The Bay Area has become a hub for money and influence in the era of global capitalism. Just look at our new skyscrapers, funded by Chinese capital, and new Bay Bridge, built with Chinese steel. But San Francisco is also a hotbed for a less savory impact of the global economy — human trafficking.
The FBI in 2009 identified San Francisco as a nexus for the modern-day slave trade. Trafficked people can include coerced domestic workers and garment factory coolies as well as young people lured to the country under the false promise of legitimate employment and forced to work as prostitutes at one of the city's roughly 300 massage establishments. As many as half of the city's massage parlors are fronts for the sex trade, the city's Department of Public Health acknowledges, and many — nobody knows for sure how many — are believed to also "employ" workers trafficked here.
In the past six years, the city has passed a series of laws intended to crack down on classic "rub-and-tug" establishments while letting legitimate massage therapists do business unmolested. So far, nothing much has changed. Dozens of parlors offer sex acts, and it's easy to find which ones. Online sites like "rubmaps.com" offer this information in sometimes-graphic detail, down to the dollar amount required and the sex workers' names.
You'd think the police could do something about this. The problem is that massage parlors are not the Police Department's problem — a 2004 law signed by then-Mayor Willie Brown put massage parlors under the purview of health workers. A 2008 state law intended to sanction legitimate massage establishments also created a loophole to avoid health inspections that's been exploited by sex parlors.
The latest problem, massage therapists say, is the third and most-recent attempt by Sunset District Supervisor Katy Tang to address the massage parlor problem via legislation rather than law enforcement. For one thing, the legislation draws no distinction between the barred-window, late-night, red-light massage parlors in places like the Tenderloin and such well-lit, daytime-hours operations as London Elise's Soothe SF, a skin care spa near Masonic Avenue that also offers massage.
Under Tang's new restrictions, both kinds of establishments will need permits from the Department of Public Health and sign-off from city building inspectors. New and existing massage establishments also will have to adhere to zoning restrictions, and some establishments will need an expensive "conditional use permit" from the city's Planning Department. There are exceptions carved out, but Elise and other practitioners say the process will put some legitimate massage therapists out of business while leaving the brothels untouched.
"It's the brothels," Elise said, "that will be able to afford this."
In an interview, Tang said the new law was crafted with input from massage therapists, some of whom took advantage of that 2008 state law to avoid securing a city permit — and for whom the carve-outs, a so-called "legitimization program," were created.
"We were very generous with that program," Tang said. "Honestly, the only people having problems are the ones who weren't following the rules before."
Elise isn't so sure. She said she's worried her tiny two-room studio won't pass muster due to a lack of sprinklers. Meanwhile, any john looking for a happy ending has dozens of options to choose from.
"They should either just legalize prostitution and have a different way of tracking them," Elise said, with a rueful laugh, "or just prosecute."
It appears the city has opted for a solution closer to the former.
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