The most common form of massage was invented by a Swede, Per Heinrick Ling, in the early 1800s. Unsurprisingly, it is known as Swedish massage and was designed to exclude the area under discussion.

Client consent is of no avail here.

"Research and consumer surveys leave no doubt that massage is now thought of first and primarily as a legitimate, legal, and honorable profession," writes Linda Diane Feldt, past president of the American Polarity Therapy Association. That reputation is burnished or tarnished by the actions of every therapist. Every therapist is a representative of the massage and bodywork industry.