Women Had Reason to Think Twice Before Taking Off Their Clothes for Massage Therapist David Cairns

Cairns pulled the blanket down a little too far.

​It's the fear that women have at the back of their minds when they disrobe for a male massage therapist-- what if this guy is a sleaze?--and then quickly put out of their heads. After all, while there's a (mostly) out-of-date cliché about women masseuses selling sex, one almost never hears about people in the profession who prey upon their clients.

Meet David Cairns, a Battle Ground massage therapist whose suspension from the profession was announced yesterday by the state Department of Health after a string of licentious sessions with clients. In one case, according to DOH documents (see pdf), he took advantage of a woman who had been sexually abused in the past.

The woman had come to Cairns in 2008 at an upscale establishment in Vancouver, WA, called Elements Day Spa, which recently closed. He had received his massage license just the year before and had been working there for about six months, according to documents and then spa coordinator, Angie Sideras.

At first, the client noticed nothing amiss and went back to Cairns numerous times, according to the documents. But during her seventh massage, Cairns began a maneuver in which he pushed each of her legs up to her chest--and exposed her genitals. While embarrassed, she apparently wasn't sure whether the exposure was intentional or not. She returned for one more massage, whereby he not only did the same trick but put his hand on her vagina and "told her that the energy in that area was completely low," the documents say. He then asked if she had had an orgasm in the last 24 hours.

After the woman complained to the spa, "he was let go immediately," says Sideras, who adds that she had previously noticed his flirting with female co-workers but assumed he behaved differently with clients.

He soon managed, however, to find another job at Clear Choice Chiropractic in his hometown of Battle Ground. Owner Dan Thompson said he didn't call Elements for a reference. Cairns hadn't listed the spa on his resume and, in any case, Thompson's usual way of finding out if massage therapists are good is to try them out--or, when it came to Cairns, have his wife try him out (not that he's homophobic, Thompson says, but he doesn't like getting massages from men). She gave a positive review.

Thompson says he also trusted Cairns because he was a martial arts instructor in town and knew how to treat clients with sports injuries.

After about six months, there, however, Cairns did the same leg-stretching stunt on a woman that he had at Elements. He also pulled the blanket covering the client down below her buttocks, asked her if she wore ("CFM," or come fuck me, pumps) and, while pulling her hair, told her that such handling could be erotic if done correctly.

Thompson says he fired Cairns immediately after the client complained. The massage therapist is now suspended for three years, and required to seek a "psycho-sexual" evaluation before being reinstated.