I am a male therapist and have never had a woman request not to be draped. I avoid such situations for many obvious reasons.
However, almost all of the men prefer not to be draped which is legal in my state and by the choice of the client as long as draping has been offered.
Like you, I notice that many of the men do experience erections from time to time which seems to be a normal natural and usually non-sexual response when one is very relaxed and feeling very safe. Even a sexual response erection is natural for some men, is very human, and is not a problem as long as clear and healthy boundaries are understood and maintained.
I am not uncomfortable with this at all and even see it as an indication that the client feels so safe with me that he can completely let go with no fear of judgement. There has not been an issue or problem of innapropriate behavior related to it.
It seems to me that the client is only as safe and comfortable as the therapist is; when I create a clearly safe, accepting,and positive environment, my client can become fully authentic and trusting to fully experience his sensual body, get an erection,get energy surges,sexual feelings, or to release emotion.
These things are very healthy and in my opinion should be what happens when there is a sense of mutual respect, non-judgement, and trust within the massage therapeutic relatonship. Just having a place to experience being this fully free, safe, and respected is therapeutic in itself.
These responses can all be treated as information to be used by the client to learn about himself and to integrate something new and positive if it is of interest or concern for him. It is too bad, in my opinion, that a simple erection can illicits such fear and confusion for some male therapists.
I would hope that we would deal with our own issues and not project them on our clients in anun helpful way.
Jun 25, 2009 Rating
Comment to "Draping or no draping..." by: Michael
Above all else, I would first ask yourself the question, "Is it legal to provide legitimate massage to an undraped client during their massage session in the jurisdiction where you live/work or, in other words, is there an active Massage Ordinance which states what is legal and not legal?"
From that point, the male client can experience stress release via an erection during a massage as a natural body occurrence. Females obviously are able to "hide" it better.
