KEY POINTS:
Massage therapists fed up with being linked to the sex industry in the Yellow Pages have scored a victory with the directory company agreeing to look at separating the two industries.
Massage therapists called for the separation earlier this month.
Massage New Zealand president Barry Vautier said the heading in the directory should be changed to something like adult services, as every state in Australia had already done.
"This is important to us as some therapists still get sex calls because of the 'misnaming' in the Yellow Pages," he said.
Anyone could call themselves a massage therapist, and "cowboys" who operated under the guise of providing sexual services, or who operated unprofessionally, gave massage a bad name.
Currently therapists are listed under massage health and fitness, which is followed by massage parlours.
"It has always caused a problem," Mr Vautier told the Dominion Post.
"Quite a few of our members get calls that are unsavoury, particularly those who work from home.
"Some have got to the point where they won't take male clients any more."
Yellow Pages staff met Mr Vautier this month, and the directory's marketing director, Blair Glubb, said the company would talk to both parties.
"We're open to doing something with the classification.
"We want to find a solution that works for everybody."
Mr Vautier said the move to separate the industries became more pressing after prostitution was decriminalised in 2003.
"Separating the two would make a big difference," he said.
"It will send a message to the public we're a bona fide industry."
- NZPA
