When the topic of “feminine” came up, I decided to learn more about it to gain a better understanding. I started with a simple approach: finding the true meaning of the word. When I had the chance, I began an intervention in the form of an interview (I chose this method because I felt that what I wanted to do wasn’t very tangible, and Elizabeth had mentioned in a tutorial that an interview could also be an intervention).
I had the opportunity to speak with a female masseuse at the shop. She told me that she moved to the UK because she married a British man (she is the same person who experienced harassment from a customer in “Working Experience at a Massage Parlor EP2”). She said she has two sons: the older one, who is 20 years old and autistic but can take care of himself to some extent, and a younger son. The reason I spoke to her was that she asked me to help her write a resignation letter, which led to our conversation.
She shared that she has two jobs: she works as a waitress at a Thai restaurant near Liverpool Street, which is close to her home, and she works at the massage parlor as a side job. She had recently attended a massage course and was invited to work at the parlor to earn extra income, but the massage parlor is quite far from her home, and she is worried about her eldest son. She told me about various incidents where she was harassed by male customers, which prompted me to conduct an impromptu intervention with her, as the shop is usually busy and we rarely have the chance to sit and talk.
I informed her that I was working on this project and asked for permission to use her information. Unfortunately, she resigned before I had the chance to get her to sign a consent form. However, in the audio recording (the conversation was in Thai), she verbally consented but requested not to reveal her identity.
Initially, I always thought that one factor leading to harassment of masseuses might be a language barrier. However, she and all the masseuses in the shop can communicate in English to a certain extent, so that isn’t the main factor. She mentioned that the main factor, in her view, might be that Thai women have a culture of being polite, not speaking much, and always smiling to welcome customers. This politeness could be seen as a weakness, making customers think the masseuse will comply. I suggested that she might need to speak up more to let customers know that she can understand and communicate. Smiling might be good service, but speaking up could protect oneself from being mistreated because of the perception that they have no voice and cannot respond.
I learned a technique from interviewing several masseuses. They said that when customers know you are willing to speak up and respond, it can reduce the chances of harassment. I suggested she try this approach.
Feedback: She said that recently, as she started speaking up more and adjusting her tone of voice to let customers know (she can often tell from experience if a customer has bad intentions), it has helped reduce instances of harassment and has built her confidence in handling such situations. She mentioned that she is less kind to customers who treat her poorly (it may sound bad, but she said it’s beneficial in this line of work).
