The Dark Side: AMPs

The Asian Massage Parlor (AMP).

For many a man this is one of the most accessible and affordable routes to quick pleasure. They seem to be everywhere. They are easy to get into. Easy to get “service” at. And generally, very affordable.

And they are terrible.

Now I am not going to pretend that this is not a contentious issue within the world of CTS. A large number of “Hobbyists” are big fans of the AMP and defenders of its virtues. But there is a reality that must be faced. And that reality is the fact that AMPs make up a significant aspect of the Human Trafficking problem.

Not all AMPs are bad. I know this. But a lot are. Probably the vast majority of them are connected to Human Trafficking. This unfortunately means that those ladies working there often are doing so without a real desire to be there. This is an uncomfortable truth.

I was once a frequent visitor to AMPs. I enjoy massages very much. And obviously I enjoy other activities as well. The AMP seemed a perfect fit for me. And I must admit that my current abstinence from AMPs did not begin with an sort of noble choice to stay away from women who might be trafficked. No, I stopped going to AMPs out of dissatisfaction with what I received there.

But now I also stay away due to the problem. The Dark secret that is Human Trafficking. It is something that I have fought against in the past, so I must stick to my morals (weak though they may appear to some people) and steer clear of places where the women might be victims.

Human Trafficking is a real problem. This post isn’t about that whole issue, so I won’t go into the numbers. But it is bad. In fact, the numbers really are not important. Even if it was dozens of women being forced to have sex for someone else’s profit it would be a serious problem. But it is tens of thousands of women. Forced into sex. For someone else’s profit.

And that is the key. Someone else.

I am a huge supporter of Consensual Transactional Sex. I LOVE it. This is a big part of my life. I do it. I write about it. I work now to help our community.

Human Trafficking is NOT a part of CTS. And those who are part of the CTS community should not partake in activities that support Human Trafficking.

As I have written before, I use the term CTS because of its accuracy. Especially the word “Consensual”. This is a critical aspect of what we do. Consent. But if a woman (or even more tragically, a girl) is being forced or coerced into having sex for money, that is NOT consent. And therefore has no place in our world. And to make matters worse, trafficked women are objects of the transaction, not the actual participants. Transactional Sex should only involve those who are participating in the event. A client and a sex worker. That’s it.

But AMPs don’t fit into that definition of CTS. Most of the women have been forced into it by one means or another. They make very little of the money that goes into the AMP. They have little or no choice as to their participation. This is not a life they really chose. This is not consent.

I won’t go as far as to call it rape. That would be incorrect. Some of the opponents of Human Trafficking like to say that having sex with a trafficked woman is paramount to rape. But that is not correct. Generally speaking, clients at AMPs are under the impression that their masseuse is a willing, consenting participant. They give this impression. But it isn’t really true. It may not be rape, but it is still wrong.

Now I have had this argument with many people within our community. Some believe that Human Trafficking is myth created by law enforcement. That is a lie. Others believe that the women at AMPs are all willing participants. But that isn’t true either. Some will argue that there is nothing wrong with going to an AMP, whether the women are trafficked or not. They are wrong.

This is a real problem. A serious one. AMPs are a problem. They are, generally, a stain on our community.

I do know that there are good AMPs out there. I’ve known of a few. There are a couple in my town where there are no “extras” offered. No sex of any kind. Just massages. All legal, all fine if you enjoy that type of massage.

There are also the occasional AMPs that are run and worked by women who want to be there. Consenting sex workers. If you can find such a place, by all means, enjoy it. I knew of one. It has since closed. It was owned by a woman who had been a victim of Human Trafficking. She got out from under the control of it and struck out on her own. Eventually she had her own business, with other ladies who had also escaped. But such stories are the exception, not the rule.

I wish that we could trust AMPs. I wish that they were just places for real Consensual Transactional Sex to occur. I wish that sex work was not criminalized in America and elsewhere. But this is not the reality we live in.

Those of us who are part of the CTS community need to be leading the charge against Human Trafficking, against non-consensual sex.

I know that this is likely to fall on many deaf ears, but I do call on the clientele of CTS to stop patronizing AMPs. Please reject this dark aspect of our sub-culture. Please, gentlemen, stop using AMPs. Go see women who are not trafficked. Enjoy the joys of CTS with sex workers who are free and desire to be in this lifestyle. They are what you really want anyway.