How the hell are there so many massage parlours in Melbourne and greater Melbourne? They're everywhere. Are most people getting massages regularly and I'm the odd one out? On multiple strips of shops near me in the eastern suburbs there are two different competing massage shops. All within a 5km radius of each other, and several other massage shops at larger shopping centres. I'm just so curious how this massive industry survives. I don't think I've seen people actually go into half of them before, half only look open ⅓ of the time. It's just an element of Melbourne I've never given any thought and don't really know anyone that gets them or works at them to ask.
Edit: Are people actually taking the piss or are we genuinely saying stone faced that there are several brothels essentially every few Km in the suburbs? That seems crazy to me. Also why the hell aren't Johns just actually going to proper brothels?! Going to deregulated shifty ones doesn't just sound dubious as fuck, it seems genuinely dangerous. And if it's such an open secret that they're all shady rub and tug joints, why TF aren't we closing them down. That's so wildly irresponsible of the govt/police to let the biggest human trafficking industry on earth just run rampant.
Edit 2: The username is a reference to how easy being gender fluid would be for a muppet. Just because my username has genitals in it, doesn't make me an expert on Melbourne prostitution rings. I appreciate the almost irony, but it's just a coincidence.
Hicaps/health rebates do ensure they have at least gone to the trouble of maintaining their rmt registration.
However I just wanted to point out there will be other legitimate shops where they don't hold remedial massage registration and aren't giving happy endings lol
how many people are consistently getting that done
this part has definitely fascinated me. would love some analysis on it but my hunch is that it's a small percentage of the population really propping it up. i hope so anyway, the idea that >10% of dudes are getting questionably legal hand jobs on the regular is pretty grim
1 in 6 Australians have seen a sex worker, according to a recent survey. But yes, most of them aren't going all the time. But you'd be surpised how many ordinary everyday people see sex workers.
I'm a sex worker and I get everyone from 20yo uni students, tradies, dads, office workers, retirees, couples, religious people, bikies, hospitality workers, CEOs, athletes.
All ages, nationalities, backgrounds, income brackets. It no longer surprises me but it would surprise people who don't participate, or don't have friendship groups where they're open about this stuff.
interesting thanks for the insight. 1 in 6 is kinda bonkers if true. amount of times someone has told me they have visited a sex worker is extremely minimal, i can think of twice in my entire life and i'm not a young guy.
that list has got me picturing a pretty entertaining doctor's office style waiting room
Which does say 1 in 6 men had ever paid for sex, and 2% had done so in the past year. Only 0.1% of women ever had; there's some recent news reporting that says that's increased significantly, but not by how much.
As the person above said, the percentage is pretty stable across income brackets, blue collar / white collar / managerial, education levels, etc. It's a little higher in the lower end of each of those, but not dramatically.
Yeah I counted 6 massage shops within a 100m radius in a certain suburb recently - and that’s just the ones that were obvious from the street.
Trying to do the maths here - as a conservative estimate, I’d imagine every site has minimum of 2 staff providing “services”, and each service lasts 1 hour (I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of them take 15 mins or less though), and each site is open 6-12 every night (again, pretty sure several of them are 24-hour locations)… that would mean there are at LEAST 72 men getting a rub-n-tug every night, just in this one small 20k population suburb? Where are they all getting the time and money??
(EDIT) The more I think about it the more I realise I’m probably just naiive. We’re in the middle of a “male loneliness epidemic” after all.
Yes - About the only "Chinese massage" places that actually do a massage are in a shopping centre. If it's in a group of shops, assume that's what it is. Next to schools, MPs offices, anything. We've got one on either side of both our local fish and chip joints.
I'm with you OP, I'm well aware that a lot of them are brothels but it still seems wild to me that there's enough business to keep so many of those operating
They are mostly a way of working visas, exploitation and money laundering. No rarely anyone actually goes there for those reasons , of course sex pests do exists
I get that they provide extra services, but I'm not sure this really answers the question. There are still so many of them? I live in regional Gippsland and we have 5 such establishments in the town. There must be a very high percentage of men looking for a happy ending.
Money laundering. You don't hear about it anymore but Vietnamese organized crime runs the cannabis and heroin trades. Pretty easy to sell some handjobs that never occured to clean some money up.
Yeah when I lived in Darwin there was like one street that had like 5 or 6 and it was very high traffic. You'd think Darwin'd be the absolute mecca of dodgy handjobs due to FIFOs, other cash-rich industries, gender/age demographics and it seems crazy random regional towns can now sustain the same.
Nah cos fuckn I had some pretty bad shoulder pain/neck pain I needed fixed. She got a little pissy when I told her I just wanted a massage and that “if it was any one of the other girls I’d be told to just leave” lmao
Have a mate that this happened to, she started yelling at him when he said he was after a real massage and tried to take his wallet. She essentially held him hostage and made him pay her cash to leave the room.
