happy ending massage

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In literature, a happy ending describes a story where the heroes achieve the best possible outcome and wrap up loose ends while forest animals look on in approval. In the world of erotic massage, however, a happy ending is entirely different, illegal in most places, and definitely not suitable for innocent animals.

Erotic massage has been around for centuries. Ancient Greek doctors prescribed it to patients, for instance, and it remains an important part of contemporary Tantric practice. Calling a hand job or blowjob at the end of a traditional message a happy ending, on the other, um, hand, is a 20th-century innovation. Erotic massage moved away from the realm of medicine and spirituality and into fly-by-night massage parlors, brothels, and prostitution fronts, and by 1999, a Weekend Australian article had described a massage parlor as providing “a guaranteed ‘happy ending’” and the term was born.

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The slang term spread in the 2000s, when happy ending messages became stereotyped as a service offered at Asian massage parlors or in late-night Bangkok backrooms. And, law enforcement occasionally make headlines by busting illicit erotic parlors (and their customers).

Happy ending massages are often the subject of popular humor. A 2005 episode of the TV comedy Robot Chicken, for example, played on the stereotype of the Asian masseuse offering a happy ending. The happiness came not from a sad, spiritless hand job, but from the hot, deep-fried goodness of egg rolls. Yum.