Masseuse fits rape alarm in treatment room after men treat her like 'a sex worker'

A 26-year-old masseuse says she receives so many inappropriate messages from men that she has started carrying a rape alarm.

Ffion Price, from Gilwern, near Abergavenny, said she even had one physical experience which put her in a "very vulnerable situation", despite years of professional training.

She has fitted a rape alarm in her treatment room and CCTV outside the building, and no longer accepts male clients when she is working alone.

Ffion wants men to understand the harm this behaviour causes, and for colleges and training providers to offer better training on how to deal with such situations.

Following the experience, Ffion posted on Facebook to remind her followers that she is "strictly professional".

She asked men to "think about sending that message before you do", saying they may not realise the impact their behaviour has on therapists and how it can affect the way they feel about their profession.

She is also calling for colleges to introduce a separate safety module covering appropriate massage techniques for male clients, red flags to look out for and what to do if a situation becomes unsafe.

"It's scary," Ffion said.

"You don't know who's going to walk through the door, what they're going to be expecting from that treatment and how far they're going to go - and what you would do in that situation if they did take it further, so it's a difficult one.

"I work so hard to get to where I am doing so much training in physiology, anatomy, the human body in general.

"So to be degraded as almost a sex worker is disheartening, it's horrible."

In 2018, Ffion began her training at Coleg Gwent, completing a City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in Beauty Therapy before progressing to a Level 3 qualification with VTCT Skills.

During her courses, she learnt about tinting, waxing, facials and massage, which was taught as a separate module.

She said she was "briefly" taught not to massage a male client above the knee, but never what to do if a man was aroused or inappropriate.

Ffion said she secured a job at a female-only spa where she worked for five years, completing various additional courses with Clarins Beauty but Ffion said the training was largely catered towards women, with little focus on treating men.

In 2024, Ffion decided to become self-employed, renting a room at a beauty salon and chose to treat both men and women, seeing it as a niche in the town.

"So coming here on my own, I've had to figure out the hard way how to do things differently when a male client comes in," Ffion said.

Since launching her business, Serenity by Ffion, she said she has received inappropriate messages from men almost every other week.

Some, she said, had become "quite clever" in how they approached her, asking whether she could massage "just certain areas".

"I've had people ask for specific massages that I've then had to go and research and be like 'what is this massage', and it'd be extremely inappropriate," she said.

A few months ago, one client made her feel "very awkward" and vulnerable during a massage after failing to use the modesty towel.

Ffion said the man, who was wearing his boxers, became sexually aroused as she was massaging his leg and began grabbing her hand.

After leaving, he showed no embarrassment or remorse and even tried to book another appointment, she said.

Looking back, Ffion said she would have asked him to leave, describing the towel as a "red flag from the start".

"It was the first situation it's happened and to be honest the whole time I felt like I was in the wrong and I was doing something that I shouldn't be doing and that's because of his actions," she said.

Ffion says pornography and the internet had created unrealistic, sexualised expectations of professional massages.

"People are aware that you could go to other countries and have these sorts of treatments and they would be what these men are expecting," she said.

"But it's very different - that's what they offer. But you come over here and it's a professional massage."

Rhianne Evans, 46, from Merthyr Tydfil, has worked in the beauty industry for 25 years.

While she has not had physically bad experiences, she has had to remind male clients of the "protocol", with some pushing their luck with undergarments.

During her time working as a spa manager at the Nant Ddu Lodge in Merthyr Tydfil, she said: "We had some suggestive comments that I suppose could be passed off as a throwaway remark but even so I personally think it's unnecessary.

"It is a very close contact, personal treatment, whether it's a facial or a massage - you are just two of you in a room.

"And I don't think any comments really should be made, you know, suggesting anything otherwise than what they're there for."

After teaching beauty therapy for 20 years in two colleges, Rhianne said safeguarding should be included as a separate model in courses, particularly around dealing with aggressive or suggestive clients.

Rhianne said she used to bring it up as part of a theory session but "I only spoke about it because I experienced it".

She recommended therapists avoiding massaging a male client's stomach during a full-body massage, instead spending more time on areas such as the back, feet and head.

A spokesperson for Gwent College said it was "sorry to hear about the experiences described" and stressed that sexual harassment was "unacceptable".

It explained that while it could not comment on an individual former learner's "precise experience", the courses Ffion did in 2020 and 2021 followed the relevant awarding body's qualification requirements, alongside the professional expertise and wider industry knowledge of its lecturers.

Refering to its current beauty therapy provision, it said it was "delivered by practising beauty therapists and includes training on ethical practice, personal safety and clear professional boundaries when working with clients of all genders".

The spokesperson added the college encouraged learners to "join professional membership bodies for ongoing industry guidance and support".

"We welcome feedback from former learners and regularly review our curriculum and training to ensure they reflect current industry practice and awarding-body requirements," it added.

A spokesperson for VTCT Skills, which sets the core curriculum for the Level 3 Beauty Diploma, said sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour have "no place" in the workplace, stressing the importance of safe and respectful learning and working environments.

While VTCT Skills said it could not comment on Ffion's training experience, it welcomed wider industry discussion on "challenging" such behaviour and ensuring those who experience harassment are "listened to, supported, and taken seriously".

City & Guilds, who set the core curriculum for the Level 2 Beauty Diploma, declined to comment.

A spokesperson for the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) said it could not comment on the specific case but stressed that no practitioner should feel "unsafe or harassed, and potentially criminal behaviour should be reported to police.