Massachusetts: Professional Cuddling might be illegal here soon if we don't do something

There's a state bill going around, S168, An Act Regulating Bodyworks with the intention of stopping human trafficking... and their definition of bodyworkers is so broad that it would include professional cuddlers and negatively impact all of us.

Under this bill, professional cuddlers and other holistic modalities that would be defined as bodyworkers under this law are going to have to jump through some ridiculous hoops just to be able to cuddle legally.

(copy and pasted from Section 29b):

(b) A person who desires to engage in the practice of bodyworks shall apply on a form furnished by the board that shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant. Each application shall be accompanied by payment of the fee prescribed by the executive office for administration and finance pursuant to section 3B of chapter 7.

I'm not sure what's on the application, but the fees according to Chapter 7, section 3B include a $225 initial fee and $150 annually afterwards.

Mind you, this is just so they'll LOOK at your application. No guarantee that they'll approve it. They also have a later clause in this bill saying the fee to be reinstated if you let this expire will be "no less than $100," but this law says it will be equal to 2 missed cycles to renew, so it might be more like $300

Once you submit the application and pay the fees, the bill goes on to say the standards that they look for in applicants. Here's the ones that stood out to me:

(iii) has submitted 2 professional letters of reference, with at least 1 being from an employer or professional in the bodywork or medical field;

Certified Cuddlists, Certified Cuddlers, Cuddle Sanctuary graduates and the likes would have an advantage here as someone from their programs could vouch for them, but otherwise you have to know someone else in the field to vouch for you. New people wouldn't be able to get into this work so easily. But neither may matter especially because of requirement v:

(v) has successfully completed a course of study or supervised instruction at a licensed bodyworks school that has been determined appropriate by the board;

There are no physical schools in Massachusetts for professional cuddling. There's online training, sure, and very few people in the industry offer in-person training, but none offer it on a regularly recurring basis anymore and none of them are even on the East Coast.

Also concerning is their arbitrary way of deciding how much education all bodyworkers need. The "board" will consist of three massage therapists, two other types of bodyworkers, and one consumer of massage or bodywork. Considering that there's hundreds of bodywork modalities, that's terrible representation for anyone. I would think that their standards of education for us would be much higher than what exists for cuddlers right now. We could all be deemed unfit to practice under that.

The most concerning thing I see from this is this one though:

(iv) is of good moral character, as determined by the discretion of the board;

This is the most ambiguous standard ever. I've done a lot of advocating for professional cuddling, but the board can reject you if they think you're not a good enough person? Not to mention there's still a lot of existing stigmas for professional cuddlers, so I imagine most would not pass this if the board doesn't like professional cuddlers.

So let's say you don't get your license to practice under these laws but you still do. What happens if you get caught (because under this law, they'll release a list of all licensed bodyworkers and their own code of ethics all of the newly defined professions need to abide by)?

Under the current legislation:

  1. If you've never been licensed or attempted getting licensure, you'll get a fine of up to $1k the first time and up to $2.5k each time after (source)
  2. If your license expired, got cancelled, or the likes, you'll either get a fee of up to $2.5K, up to 6 months imprisonment, or both (source)
  3. In either case in 1 or 2, you'll be reported to the Attorney General... and it's unclear how the AG deals with it (source)

There's way more to this bill, but hopefully you're seeing how ridiculously restrictive this is.

I know not everyone agrees with me on regulating the industry to some degree. I think it's important to do, but I also think this is overkill and going to do way more harm than good overall

So what can you do?

Bare minimum, sign this Change.org petition

You can also find out who your representative is and write them a letter or call them expressing your concerns as a practitioner or a consumer. Keep in mind, S168 is attempting to stop human trafficking (kind of like how SESTA/FOSTA was trying to), so if you do this please address and say that you appreciate the important goal of stopping human trafficking and this bill is not the answer

If you want to read more, read the bill

THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE BILL! It's S665, An Act Providing for Consumer Access to and the Right to Practice Complementary and Alternative Health Care Services.

