Watson case revives old fight for massage therapy industry
CLEVELAND (AP) — Michelle Krause still grapples with the challenge of acknowledging she's a massage therapist when she first meets someone, dreading their reaction or misguided comments even after 18 years in the profession.
“It makes you not want to share, so I didn’t,” says the 52-year-old Krause, a former firefighter who made the career change after suffering a neck injury on the job — and getting help in her recovery from massage therapy. “So I would tell people I did nutrition and finance, so that they would not want to talk to me about my work.”
Krause was among hundreds of therapists from across the country who gathered for the American Massage Therapy Association's three-day national convention, which began Thursday. It was an opportunity to talk about a job made more difficult amid the pandemic, the 2021 attack on three Atlanta-area massage businesses in which eight people were killed and the lingering stain of NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson's ongoing case that has perpetuated the sex worker stigma around the industry.
The latter is in their face each day of the conference, which is being held in Cleveland. Watson is now the quarterback for the Browns and his new workplace looms just a block from the convention center and the conference attendees' hotel across the street.
They can avoid the reminder by taking another route to the convention center — walking underground.
Not that these professionals want to hide. They didn't ask for any of this and they aren't happy about it.
The convention was planned three years ago, well before the first report of the quarterback being accused of sexual misconduct with a massage therapist and Watson's demand to be traded by the Houston Texans. The NFL issued Watson an 11-game suspension and $5 million fine this month and...