That’s pretty much what this girl told me would have happened if I had gotten a massage from any of the “more experienced” girls she said she’d only been there a month
The Thai massage places that probably offer rub n tug, also offer normal Thai massage. They’re pretty good, a bit rough for my frail body these days. But yeah they all have signs explicitly saying they don’t offer sexual services (they do) and if you just want a normal massage they won’t try to offer additional services. In my experience from 10 years ago anyway
There are genuine ones which is a real shame because people speak about them as if they are all escorts. I regularly go to a Thai place that is franchised instead of going to a physio who will barely work the area and move you on.
It’s honestly fucked up. I have about half a dozen massage places within walking distance but I’m pretty sure nearly all are not normal massages. If it was legit massages I would get one every week or two. I wish they could just be honest and be legit massage or rub and tug place.
A family member gave me a voucher for a massage and I went without realising. Anyway the massage was awful haha I wouldn't recommend it just for a massage.
I think that's actually the harder (pun intended) challenge... where to go for a legitimate GOOD massage, as a man, and not be waiting for the upsell on the flip.
I go to a place in the local shopping centre because being that open and obvious I know it's not going to be suss. I absolutely thrash myself with exercise so need proper deep tissue and remedial massage and they do a good job.
As said elsewhere in the thread, having a HICAPS machine is always a good sign.
I went to one because I tweaked my neck - I was in genuine agony, and it was too late in the evening to go to a shopping centre. About halfway through she started putting the hard word on me, basically begging me to give her another $50 for a hand job.
I had to beg for her to keep working on my neck. But, yeah, she was using all the high pressure sales tactics for that extra $50
I have a theory, that operators open 2 neighbouring businesses to create the illusion of competition, and that the girls work across both venues based on demand.
They need different licensing to explicitly offer erotic massage I believe, which is why it is offered under the counter (or under the undies, as it were)
That was abolished in 2023, they now operate like any other small business. If they are offering things under the table then it’s most likely a sex trafficking/forced situation
They have to be money laundering
A lot of people here are going down the erotic path and I’m not doubting that, but at just my local shopping centre there are 10 different massage parlours and these are open just regular hours.
There is no way they are that profitable the money has to be coming from somewhere
If you think about it, it’s a very easy buisness to say clients paid with cash and they never get details so who is to say they where all working 4-6 clients every half hour with all paying cash?
Super hard to prove otherwise and they have multiple brands so if one gets shut another pops up
Anyway short answer - money laundering I just can’t see how it’s sustainable if it’s not
My ex gf worked at one. They’re busy enough but they’re paying staff cash so Labor is cheaper than standard. That’s the key. She could easily be booked for 8 massages per day. Not sure why people are thinking they’re not popular.
100% they are, there’s a 24 hour one across from where I’ve been on night shift.. There’s not enough business for them to even cover the rent from what I’ve seen.
Are gyms even that good for money laundering any more? Who's paying cash for gym memberships and recurring long-term commitments aren't really the best way to easily source money to launder.
Sexual services joints are perfect for money laundering. The fees are high, and Johns may be more motivated to pay cash. There are also no materials/ingredients required other than the staff.
Almost every single shop in my entire suburb is either an Asian nail salon, Indian restaurant, Thai massage place, or dodgy smokeshop. Easily 8 out of every 10 storefronts, maybe even 9.
Like, there's seriously only a handful of shops out of dozens that aren't one of those four places. You've got Indian restaurants next to Indian restaurants, then literally 3 or 4 Asian nail salons in a row, a couple more Indian restaurants, massage, smoke shop, massage, nail salon, Indian restaurant, nail salon, two Indian restaurants, smoke shop, nail salon, Indian restaurant...
When one 'type' of those 4 shopfronts close, an identical one opens up with a different name/AI generated logo. Over and over, rinse and repeat, some barely lasting a year. Those genuinely must make up about 90-95% of the stores here, and the remaining 5-10% are either permanently closed/shuttered or grandfathered in old shops from the '80s that get fewer than ten customers per day.
We've only lived here for six years, but we can go for a walk and point at almost every single shop and name you the 2-5 different names we've seen nearly all stores have just in the time we've been here. Though more than anything else, I'm just sad the few Vietnamese places were pushed out by Indian shops half a decade ago, because the bahn mi standard in the area is absolutely dire nowadays.
I don’t know where you guys have been, but for the past 8 years, I’ve been a regular visitor to get deep tissue and hot stone massages, biweekly. I have never seen any inappropriate behaviour or the like.