Under this, we would be defined as "complementary and alternative health care practitioner" that would be excluded from the need for a license. Granted, it does still regulate it somewhat, but it's so minimal. It would just require us to have written disclosures we give clients. I know some of you people aren't huge fans of getting handed an official paper or something to sign, but honestly I'm okay with that if that means I get to work. There's no hearing date for this bill yet, but it gives me hope that we need to get past this hurdle first

The most extensive information I can give you for more actionable steps you can take is here

The hearing is on Monday, October 28th 11am to 4pm at the State House in the Gardner Auditorium. It's the ONLY bill on their agenda that day. If you feel comfortable being out to the public about participating in this work, your three minutes to speak here will make a huge difference. If not, even just showing up in support of the people that will be impacted by this bill would make a huge difference

Sharing any of the above information to others in MA will help too. If you know anyone off of this site that is in MA, please share this info with them too

Are you not public about being a professional cuddler or seeing one?

What about saying something about Reiki? Reflexology? Another alternative therapy you use or practice? All of those professions are dealing with similar issues as we are. You can still represent in that arena if you're worried about your reputation for being in the professional cuddle world.

I do this work fulltime and Massachusetts is my home state. I want to be able to work in my home state with the many clients I've loved seeing over the past four years. If this bill goes through and cuddling gets targeted for all these restrictions, I'd have to move states so I can keep working.

Thank you!

Comments

  • Yeah that stinks but unfortunately you live in one of the most over-legislated states in the country and laws trying to govern human behavior always have a way of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

    If it is on the floor for a vote I see it easily passing as no politician wants to be seen thumbing their nose at SESTA/FOSTA. If it is in committee still it might not see the light of day.

  • I'm not sure how familiar you are with the politics in Massachusetts, but a similar bill has been trying to pass for the past three years now (I've only been made aware of them since last year). We've successfully got them voted down, but this guy that keeps submitting the various versions of this bill is persistent. Last year, going to the public hearing made a huge difference as many healers went and expressed concerns about not just their own practice but the economic impacts it would have on the state.

    The state listened then and voted no. At this point I've decided that this legislator is just trying to fatigue us into giving in, but I want our voices to get more numerous and loud with each iteration if possible. In the previous version of the similar bill I saw a way for us to be able to get exempt from licensure, but this is now written so broadly that it directly affects us now, which is why I'm posting here.

    What's more interesting to me is the Safe Harbor Bill S665. That tells me that someone is aware of the need to protect us and still regulate somewhat to prevent trafficking. I honestly think that one would be way more effective than the bill for the hearing, and I the bill can be escalated to make a decision with public pressure.

    I think it's possible to get S168 turned down and S665 escalated on the floor. And since this is my full-time work, I want to be able to work in my home state without being penalized. So even if I don't get your vote of support, I'm going to do what I can

  • I am pretty familiar with Mass politics as my best client in Boston is friends with a lot of politicians—he is the head of an architectural firm so he he schmoozes with that crowd. The stories he has told me about the Mass house are harrowing as far as corruption. It almost sounds like this guy is waiting to be paid off.

  • For those who want a standardization for professional cuddling , this is essentially that from what it seems

  • Yes, this is standardization. That said, this is a gross sweeping generalization of not just our work but several others. And the goal for this was not to standardize but to stop sex workers... It just happens to hurt us a lot in the process while not really addressing the problem they're saying they want to solve.

    Seriously. 7 people to decide how hundreds of modalities will be run and who gets to practice it at all, and it very well could be none of those people even know anything about your work? That's insane. I do want standardization at some point later down the line but I don't want it forced this way.

  • Hey, Sam, I am just now seeing this.

    Did you go to the hearing on 10/28? If so, was the majority of testimony for or against?

