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Roger-Luc Chayer (Image : Pixabay)
There are taboo subjects that nevertheless need to be discussed, particularly when they involve laws, the criminalization of certain behaviours, and the sometimes surprising boundaries between what is legal, tolerated, or grounds for a criminal record.
That is precisely the case with the subject I want to discuss here: massages. But not therapeutic, Swedish, or sports massages. I am referring instead to sensual, intimate massages, or even, to avoid playing with words, outright s**ual massages.
And when a massage crosses certain boundaries, what may seem harmless, consensual, and even beneficial to the people involved can suddenly take on an entirely different legal dimension.
The Benefits of Massage for the Body and Mind
Massage has long been recognized for its beneficial effects on the body and overall well-being. By applying pressure and movement to muscles and tissues, it can help reduce muscle tension, relieve certain types of pain, and promote better mobility.
But its effects go beyond the body. A massage can also provide a deep sense of relaxation, reduce stress, and help calm mental agitation. For many people, this relaxation can also make it easier to fall asleep and improve sleep quality.
Massage can also promote blood circulation in the areas being treated and contribute to an overall feeling of lightness and well-being. After a session, some people simply describe the feeling of being more relaxed, less tense, and more in tune with their bodies.
Although therapeutic massages are perfectly legitimate and legal, the boundary is sometimes crossed, with the consent of the parties, toward something more intimate, more sensual. And that is where it becomes important to understand the nuances.
The Possible Benefits of Sensual Massage
The first effect is often relaxation. As with other forms of massage, physical contact and slow movements can help reduce bodily tension and promote a state of relaxation. Sensual massage can also help reduce stress and anxiety, particularly because it encourages people to slow down, focus on bodily sensations, and temporarily step away from everyday concerns.
It can also promote greater body awareness. Touch allows people to become more aware of different physical sensations and can help some individuals feel more comfortable with their own bodies. From a relationship perspective, when practised between partners, it can strengthen intimacy, trust, and closeness. Touch is, after all, an important form of non-verbal communication.
Depending on the context, sensual massage can simply provide pleasure and a sense of well-being, without necessarily being intended to lead to anything further sexually. The benefits of sensual massage are not necessarily medical and should not be presented as a therapeutic treatment.
In the Case of a Sensual Massage
A massage involving nudity, intimate touching, or a sensual nature is not in itself necessarily a crime between consenting adults. However, if the massage is actually a cover for, or the setting in which, a sexual service agreed upon in exchange for money or another form of consideration is provided, the situation may fall under the criminal law governing paid sexual services.
The Canadian Department of Justice specifies that a “sexual service” is a service that is sexual in nature and whose purpose is to sexually gratify the person who receives it.
It is important to understand the nuances surrounding different types of massage. When no exchange of money or other form of compensation is involved and the massage, even a very intimate one, is given between two consenting adults, the Criminal Code does not apply simply because the act is sensual or intimate.
However, when one moves from a simple massage to obtaining, for compensation, a service of a se*ual nature, the situation may then fall under the Criminal Code. And this is precisely where things become more complex. Here is why:
The distinction is important: it is not sensual or intimate massage itself that is prohibited by the Criminal Code. What can become criminal is the purchase of a se*ual service in exchange for compensation.
Canadian law provides that a person commits an offence when they obtain, or communicate with someone for the purpose of obtaining, sexual services in exchange for a consideration. The service must then be sexual in nature and intended to sexually gratify the person who receives it.
Thus, a massage can be highly sensual without automatically being considered a sexual service. But if the agreement between the client and the masseur specifically concerns the provision of a sexual service in exchange for money or another form of compensation, the situation then falls within the scope of section 286.1 of the Criminal Code.
The determining factor is therefore less the question of nudity or the degree of intimacy involved in the massage than the nature of the service and the existence of an agreement involving compensation in exchange for that sexual service.
What Does Section 286.1 of the Criminal Code Say?
Section 286.1 of the Canadian Criminal Code deals with obtaining sexual services for consideration. In simple terms, it makes it a criminal offence for a person to purchase a sexual service or to communicate with someone for the purpose of obtaining one in exchange for consideration.
Two important elements must therefore be kept in mind: a service that is sexual in nature and consideration in exchange for that service. The law does not say that a sensual massage is automatically criminal. It is the actual nature of the service being offered and the fact that it is purchased that can bring the situation within the scope of section 286.1.
In other words, two adults may engage in intimate or sensual contact involving no compensation without section 286.1 applying simply because the act is sexual. However, when a person pays to obtain a service that genuinely constitutes a sexual service, the purchaser may be committing a criminal offence.
The law goes even further: it is not necessary for the sexual service to actually have been provided. Communicating for the purpose of obtaining it in exchange for consideration may also constitute an offence.
In the general case covered by subsection 286.1(1), the offence may be prosecuted by indictment, with a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, or by summary conviction, with a maximum fine of $5,000 and a maximum sentence of two years less a day in prison. Minimum fines are also provided for in certain circumstances.
The situation is much more serious when the sexual service involves a person under 18: subsection 286.1(2) provides for a criminal offence punishable by up to ten years’ imprisonment, with mandatory minimum prison sentences.
What About Europe?
Beware of overly quick comparisons: there is no single European law governing sexual services. Each country has its own rules. In Canada, the Criminal Code specifically targets the purchaser who obtains or seeks to obtain a sexual service in exchange for consideration. In Europe, the rules vary considerably. Some countries permit and regulate prostitution, others criminalize the purchase of sexual services, while some have chosen to decriminalize prostitution.
The same situation — for example, a massage presented as sensual or erotic in exchange for payment — can therefore be treated very differently depending on the country in which it takes place. It would therefore be incorrect to speak of a single “European law” in this area.
And What About the United States?
In the United States, the rules differ from those in Canada and vary considerably from one state to another. There is no single U.S. law that regulates all sensual or erotic massages in the same way.
In the vast majority of states, prostitution and the solicitation of sexual services in exchange for compensation are prohibited. The question therefore becomes particularly important when a paid massage includes acts that are considered sexual services under local law.
A merely sensual massage is not automatically considered prostitution, however. As in Canada, it is the actual nature of the service, the intentions of the people involved, the compensation, and the laws applicable in the location where the massage takes place that can determine whether an offence has been committed.
Nevada is a particularly well-known case: prostitution may be legal in certain rural areas that permit licensed brothels, but it remains prohibited in many other parts of the state. It would therefore be inaccurate to say that “prostitution is legal in Nevada” without specifying where.
With erotic massages, caution is therefore warranted: an activity that may be legal in one particular context may be considered prostitution or another offence in another city or state.
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