I do get stiff and sore muscles and as soon as I explain my situation, the therapist would target the pain.
My go-to is Southland Shopping Centre (2-3 places) near the Caulfield area and Melbourne Central shopping centre around cbd. 🤷🏻♀️
Yeah, I have to imagine this is more the norm than what everyone else is talking about. Like it's less salacious, but surely at least the simply majority of these places are just for massages.
Back in the 90s I broke my leg badly and my physio suggested using an exercise bike. Conveniently a few doors down from me in West Melbourne there was an exercise bike hire shop, open 11am-11pm. I was very naive, but not quite naive enough to go there and ask if I could hire a bike.
hah reminds me of a time i was offered work with a high powered indoor UV light company, which existed because people really wanted to grow tomatoes indoors
I regularly see an osteo. I had a remedial massage for the first time this week from a place that does Pilates and physio and osteo (ie not a Thai massage places) and it was incredible. My next treatment is booked in next week and I have faith from my first treatment that this therapy will be life changing for me
Based on the comments here, I must be the only person reading this thread who legitimately goes to them for and only for actual massages!
I've been getting massages regularly for well over a decade - I ride a bike lots and sit at a desk. In all that time there has only been one occasion where I've had a staff member try offer something other than legit services - and it was bloody creepy and gross, and I've never been back there.
Trick I guess is only going to places at shopping centres, usually ones run by the major lessors. Let's be honest, Westfield aren't letting that kind of stuff continue to operate from their centres if they actually know about or get reports of it.
Nah, there are legitimate massage places and I think you can usually tell which is which - at least I feel like it's clear enough from the outside. It's just the sheer number of them vs how many oesonary massages people are getting that seems wildly skewed.
I'd be tempted to go but with such a poor reputation I get the same feeling I get when walking past an adult store, like other people think I'm going for dodgy reasons.
Also stupid question but how does it work? Like when you see people at day spas in movies they strip and only have a towel covering surely people aren't going that far in a shopping centre? Is it just all over the clothing or something in between?
It would be concerning to be sold sexual services at a McDonald’s. I mean I could probably take the happy meal, but I don’t know about the double pounder.
On their equivalent of Swanston Street, you'd find a Swedish massage, Japanese massage, Chinese massage, Thai massage, all within a few metres of one another.
I am a Caucasian female who has previously worked in several Thai massage shops and also a non Thai one. There are sexual services offered as “extras”, most have discreet back entrances and most (not all) offer sexual intercourse.
The Thai girls come here to study something like cooking, whilst doing sexual favours for cash in hand at massage shops and sending money home to their family.
Some of the shops are run terribly (in my experience 2 were run by husband / wife teams of Thai women with Caucasian Aussie husbands) and the staff are treated poorly.
I would have clients back to back, as would most of the other girls. And I imagine it’s the same with all of the shops.
The amount of men (even married) who are willing to pay to get a sub par massage with extras, is astounding.
As I understand it, places that take hicaps are usually legit and anywhere with a flashing neon sign, is a brothel.
I'm a 53 yr old bloke and have a lot of male friends and am recently separated so I have no knowledge of any of this.. I find it utterly astounding that you can just go for a handy somewhere.. There's no wonder then that a number of my friends all try and convince me to go for a massage.. They were all just getting handys.. the dirty buggers lmao.. let alone getting a full service..
Coolangatta is a bit special because historically they were unenforced in NSW while being cracked down on in Qld. Heaps sprung up just on the NSW side of the border, I think now though a fair few have opened on the Qld side because the area is just known for having them.
Anything in a shopping centre is a pretty safe bet to be genuine massage parlour.
Anything that shows quals/accepts hicaps pretty likely to be massage.
Places with open front areas or foot massage/head or neck massage chairs in a communal area - pretty safe.
Blocked out windows, neon signs, one mobile only (unless independent masseuse), weird opening hours (like only the evening). - likely a brothel.
Massage is pretty popular in some communities. I use to go fortnightly, but a little less now. I would swap between 4-5 places because I never remember to book and if I left it too long they would be booked out.
I do think there is probably some places that are fronts, same as other beauty services.
There are a few that do the sexual kind but they are pretty obvious.
Despite those, which aren't really a big thing in Victoria. It's a legitimate business. My health insurance covers it. It helps with some injuries and muscle related issues I get from sitting at a desk all the time.
I once went into the wrong sort of massage parlour in Canberra which was a weird experience. When I realised what it was about I just said "no" and left with a less than average shoulder massage.
I’d been going to a Thai massage joint every couple months for like 10 years for a deep tissue massage but it closed down and a rub n tug sprung up in its place.
The original place had signs about keeping underpants on and respecting staff etc. but the new one was a shit massage and old mate literally told me to take everything off and when I refused she kept doing playful gropes of the package.
