then, if they go and introduce some law or byelaw that shuts down all the Thai massage places?" asks Prakob. "Thai people don't want to live here on handouts from the state."
The two women repeat that they are not in the business of selling sex. They nevertheless admit that they do know not all Thai massage parlours are quite the same. "But that is none of our business - it is up to them."
What annoys the two women most of all is the fact that the massage that customers get from most of the 'Traditional Thai Massage' parlours is actually not very good.
"They are ruining our reputation. This is an honourable and respectable profession", says Heikura, and she points to the diploma she has on the wall.
"I have attended proper massage training in Thailand, and I have been doing this work for 20 years."
The women also say that the bad publicity has had an impact in the neighbourhood.
Attitudes among the Finnish population towards Thais have hardened.
"Some of them push open the door to my shop and shout inside that I'm a whore", says Prakob.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.9.2007
More on this subject:
 Sex work is no dream job
MERITUULI AHOLA / Helsingin Sanomat
merituuli.ahola@hs.fi
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