    Occupational licensing in most instances is a scam, a matter of collusion between industry insiders protecting their turf and the industry's "pet" legislators who jump at the chance for state revenue from licensing fees. For instance, one state had a licensing board for florists (as if you need a professional license to arrange flowers) that was staffed by professional florists --- in other words, a would-be florist's COMPETITORS got to decide the applicant's fate! https://ij.org/case/chauvin-v-strain/

    As of 2016, there were 1,100 different occupations that required licenses in at least one state. That's anti-competitive and anti-entrepreneurial. Governments and industry groups get away with this because most members of the general public don't care until some newly proposed licensing and regulatory scheme affects their chosen occupation.

    As for this bill, it will benefit from the common inability to differentiate between good motives and good policy. The motive --- to combat human traffickers --- is noble. The policy? Not so much.

    If the bill becomes law, perhaps pro cuddlers will have to rethink positioning themselves as offering a "healing modality," and simply offer a recreational service. That's probably how the majority of clients perceive the service anyway. Enjoyable for the client, and economically productive for the provider. Something like an old-fashioned taxi dancer, but with cuddling rather than dancing. The insistence that cuddling is therapy just invites the kind of stifling (and sometimes weaponized) regulation to which many therapists are subject. .

  • Some updates:

    I went to the hearing on the 28th, and it seemed that those saying that they were for the bill (mostly law enforcement officers that pose as Johns and go after massage parlors) were not giving strong arguments. There was a HUGE opposition from several modalities, including Asian Bodywork, alternative therapy organizations, Reiki practitioners, yoga practitioners, martial arts schools (because yes, it would have affected them how it was defined too). The asian bodyworks association gave me a really good entrance in their testimonty against by saying that newer modalities wouldn't be able to meet their standards because they don't have the resources, so when I went up I made that point clear. At the end of the day, two Committee members in particular seemed like they were not crazy about this bill and the Chair decided that they needed to revise the bill and resubmit it. I haven't stayed up to date on it yet, but it looks like the revisions might not be able to be submitted until next year, so we won off of their inability to be on the same page.

    In the meantime, S665, the safe harbor bill that I mentioned above, has a hearing date of November 19th! I think it's going to go through since similar bills have already gone through in 11 other states (and CA is considering a bill much like it). I honestly am okay with the standards they ask because it's simpler and the only two real changes it would require is to abide by some common sense practice (i.e no puncturing clients, no sex with clients, etc.) and it would require that we give you something written, either in print or digitally, that says our name, where we work, what we do, and what makes us qualified to do it (and they don't seem to care what makes us qualified as long as we give some reason why we're qualified to do it).

    I know some of you might grumble about that disclosure being annoying, but considering we've gone this long without any kind of regulation I'll take this as our only regulation and a way to appease the state. It also means places like Cuddle Comfort wouldn't have to do anything to change their site and the responsibility is on the professional.

    I know some professionals doing this work use a different name for their cuddle sessions, and this will outlaw this (I imagine that this might not be regulated too heavily, but who knows this is the paper trail portion of the sex trafficking so using a fake name and getting found out might raise suspicions more than just being transparent would be). I personally do see why people would choose to use a different name for cuddling but it also adds to the false idea that what we're doing might not be okay to do (think sex workers that don't use their real names), so I think this is actually a step in the right direction for us to be transparent.

  • Human Trafficking is the new buzzword to stop anything consenting adults do. Whether it's Cuddling, or people paying for a prostitute, etc. While human trafficking is horrible and wrong trying to associate everything with it is flat out irresponsible and a lie. They tried that with the whole Robert Kraft massage parlor non sense and it turns out everybody was there on their own will doing it because they chose to do it. Yet they tried to claim it was trafficking. So now they want to make cuddling grouped in with that? Pathetic.

  • Copy and Pasted from an email from Health Freedom Action of Massachusetts today:

    The first week of February brought good news to holistic health practitioners in Massachusetts. But cause for celebration was short-lived as a threat to alternative and complementary health care workers emerged at the municipal level. First, the good news:

    S168, aka “Bodyworks Bill,” was reviewed by The Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure has recommended that it be “sent to study,” essentially acknowledging that the bill is fraught with inconsistencies and complexities that make voting on it in its current form inadvisable at this time. This is the bill that proposed to centralize authority for a great number of the 200+ GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe, i.e., Reiki, meditation, tai chi) holistic healing modalities currently practiced in the state under a single, unrepresentative board for the purposes of licensing, and then call all these disparate practitioners “bodyworkers.” In many cases, the law would require practitioners to submit to training completely unrelated to their field in order to continue doing what they have already paid dearly to learn and practice. The bill has been proposed twice in recent years as a solution to stop human sex trafficking, despite recent high-profile arrests that have shown human trafficking also takes place in licensed facilities.

