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The Russian bathhouse on East 10th Street gets a very bad rap from a former employee who claims all sorts of nonsense was going on there. Susan Shellogg, a massage therapist/aesthetician/reflexologist, filed a lawsuit against the Russian and Turkish Baths; the Sun reports Shellogg says she was fired "because of her gender and her refusal to consent to clients' sexual demands, and in retaliation for complaints about sexual harassment and a hostile work environment she made to the bathhouse's owners." Eep. And the Post has some of the crazy details:
Her court papers say that when she complained to the bosses "that male employees openly fondled male customers during treatments in open common areas," they told her it was "good for business" and "the gays were bringing in all the money." Only men were allowed on Sunday mornings, which was referred to as "Gay Day" or "Sausage Fest," the suit says, with male employees and clients being "urged and encouraged to engage in homosexual activity."Shellogg is looking for a cool $100 million in damages.Co-workers felt free to sexually harass clients, and would often "accidentally" barge in when Shellogg was "performing professional and private treatment on unclothed young women" and "stare, laugh and behave in a sexually aggressive, suggestive, inappropriate and uncomfortable manner," the suit says.
The Russian and Turkish Baths have been around since 1892 - there's even a restaurant. Bathhouse co-owner Jack Shapiro, who Shellogg accuses of watching pornography "on a laptop computer in an open common area at the front desk," denied the charges to the Post, calling her, "nuts, completely nuts." He says Shellogg quit of her own accord when her jobs were eliminated.
Photograph by wallyg on Flickr
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The two times I've gone to the Baths and had a massage, I was always asked if I wanted the "extra" (usually said with heavy Russian accent). Fortunately, I had the good mind to decline such an enticing offer. BTW the massages were awful!
Wait a minute... You're trying to tell me that the Tenth Street Baths have GAY SEX GOING ON?!?
Next you're gonna claim there are gay people living in the Village and working in theatre!
Whoa thats... pretty gay.
You know, this breaks my heart. I love this bathhouse, and I'm a gay man - there is NO cruising that goes on there. I've found it refreshing because it's one of the most intimate and sensual experiences that you can have that ISN'T sexual... I mean, walking down 8th Avenue you get more looks than ANYTHING that comes close to the bathhouse environment. I can't comment on this woman's experience obviously but from this past summer that I went there there is super chill and cool. So sad to hear about this lawsuit; I hope it's frivolous.
Wait she had numerous jobs? Jen are you making this up?
Well, I have to say that the one time I had a massage there, they guy who did the massage made me feel a little uncomfortable. He was always just bordering on the inappropriate. So I never got a massage again.
Still it would be a pity to lose the baths! (I'm a girl, BTW, not a dude.)
I love the Tenth St. Baths and have never seen anything inappropriate go on there. I've been there numerous times, on the women's day and on coed days, and had nothing but above-board experiences. I've had massages there from both male and female therapists and never been treated badly. They're not the greatest massages, but what do you expect there? It's not a spa. It's an old-school shvitz. I had a much worse massage at an authentic Ottoman-era hammam in Turkey.
There's no place like it in NY - it's much better than the newer Russian banyas around. Maybe men have different experiences there than women, but I've never seen cruising there - most people who go there are too dedicated to the shvitz for that.
when her jobs were eliminated
...which basically is an admission of "We forced her out," yes?
theres also the Fulton St baths. (spa 88).
I don't have any difficulty believing this woman might've been harassed, but at the same time, $100 MILLION? You've gotta be kidding me.
I have never heard of this sort of behavior at the Baths. I think this woman is trying to exploit the connection that people make between sex and massage for her own benefit.
I say this as a former massage therapist -- Of the four or five places I worked only one was anything other than completely nonsexual and their only crime was that it didn't listen to therapists who felt harassed but it definitely didn't encourage illicit behavior.
There's nothing like being propositioned by fat, middle-aged men with wedding bands to make you want to go back to working in cubeland.
Is it this Susan Shellogg? Ex-Dominatrix? Author?
http://www.observer.com/node/40194
Does anyone know?
Just read the Post article. It is the same woman. I'm not saying this casts aspersions on her claims, but it is an interesting fact. It also says her firing had to do with licensing issues, but I'm not sure if that was on her side or the Baths.
Okay, this is a saga but this lawsuit struck a chord...
Inappropriate, overly sexualized behavior is a way of life at the 10th Street Baths. As an open-minded woman who has had treatments and massages everywhere -the cheapest Tui-Na spots in Chinatown, Muslim hammans in Paris and spas all over - I've never had a problem anywhere EXCEPT at this bathhouse.
A few months back, I went to get the platza treatment on co-ed day. It was a disgusting and semi-humiliating experience (admittedly it takes a lot to really freak me out). The robust 60 year old Russian masseuse seemed nice, if a bit dominating, at first. He strong armed me from one hot sauna to the next while dunking me in the ice cold pool between saunas. All fine. We go into the Russian Sauna to commence the platza treatment and "the performance" began. The sauna was filled with guys and girls hanging out and dumping buckets of hot water over their heads. The Russian told me to let him know if the water got too hot.
He takes me to the platform and starts the show.
Without warning, he shoves a wet towel over my head, whips off my bikini top, yanks down the bottoms and proceeds to dump scalding hot water on me while alternately slapping me with the platza leaves. All fine - even though I didn't expect to be naked, on full display, for all 10 men and women. The trouble starts when, after a few rounds, I said that the water was getting way too hot. As a former ballerina, I have a high pain threshold but I literally thought my blood vessels were popping - it felt like i was burning. Anyway, The Russian decides to turn my treatment into lame performance art and starts deriding me saying "oh, someone call 911 she's too hot." And so on as he presides to twist my body in all sorts of positions - for no other reason other than to seemingly show off my flexibility/naked body to the rapt crowd.
Finally, after I insisting I've had enough, the performance piece ends. I sit up on the elevated bench to try to find my bikini and see the entire crowd gawking at me. Again, Igor grabs me by the arm (each time he does this - he literally lifts me off my feet), drags me out of the room and pushes me into the cold pool...telling me to get out and do the 5 sauna thing again. I opt to go into the smallest, empty steam room just to dry off/compose my thoughts for a few minutes. After I've been in the room 30 seconds a guy comes in. I ignore him. 30 seconds later, he starts beating off in front of me. Cue Exit.
In the locker room, I see that my skin is patchy and red. It appears as if I have broken blood vessels on my thighs and I get nervous. Outside, I say to the manager that I'm concerned. While leering at me, he laughs and says that it's normal. Then he says, "Hell, you should see when blacks come in here. They come out green." What?
I've lived in the east village for decades. A male friend of mine who went there regularly reported to me that he was asked if he wanted to be "finished off" by masseuses there. He had the impression that this was not unusual. I don't know if he went on Sundays.
I love Spa88 on Fulton Street. I have never been to this one. But from my experiences in Spa88, never an awkward feeling. No one bothers you at all. Everyone minds their own business. Even children come with parents to sweat. I have never experienced any inappropriate at the Spa88 banya, ever.
Sexual harassment of Ex-Dominatrix who was "performing professional and private treatment on unclothed young women" and want $100 millions as compensation? It`s funny as hell. Besides she is not licensed massage therapist as she claims (check the website for license verification):
http://www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm
I just don`t want to believe that one liar can screw up a bussines with tousands of satisfied customers.
i love the 10th street baths. i go often on sunday mornings and love the all male vibe. i've never seen or felt anything funny going on there. everyone gets along. i've had massages from two different guys there and nothing sexual was ever insinuated - and they were decent massages.