Behind the Curtain

Flower Spa Menu Sign created by Yin Q, Graphics by Audrey Tseng Fischer

An LED sign reading “SPA” in a second-floor window, a decal with an image of a woman in a state of deep relaxation covering a storefront window: the massage parlor storefronts along New York City streets are an invitation to wellbeing . . . and suspicion. Neighbors fearful of potential prostitution raise the alarm and move to displace businesses, whether by the brute force of a police raid or a targeted Department of Buildings inspection. But inside, the massage parlor is a place of physical and emotional care, whether that is affordable body work or sex work for aching clients. Buoyed by the efforts of Red Canary Song, a mutual aid network of massage workers, sex workers, and activists, the spa is also a space of mutual support for migrants working hard to make a life in New York City. Combatting the marginalization and criminalization of the Asian women who predominantly work there, RCS’s activism, film, and installations (most recently at Storefront for Art and Architecture) are bringing people inside the storefront to show massage work in a new light. Diana Budds pulls back the curtain.​

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