The terms “masseur” (male) and “masseuse” (female) have undergone one of the most dramatic transformations in occupational language. Once prestigious French loanwords signaling advanced training and professional respectability in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they later became tainted by sexualized associations and are now actively rejected by the modern massage therapy profession. Their story reveals how cultural associations, gender politics, and professional standards can reshape the meaning and acceptability of professional titles.
YET MANY STATES STILL USE THE WORDS IN THE LICENSING LAWS!
Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington State, West Virginia — check the list and let me know if anything has changed in these laws.
Origins in 19th-Century France
Both words entered English around 1876 from the French verb masser (“to massage”), itself tracing to Arabic massa (“to touch, feel”) or Portuguese amassar (“to knead”). The words masseur and masseuse are French in origin. Both emerged in the 19th century as the French language developed terminology for the practice of therapeutic massage. The noun massage (for the practice itself) was in use by 1819 in French, likely derived from Arabic massa (“to touch, feel”) or from Portuguese amassar (“to knead”), reflecting knowledge gained during Napoléon’s campaigns and colonial encounters. (etymonline.com.) Building on massage, French coined masseur to mean “a man who gives massages” and masseuse to mean “a woman who gives massages,” with both terms first appearing around 1875–1876b(etymonline.com.) These titles were agent nouns directly tied to the act of massaging (masser in French).These titles quickly replaced earlier English terms like rubbers or “medical gymnasts”, and were seen as a professional upgrade.
Rubbers vs. masseuses and masseurs (The Archetypes of Masseuse and Masseur November 1, 2015 Patricia J. Benjamin, Ph.D., L.M.T. Massage Magazine)
Predictably, it was not long before old-fashioned rubbers—[those people who assisted physicians, worked on people in private practice or massaged athletes]—began calling themselves masseuses and masseurs, confusing the situation for doctors and the general public. There was no regulation of the occupation at this time; the quality of massage education varied widely, sometimes occurring in hospital programs, sometimes in private schools or by apprenticeship. Some individuals set up massage practices without any training at all. To add another layer of complexity, massage was beginning to be used as a cover for prostitution. This was the beginning of the eventual descent of the word masseuse into ill-repute. Professional societies were founded in response to such issues, creating forces in support of professionalization of massage practitioners.
In 19th-century France, the practice of massage gained recognition in medical and spa settings. European physicians like Dr. Johann Mezger (of the Netherlands) were instrumental in systematizing massage techniques and terminology. Mezger notably adopted French terminology for massage strokes (e.g. effleurage for stroking, pétrissage for kneading), and he popularized the terms masseur and masseuse in professional circles around the 1880s. By 1880, these French titles had become common descriptors for trained manual therapists in Europe. The use of French lent the practice an elite, “continental” cachet. Early on, to call someone a masseur/masseuse implied they were educated in the emerging science of physical therapy and skilled in an up-to-date European health practice.
By 1879, medical writings in the U.S. referred to masseuses, and the Boston Medical & Surgical Journal had recorded the term masseur in 1876. (https://www.oed.com/dictionary/masseur_n)
Gender distinctions: As in many professions of the era, the terminology was gendered.
Masseurs often worked in athletic and hospital contexts.
Masseuses practiced in hospitals and private clinics, offering women in particular a “respectable means of livelihood outside the home”, often linked to nursing.
(Massage Magazine. The Archetypes of Masseuse and Masseur November 1, 2015 Patricia J. Benjamin, Ph.D., L.M.T.)
In this era, masseuse and masseur were straightforward gendered terms, but both carried a sense of professional respectability. In fact, being a masseuse was considered a respectable occupation for women in late-19th-century Europe, often compared to or linked with nursing (massagemag.com). It provided an acceptable livelihood for women outside the home during Victorian times, conferring an image of an educated caregiver. Men (masseurs) worked in settings like hospitals, athletic clubs, or spas, applying massage in therapeutic and sports contexts. Overall, in 19th-century France (and Europe broadly), a masseur or masseuse was seen as a skilled health practitioner, reflecting the period’s interest in “Swedish movements” and hygienic therapy.
