So were those massage parlors fronts for prostitution??

The women may have been there against their will.

These places are fronts for human trafficking and anyone who frequents them is supporting human trafficking and slavery.

Maybe there is an Asian Massage parlor or two in the country that is on the up and up, but I doubt it. The young women that are forced to work at them are held in captivity and they were tricked into coming here. They were promised legal passage to America and jobs in restaurants, their captors tricked them and hold immigration over their heads. So they get to America, do not speak the language, and are told they have to work off the cost of bringing them there. They have no choice. Many of the girls at these parlors are underaged and have IDs that were forged to show they are 18. And it takes years for them to earn their freedom. This is a true evil that goes on in every city in this country. This is human trafficking right out in the open and very little is ever done to stop it.

That's why it's not something to be joked about, terms like "rub and tug" and "jerk joint" disguise the true evil that is occurring at these places. Anyone who goes to one of these places is sick and deserves jail.

Also, Trump has Trump brand massage parlors, he's trademarked them in several countries. He also has escort services. He's been involved in human trafficking for decades and his grand father was a pimp in the old West. Society needs to put an end to this now, it's pure racism that allows Asian Massage parlors to exist everywhere across the country. American culture views these girls as less than human or we would put a stop to it. A giant sex trafficking ring right in front of us and it's just accepted.

I have been worried about the children at the border who disappeared under the Trump administration.

You wrote a really good synopsis -- thanks for putting it all in one place for us. I hope this horrific event brings what's going on in these places to light so we can put an end to it.

There was a sting in NY a couple of years ago targeting the nail salons where most of the workers were enslaved young Asian women brought here just as you describe. They disappeared overnight basically ... and some of the young women were rescued. Not sure what happened to them legally.

I have no beef with prostitution. I am just curious and maybe naive.

"If it is true he had a sex addiction and wanted to be rid of the temptations; could it be that was where he was getting his addiction serviced in those places?"

It can be couched as just a statement of curiosity or naivete but it sure reads like a statement of justification for what appears to be a racist attack against women.

Frankly I don't care what the 'justification' for cold blooded murder is. Lock them up. If you commit heinous acts they should NOT be justified. They should be punished.

I think prison might cure a lot of 'justifications' for crimes against society.

to find offense. Why are you so eager to find someone "justifying" the murders on DU?

I don't see how it matters at all.

He is still the scum of the earth. I just asked an innocent question and it irked some folks.

Not saying the OP is a Freeper.

... in Macy's or the Mustang Ranch. They were murdered.

No one says differently.

The discussion of why does not mean anyone is saying they weren't.

"Most" are looking to find someone they can virtue spill onto, claiming they are justifying murders by talking about what goes on in the killer's head!

No one said the murders were OK, that is a straw man.

You are so much better a person than people who would justify murder! If only there were any on DU!

Or if so it wasn't widely known. One the people interviewed was a woman that claimed to be a customer of one, for what its worth.

As a total aside, did anyone see the Slutever episode that discussed the scarcity of 'Happy Ending' massage providers for women?

...these shops. Who would even know what or where they are unless......anyway, if he was out to deliberately shoot as many Asian Americans as possible I would assume he would go to any strip mall nail salon or, a Chinese Buffet or Thai restaurant. I mean these places say what kind of food is served right on the front of their establishment.

I get the gut feeling hes a mad nutter and not (in this case) gunning for minorities.

as the misogyny, and he would have shot women of any race.

For example, it doesn't sound like it has to do with China allegedly deliberately causing the pandemic. More with his sexual problems.

Note to the ultra-virtuous: this is not excusing him, but talking about how or why he might have done it in his sick mind.

"happy ending" costs extra. other outcomes might be negotiated.

are the girls there willingly? very questionable and problematic.

is it technically "prostitution?" most vice squads leave them alone most of the time.

This is brutal human trafficking going on at a large scale across the country and people still downplay it.

Including the OP.

TERRORIST asswipe targeted ASIAN WOMEN.

All the victim blaming is sideshow.

or because he was unable to perform.

as in answer to that question.

and so far not one reference but, it's ok to just put these out there I guess.
I care zero, what the murderer claims. What I do know is that the pathetic piece of shit killed 8 people most of whom were Asian women.

He killed 8 Women!!!!! He had no right to do that. No matter what.

I am not trying to justify or victim blame. I asked a question as to whether those parlors I see all over the place were brothels or not.