    It is likely that the testimonies from over 70 individuals opposing the bill at the October 2019 public hearing are responsible for bringing to light the enormous disruption to the entire holistic health industry that passage of the bill would cause, as a similar version that had no public comment last year sailed through committee and enjoyed a unanimous Senate vote (only to be blocked in the House.) Your voice matters! Since bills are often introduced multiple times, we need to stay tuned to this issue and see if the bill re-surfaces.

    S665/H3660, aka “Safe Harbor Bill,” currently under consideration by the Joint Committee on Public Health, has been granted a reporting extension until April 1. This bill would protect unlicensed holistic practitioners from being charged with practicing medicine without a license as long as they avoid certain prohibited acts and provide specific professional disclosures to clients as required by the bill. The extension in reporting grants the committee time to refine the language before a final vote. This bill could make it to the floor for a vote as early as this spring, potentially heading to the Governor’s desk before the end of this year. This means now is the time to contact your senator and representative and ask them to support S665/H3660, the access and practice alternative healthcare act.

    Yet this good news is tempered with a very sobering position at the municipal level. On Monday, February 3, 2020, the Marlboro Board of Health held a public hearing on an extreme ordinance proposal to restrict holistic practitioners in the town, including:

    · licensing of all bodyworkers

    · mandatory vaccinations

    · prohibition on maintaining home offices

    · criminal background checks

    · office plumbing requirements and more!

    These actions to regulate completely safe, legal and professional holistic practitioners, while no doubt well-meaning, are a misguided and misinformed attempt on the part of the Board to prevent sex trafficking within the town. Over 25 holistic practitioners from around the state showed up at the hearing to educate the Board about the safety of holistic medicine, and the serious hardships these regulations would pose to alternative health practitioners and the consumers who rely on them for care. While BOH members voted not to move ahead with the proposed bill draft that evening, they will surely re-work their proposed ordinances.

    This could be the start of a troubling trend attempting to restrict holistic health practitioners at the municipal level. This means that alternative health practitioners and consumers in all towns need to stay vigilant at the local level to ensure that their health freedoms are not infringed upon as municipalities across the state struggle to combat sex trafficking, often by restricting practitioner freedoms, rather than helping law enforcement find sex traffickers and their victims. Because many misconceptions about holistic medicine exist, it’s up to each of us to educate officials locally about the safety, effectiveness and necessity for holistic healthcare to be freely available to consumers, just as it has been for generations or even centuries. Now is the time to speak up to your legislators about keeping healthcare freedom of choice strong in Massachusetts. Find your legislators here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator. Email carol@spiritofchange.org to outreach for advocacy support in addressing proposed bodywork regulations in your town.

    Carol Bedrosian

    Steering Committee Member

    The Committee for Protection and Access to Complementary and Alternative Health Care
    A Project of hfama.org

  • [Deleted User]Bles (deleted user)

    I've been following this development since last year. And I find it interesting. While it is true that citizens of the state need to make their voices heard and speak on the personal benefits of this activity to their health. It is also true that the Cuddling industry needs to self regulate itself too. That is by doing far more to make the kinds of colloboration with other practicing providers in the holistic health care field to create opportunities for public education and cross training of certified pro cuddlers. To create accessible and affordable opportunities for professional cuddlers to be properly certified and/or licensed in their state. As well as to receive on going training and education in the field.

    Just my thoughts on it. Until the above-mentioned is addressed by pro practicioners in the field as a group, it will always be seen as an easy target by legislators looking for an easy cheap political fix to a very endemic and old problem.

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