Early 20th-Century America: Adoption and Usage
By the late 1800s and early 20th century, the French terms crossed into English usage, especially in the United States and Britain. In North America, the rise of massage therapy as a profession led to widespread adoption of masseur and masseuse. These titles supplanted earlier terms like “rubbers” (an old 18th–19th century term for laypersons who provided rub-downs) and the Swedish-inspired “medical gymnast”(massagemag.com.) By 1900, massage practitioners in the U.S. commonly went by masseuse/masseur, and the word massage itself referred broadly to the soft-tissue manipulation methods of Ling (creator of Swedish gymnastics) and Mezger.
During the early 20th century in America, calling someone a masseuse or masseur often implied a trained specialist in therapeutic massage. The connotation was largely positive and even scientific. Medical advocates such as Dr. Douglas Graham in Boston promoted massage as a legitimate medical specialty, and many hospitals and clinics employed masseurs and masseuses for patient rehabilitation (massagemag.com.)(Notably, in 1916 Ohio licensed the first registered masseuse in North America (amtamassage.org), indicating that some states had begun formalizing the practice. By the 1920s, massage was recognized (alongside other “drugless” healing arts) as a limited branch of medicine in the U.S. (massagemag.com.)
Women in the profession: In the early 1900s, a significant number of practitioners were women, and the role of masseuse provided one of the few socially acceptable professional avenues for women in health care at the time. Many masseuses were dual-trained as nurses, and they offered general full-body massage for health and wellness, not just targeted medical treatment( massagemag.com). This period saw the popularity of “general massage” (full-body, holistic massage for well-being) rise, especially among the middle and upper classes in America. It was fashionable in the early 20th-century U.S. for clients (often society ladies and gentlemen) to receive massage as a tonic or restorative measure – a practice less common in Europe at first. In this context, masseuses in the U.S. filled a niche akin to personal health and beauty specialists.
Legitimate practice vs. “rubbers”: As massage surged in popularity, many traditional “rubbers” (unlicensed folk practitioners) began adopting the title masseur/masseuse as well (massagemag.com). This led to some confusion in the public mind about qualifications, since no universal regulation existed and training quality varied. Nonetheless, professional organizations started to form to uphold standards. For example, the American Association of Masseuses and Masseurs (AAMM) was founded in 1943 to advance education and ethics in the field. At mid-century, masseuses and masseurs were working in diverse venues: hospitals (as aides to physicians), YMCAs and athletic clubs, spas and beauty salons, and private clinics. Doctors in the U.S. regularly referred patients to certified Swedish masseurs/masseuses well into the 1940s and early 1950s, underscoring that the titles still carried professional legitimacy through the first half of the 20th century.
Professional Golden Age (1880s–1940s)
From the 1880s to the 1940s, the titles represented the height of respectability. The legitimacy of the words was cemented by milestones like:
1916: Agnes Bridget Forbes became North America’s first licensed masseuse in Ohio, setting legal precedent.
1943: Formation of the American Association of Masseuses and Masseurs (AAMM), giving the profession organizational identity.
Medical texts of the era defined practitioners with clinical precision:
A masseur was “a male operator trained in scientific manipulation of body tissues.”
A masseuse was “a female operator who practices systematic manipulations upon the nude skin of the human body”.
Legitimate massage parlors of the time were often women-run businesses and integrated into healthcare. The prestige was so high that a proposed English alternative, massagist (1885), failed—French terminology was preferred for its sophistication. (https://www.etymonline.com/word/massage)
Decline into Disrepute (1950s–1960s)
By the 1950s and 1960s, the cultural tide turned decisively. The sex industry co-opted masseuse/masseur to advertise illicit “massage parlors,” fundamentally corrupting the meaning. The word masseuse in particular became synonymous with sexual services.
Professional leaders responded quickly:
1958: The AAMM renamed itself the American Massage & Therapy Association, signaling retreat from compromised terms.
1983: The group streamlined to the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), completing the linguistic break.
By this time, industry journals noted the terms had “fallen into disrepute.” The decline coincided with broader feminist language reforms—moving away from gendered job titles like stewardess/waitress to neutral alternatives like flight attendant/server.