I only see men coming out of the one near my house, which is next door to one of my favorite takeout places.

I fail to see the relevancy.

She was there with her husband to get a massage for the first time as part of a date night. Her husband survived, hiding in another room. To imply this place was only a sex shop is denigrating to her.

Honestly what does it matter in relation to this case?

This is the narrative that I hate. The MEdia does this every time. Why would someone kill these people? There must be some reason why HE did that to them. Oh there may be sex going on in there? I see so he was bothered by that?

I am not syaing they outright excuse the entire tragedy but they play into the killers defense when they do this. And at large they (knowingly or not) create this possibility that society made him do it because they have allowed this other thing to go on.

He killed people. Full stop. That is it.

Wow. That’s rough.

I see a lot of allegations being made in this thread without a lot of facts and proof.

It is fully a different matter.

He murdered eight people - six of them Asian women

I completely agree.

Also you are not going to pin on me that I do not care about the issue of sex trafficking. You are not.

The OP directly linked the killers motivation to the wonderment if Asian massage parlours have sex for money.... That does NOT matter when discussing why a man decided to blow away 8 women. There is no justification for that. I would by all means hope that there isn't sex trafficking going on and hope that issue is being handled. I would hope that we wouldn't assume that is what is happening simply because a poster has: "often wondered seeing those Asian massage studios with all the drapes in the windows if that was the case"

That's victim blaming?

How are we saying it was OK to murder them by discussing why?

Was that the case with Ted Bundy - we discuss his psyche and what went wrong and that means we justified the murders? That's ridiculous. You can tell the difference, so why are you trying to assign such an opinion to others?

This is exactly what he wants.

What evidence is there that there was sex? But look what is happening in this thread.... Accusations of underage sex trafficking. Heck, the op says “I have always wondered about those ASIAN massages”....

If I said “geez I have always wondered if those ASIAN restaurants are really serving dog” would that be acceptable? Of course not.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/03/17/atlanta-spa-shootings-illicit-reviews-massage-parlors/4737755001/

-----
The suspect in the fatal shootings at three Georgia spas has told authorities he blamed the massage businesses for providing an outlet for his addiction to sex.

Robert Aaron Long viewed the spas as "a temptation that he wanted to eliminate," according to a Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said the spas were not on police's radar: “As far as we know in Atlanta, these are legally operating businesses.”

Yet, early signs indicate the businesses may not have been entirely above-board, leaving the women working there particularly vulnerable to abuse and violence.

All three spas are listed on Rubmaps, an erotic review site that allows users to search for and review illicit massage parlors. The site is the most popular of its kind, where buyers who call themselves “hobbyists” or “mongers” looking for sex go to find and share information, according to a study by Polaris, a nonprofit group that operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
-----
(more at link)

It was still murder, of course.

were murdered by a sick fuck
When did sick white men get the right to kill anyone including prostitutes?

Lock him the fuck upp.

... living, with levels between "angelic" to "they were almost asking for it."

I've had to explain, attempt to explain, why we Americans are so objectifying of people to people in other countries. And I can describe it, but damned if I can explain it.

It's a crying shame to know how to rate people and not know anything of their sole value - we are all human. We all have the right to life.

These women weren't "making a living" through prostitution. They were likely the victims of human trafficking there against their wills. Calling them prostitutes is not the right word, they were innocent victims of human trafficking before they were innocent victims of a mass murderer.

... These are women who've been erased. We know not a thing about them. Their origins other than a continent is about it.

They also have families. Who may not know for years what happened to their sister, mother, aunt, daughter, and maybe some not ever because these women were likely smuggled in and trafficked and any documents are missing, stolen, fake.

There's a bunch of levels here.

The fact that these women were likely human trafficking victims before they were murdered doesn't diminish them at all, doesn't diminish the crime at all. In fact it makes it an even sadder story. And I hope that this leads to the other victims of human trafficking at these places to gain their freedom.

Eight people are dead, shot and killed by the man who is under arrest. What you suggest is certainly possible, but it is the murders of eight people that is the issue, not what those businesses did or offered.

Eight human beings were shot to death, deliberately. The shooter purchased the weapon the day before and then went to those places and murdered people.

That is all that matters in this story, really.

Police will dig into all of it. They will want to know if there was a human trafficking ring under their noses. So in that sense, it does matter. And I’m glad it does to someone.

into those businesses.

