When Megan Pustetto tried to start a lighthearted conversation about massages online, it quickly became extremely depressing.
The 32-year-old runs the successful podcast So Dramatic, an equally successful website, and is an expert at starting conversations.
She’s also amassed more than 18,000 followers on her personal Instagram and has started a big conversation by sharing her wild full body massage experience in Bali.
Pustetto explained that she went to get a massage somewhere that looked nice and not “dodgy” at all.
It was one of those parlors with curtains and fake partitions to divide each massage room, meaning that while she had privacy – she could hear everything happening nearby.
Instagram / @meganpustetto
She was then stunned when she started hearing “sounds” nearby that she described as “heavy breathing and moaning.”
Finally she realized a sex act was happening during a massage because she had a man apologize for going “soft.”
The incident completely shocked her and made her curious if other people had any weird experiences while getting a massage.
Instagram / @meganpustetto
“I asked for people who get these types of massages to answer my questions about how it works because I was genuinely curious,” she told news.com.au.
“But then I also asked people to share their horror massage experiences as well for entertainment in case we didn’t get anyone coming forward with answers.”
Pustetto said that as soon as she posted the question online and asked her followers to share their “cooked massage” experiences, she received a massive response – and it quickly became grim.
Instagram / @meganpustetto
“Once I started receiving these stories, it quickly turned from lighthearted and fun entertainment to actual experiences of sexual assault,” she said.
Some people wrote in and shared funny stories, like a masseuse who was cranky because she had to end her lunch break early to give a massage – and then proceeded to give the customer one of the hardest massages of her life.
Another woman said that her masseuse asked if she’d like some pressure on her feet, and she said yes, assuming he was going to rub them.
Instead, he started “biting the soles” of her feet.
Mostly, though, people replied and shared stories of sexual assault, harassment or experiences which left them feeling uncomfortable.
Someone revealed the time she was getting a massage from a man and the horror she felt when she realised he had an erection and that he kept rubbing his penis on her legs.
Another shared the time she went in for a massage, and her breasts ended up being fondled, leaving her “shook.”
Someone else said she had a masseuse slap her bum without consent, saying “some of his clients liked it.”
Pustetto said the theme of the replies “shocked” her because it’s hard to hear how common it was.
“The theme that shocked me the most from hearing other people’s horror massage stories was how common sexual assault was,” she said.
“The amount of people who had been inappropriately touched or made to feel uncomfortable during a massage was astounding from both women and men.”
Pustetto said it was startling to realize how many people were made to feel uncomfortable while getting a massage.
“In fact, the amount of men who had been touched without giving consent was much higher than I thought it would be,” she added.
Instagram / @meganpustetto
“I think a lot of people generalise and assume most men might like a happy ending massage, but that’s not the case at all.”
“Lots of men said they were touched without consent and didn’t feel comfortable in the situation but were too scared to say anything or stop the masseuse.
“Lots of women also said they felt too uncomfortable to say anything either and just accepted the inappropriate conduct, which is really sad.”
This post was originally published on here