Changing Perceptions and Cultural Connotations
Although masseur and masseuse began as respectable titles, social attitudes toward these terms shifted as the 20th century progressed. Several factors contributed to an evolving – and eventually negative – connotation, particularly for masseuse:
Early signs of stigma: Even in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the growing popularity of massage attracted some unsavory elements. It was not long before some massage services were used as a front for prostitution. By the 1890s, the phrase “massage parlor” had appeared (first recorded in 1894) and was “from the start…a euphemism or disguise name for ‘house of prostitution’”. This suggests that as early as the Gilded Age, certain establishments offering “massage” were associated with sexual services. Such misuse began tarnishing the word masseuse (more so than masseur, since these establishments typically advertised young female “masseuses”). Historian Patricia Benjamin notes that this period marked “the beginning of the eventual descent of the word masseuse into ill repute.” (massagemag.com) Professional masseuses at the time were aware of this issue and, in response, formed societies to push back against the moral and legal challenges it posed (massagemag.com.)
Gendered connotations: Because masseuse referred specifically to women, it became particularly vulnerable to sexualized stereotypes. Throughout the early 20th century, legitimate female massage practitioners strove to distinguish themselves from illicit operators. However, public perception often blurred the lines. The image of the “masseuse” in popular culture began to split: on one hand the trained therapeutic professional, and on the other hand a euphemism for a woman of questionable virtue. By contrast, masseur (male) did not carry the same level of sexual innuendo in popular use, though it too was affected by the general decline of the terminology mid-century.
Mid-century “hijacking” by prostitution: The 1950s were a turning point. It was in the post-World War II era that prostitutes and illicit massage parlors aggressively co-opted the terms. As one industry account bluntly states, “both terms... were hijacked by prostitutes operating under the guise of ‘massage,’ beginning in the 1950s.”During this decade and into the 1960s, a proliferation of “massage parlors” (often in urban red-light districts) offered sexual services while advertising “relaxation massage” by a masseuse. The result was a decisive cultural shift: the average American began to associate the word masseuse with illicit activity or low morals. By the 1960s, the once-innocent label massage parlor had become “inseparably associated with a house of ill repute,” and the titles masseuse and masseur had fallen into disrepute among respectable practitioners (a mtamassage.org.) In short, mid-century social attitudes attached a stigma to these French terms – they were increasingly seen as non-professional or even scandalous.
Decline in usage: As a consequence of these trends, use of masseur/masseuse in a professional context started to wane. By the 1970s, many in the legitimate massage industry were abandoning the old titles. An article in Massage Magazine explains that these terms “remained popular and in use in the U.S. throughout most of the 20th century, until the push toward state massage laws took flight in the 1980s.” In other words, even though forward-thinking professionals had begun using new terminology in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it was the 1980s regulatory push that really accelerated the change (as discussed below). Notably, many U.S. states started enacting massage therapy licensing laws in the latter 20th century partly to combat prostitution masquerading as massage. By legally defining and credentialing massage therapists, states aimed to curtail unlicensed operators who freely misused terms like masseuse. This legal intervention both cleaned up the profession’s image and reinforced the need for new, distinct titles.
The Shift to “Massage Therapist” and Professionalization
By the late 20th century, the massage industry deliberately shifted its language to restore credibility and emphasize professionalism. The gendered French terms were replaced by gender-neutral, professional titles such as “massage therapist,” “massage practitioner,” or “massage technician.” This transition was driven by multiple factors:
Professional Standards and Licensing: As the field organized, leading bodies set out to protect titles that reflect training and certification. Over the past several decades, massage professionals lobbied for laws reserving titles like Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) or Certified Massage Practitioner (CMP) for those who meet education and ethical standards. For example, the American Association of Masseuses and Masseurs – founded in 1943 – changed its name in 1958 to the American Massage and Therapy Association, explicitly adopting the term massage therapy (amtamassage.org). (It later became the American Massage Therapy Association, AMTA, dropping the “&” in 1983. From that point on, the organization encouraged using “massage therapist” for practitioners. This change was part of an effort to reinforce the identity of the field as a health care profession. By invoking “therapist,” the new title placed massage in line with other medical or wellness professions (like physical therapists, occupational therapists), underlining the therapeutic and licensed nature of the work
Addressing Stigma: Abandoning masseuse/masseur was also a conscious strategy to distance the profession from stigma. The term “massage therapist” lacks the salacious undertone that “masseuse” had acquired. A veteran massage therapist explains that unfortunately “‘masseuse’ has negative connotations related to prostitution,” so using the updated title helps clarify that one’s work is legitimate. In essence, massage therapist became the “clean” term, signaling a break from the past. By the 1980s, most reputable massage schools and clinics were correcting clients who used the old terminology. One practitioner analogized the change by saying “Masseur is to massage therapist as stewardess is to flight attendant,” highlighting that the preferred modern term carries a more professional and respectful toneelmcitywellness.com.