Really uncomfortable experience and I won’t be going back ever again
Parked out the back of the local Vinnies one day and noticed men going into, and leaving, via the back of a shop two doors down. Yep, Thai massage place. Call me crazy, but legitimate business gets run via the front door.
I hired a mobile male masseus in Sydney many years ago who did that. Was a lot of fun. After the massage he packed up, walked over to my fridge and made himself a peanut butter sandwich. 10/10.
There was a post a while ago about a lady who went to a massage parlour and got a surprise when they went to give her a happy ending.
Doubt they’re knocking back paying customers for being the wrong gender lol
I am a professional massage therapists at a big chain in melbourne and have female clients ask me for “more” all the time, there is loads of demand for massages people are stressed and massage is an incredible way to release it
Dude I used to know openly talked about visiting these "establishments". Said one time the girl was so disinterested, she was watching a movie on her phone. Then proceeded to put her phone on his back while massaging.
Visas - run a business that turns over a certain amount of money for a couple of years and you get a visa to stay here. It might not turn over enough, but you can fake the books and pay tax on the total to buy a visa
I lived near a country town with a population of just over 6000. I think there was 7 Asian massage parlours there last year. It's also an area that the Bandidoes motorcycle club had a strong presence in and is on the border of 2 states. It seems pretty easy to connect the dots but it was also well known there was more than massages on offer.
Economically, vices are counter-cyclical. The worse the economy, the more you get liquor, tobacco, gambling, drugs, and prostitution. Along with the payday loan (shark) places, it's one of the signs that that region or time are doing badly economically.
Whatever the government statistics, when you see these places popping up more you know things are going badly in that area.
When I moved to Melbourne from Qld, I noticed a heap of massage places near me, and basically wherever I travel.
I'm not naive, and assumed a few were your average "rub-and-tug" places, but friends and acquaintances have made it abundantly clear, that if I want a genuine massage, to go to a place that offers physio, etc., as well, and that all the other places are definitely dodgy.
Surely, half of them have to be okay.
I'm near Sunbury, and people have told me not to go near any of the massage places along the main street, or nearby.
I've had multiple back and knee surgeries, and used to go to a few family-owned places, and there was never anything untoward.
I just want a nice massage that doesn't cost a mint, or have a "happy ending."
A lot of the staff have just done a standard massage course to have a job and get paid cash. They won’t vary the routine much other than pressure so it’s not the place for a good remedial massage.
My fav thing about aus is being able to get a massage when I go shopping. I used to have one every week before babies and mortgage. Unreal. I feel like most of them are money laundering or sex trafficking. It’s not normal
This is so weird. I’m in Auckland, but this post came up on my feed, literally a couple of hours after I was just saying this to someone about the parlour’s here!
Money laundering and visa mills. I moved here from WA and they are absolutely everywhere over there, too. Never any customers, barely a word of English spoken between any of them and yet they stay float year after year.
There are three massage parlours within 2km of us.
One of them is apparently legit - there are multiple reviews stating they will throw you out if you ask for sexual services. It’s open until 10pm which is normally a sign something else is going on, but according to my husband’s physio there a lot of people with bad backs and other workplace injuries in this area who genuinely need massages.
One I’m not sure about but will assume it’s doing happy endings.
The third isn’t even trying to pretend. This is its website and the shopfront looks like this. It’s lit up at with fairy lights at night too.
There’s one near me that has a waiting room with windows on my suburbs main shopping strip such that everyone who walks past can see who’s in the waiting room - I suspect that one’s legit.
The LED massage sign with the heart really seals the deal here, along with discreet rear entrance. I’d be doubtful if they offered genuine massage services.
They’re brothels mate. Half of them at least. In regards to the rest massage is a very easy skill for immigrants to learn, whether willingly or sometimes against their will. Same with the ones that are brothels - you can never be certain the girls there are doing it willingly or doing it because the owner is holding their passport hostage, or because their visa has expired and the owner is threatening to have them deported. Sex work is legal and regulated in VIC but only in actual licensed brothels
Sex work in Victoria is legal and regulated under the standard business regulations. Like you said, there's no such thing as a "licensed brothel" anymore. They can just operate according to the local planning laws for businesses.
Not saying it’s every place, but there was one place that was supposedly a massage place (never saw anyone in it) that got busted for growing cannabis. I guessing a lot are money laundering operations.
Country towns as well. They are unregistered sex workers. It’s really shite. Sometimes the girls live and work in facilities that are not suitable, nor legal for them to do so.
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u/ConanTheAquarian Looking for coffee 19h ago edited 19h ago
They aren't going for massages.
EDIT: here's the guide.