I'd ask why no such investigations have taken place already. If this is "common knowledge," I have to wonder if those businesses don't have police officers and other "fine upstanding citizens" who have authority as customers. Don't you wonder that? Otherwise, would they not have already been investigated?

The nature of those businesses and the murders of eight people are two very different things. People working in those places were murdered in cold blood. Were they also victims of human trafficking? Perhaps, but that is a different investigation. Right now, there is a murder case to be prosecuted.

He murdered people in the Asian massage place then went across the street to another but bypassed the non Asian aromatherapy place right next door. This was clearly targeted at Asians.

The vast majority of these massage places are legitimate. To paint them all as fronts for prostitution is showing a racial stereotype and bias.

The dehumanization of sex workers by continuing to keep it illegal is a far greater driver of human trafficking.

They are fronts where trafficked women are routinely abused and raped.

Of course they also give some legit massages, because some folks don't get what they are. ANYONE who has been in a legit massage spa would step one foot into one of these places and know it wasn't legit.

As are MANY of the people you see working at nail salons and Chinese restaurants. Facts.

Change "where he was getting his addiction serviced in those places??" to "Is that where he raped trafficked women because he is a sociopath and rapist?"

Your OP really reads as victim blaming, and hand waving sex trafficked women. I am not saying you meant it that way, but it reads that way. And, it appears I'm not the only one who thinks that.

I do know there is a subset of white men who are obsessed with Asian women. I don’t give a shit about his “sex addiction” or his “bad day”

I care that women are dead, targeted for their race, and by the look of the guy, he was a neckbeard piece of shit, I’ve read he was also an enthusiastic member of a church.

I know that MRAs, incels and other male supremacy organizations HATE women. I know that their numbers are growing This is not hyperbole. I’ve read some of the bullshit they put on their forums and they are being tracked by organizations that track hate groups.

DU itself used to have its share of MRAs. These fuckers cannot see their own misogyny.

at all. Murder as a justification to get rid of feelings is ridiculous, and is the same argument that many school shooters make.

People are demeaning women who were killed, like they somehow deserved a death sentence.

The victims’ lives had the same value as anyone else’s. Diminishing their humanity is sickening.

for the truth

In this thread...

She owned the business. Her daughter recently graduated from college in Georgia.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/friends-say-victim-shooting-rampage-asian-spas-was-mother-recent-uga-grad/AI4XHKQCGVGYNBFQ57UKXMCMBY/

If that's the case, describing her has kind hearted is something like how reports about past gun spree murderers would include quotes from neighbors describing the killer as polite or nice, etc.

I'm pointing that out because so many people in this thread have indulged in anti-asian stereotypes like all asian massage parlors are engaged in prostitution or that asian run businesses including nail salons and restaurants are engaged in human trafficking.

While we know that these spas had prostitution due to their reviews on a prostitution-review website, we don't know that the women that were killed were trafficked, working against their will, or in the country illegally and nothing about this story can tell anybody anything about the asian-owned massage parlor in their neighborhood.

On a day were everybody should be reflecting on the pervasiveness of anti-asian stereotypes it's quite disheartening to open up a thread where they're tossed around so casually.

Tan emigrated to the United States from China many years ago, and had an adult daughter who recently graduated from the University of Georgia, said friend and customer Greg Hynson.

Hynson, 54, said he had been seeing Tan as his massage therapist for a stiff neck and upper back for about six years. They both live in the area and had become good friends, he said.


“She was the sweetest person you’d ever meet," he told USA TODAY. "My heart was in my throat the second I heard of it. It still doesn’t seem real."

Hyson said Tan, who was known by friends as Emily, was a hardworking small-business owner. He said she always had a kind word for friends. Last October, she had a cake waiting for him on his birthday when he came to the spa.

Hyson, who runs a rubber supply company started by his father, said Tan's staff usually lived at her large nearby home when they first arrived from China, and seemed focused mostly on earning money for their families. He said Feng had only recently started working at the spa.”

Hyson angrily rejected speculation Tan's spa was providing sex services. The suspect in the fatal shootings told authorities he blamed the massage businesses for providing an outlet for his addiction to sex.

"You're coming here to get a massage. All these girls that have worked for her over the years are working for her on their own free will," he said. "They’re here for a better life. They’re diligent and work hard and all the money they make is going toward a better life for their family.”


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/18/who-were-atlanta-spa-shooting-victims/4746417001/

Are just as racist as those assuming all Latinos are farm workers.

He had to kill Asians.

'I wonder if you have slept much...'