Gender Neutrality: The new terminology also eliminated the gender distinction inherent in masseur/masseuse. Referring to all providers simply as massage therapists reflects the reality that people of all genders practice massage professionallyataraxymassage.com. This inclusivity became more important in the late 20th century as more men entered the field and as language in general moved away from gendered job titles. The neutral title avoids implying that a therapist’s competence or role is gender-dependent, much as other professions have dropped terms like “authoress” or “lady doctor.”
Public Understanding and Legitimacy: Crucially, the adoption of “massage therapist” has helped the public recognize massage as a bona fide therapeutic modality. The AMTA notes that the title was “readily understood by the general public, and helped give the field legitimacy as a health profession.” (amtamassage.org) When clients hear therapist, they are more likely to expect a licensed professional providing healthful treatment, rather than entertain the old stereotypes. By contrast, if someone today advertises themselves as a “masseuse”, it can raise red flags; in fact, contemporary online searches for masseuse/masseur tend to return illicit or erotic services rather than licensed therapy. This modern usage pattern confirms that in popular parlance masseuse has shifted to euphemistically denote a sex worker, whereas massage therapist clearly denotes a legitimate practitioner.
Massage Therapy Association Combats Current Massage Connotation NY Times Aug. 12, 1979
Massage therapists want to be known as health professionals By some estimates, the massage business has doubled in this decade as Americans have become more health‐conscious. Practitioners now want to limit the field to graduates of recognized schools who have passed certification examinations. Pierrette M. Plouffe, a spokesman for the American Massage and Therapy Association and herself a massage therapist in Woonsocket, R.I.’ said: “That's the only way to combat having just anyone do ‘massage.’ “ She pronounced the last word with audible quotation marks.
Rise of the “Massage Therapist” (1970s–Present)
The chosen replacement—massage therapist—addressed several needs at once:
Professional credibility: Linked massage with other therapeutic professions (physical therapy, occupational therapy).
Gender neutrality: Eliminated distinctions between male and female practitioners.
Distance from stigma: Freed practitioners from the sexualized baggage of masseuse.
From the 1970s onward, licensing boards, exams (like the MBLEx), and professional associations codified the term. By the 1980s, state massage laws had spread nationwide, partly to combat prostitution fronts.
Today, 45 states plus D.C. regulate massage therapy, requiring 500–1,000+ hours of training, exams, and ethics codes. National organizations (AMTA, ABMP, FSMTB) actively discourage the old terms, and students are trained to politely correct clients. Many practitioners describe masseuse as “offensive” because of its association with sex work.
Changing the Narrative
If you hear someone say “masseuse” or “masseur” — stop and correct it. These words once carried medical prestige in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but today they are outdated gender stereotypes. The past connection to the sex industry also may influence some today.
For the media: Never use these terms in headlines, captions, or stories. They misrepresent the profession and perpetuate stigma. Always use massage therapist (or Licensed/Registered Massage Therapist, depending your state laws).
For legislators: Ensure that bills, statutes, and official communications reflect the modern, professional title. Keeping these words in our laws may help limit their use by the sexually oriented businesses. Using the correct language strengthens laws against illicit operators while reinforcing the credibility of licensed practitioners.
For the public: If you catch yourself saying masseuse or masseur, switch to massage therapist. If someone else uses the wrong word, politely explain why it’s outdated and offensive, and help them adopt the right term.
👉 Bottom line: Language matters. Saying massage therapist shows respect for the thousands of trained professionals who are part of healthcare — not a caricature from an old stereotype.
Continued advocacy remains necessary as popular culture references and municipal discrimination persist, requiring ongoing education and professional boundary maintenance to preserve hard-won legitimacy.
Meanwhile…where are our professional associations?
Is a Masseuse a Massage Therapist: The Importance of Using Correct Massage Titles March 18, 2015 Karen Menehan Massage Magazine
The Archetypes of Masseuse and Masseur November 1, 2015 Patricia J. Benjamin, Ph.D., L.M.T. Massage Magazine