Facts are Important

Even when they're not culturally expedient

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash

Recently, I saw a social media post from some unknown bodyworker dipping a toe into content creation for their business. “Good for them!” I thought. Then with their whole chest and a video of them working, they asserted that the glutes should always stay covered while working. In other words, glute work only through the sheet and possibly underwear, but always a sheet.

To which I immediately called, “Bullshit!” Then I stalked their profile and other published content to see if this was one of those reverse psychology, ragebait joke posts. It wasn’t.

Blink, blink…

This individual is pumping out opinions cloaked as facts to their whole following which presumably includes their client base. And I’m sure they are not the only one. A lot of people are entering the content creation world trying their hand at grabbing a piece of the attention economy pie. Who can blame them? It looks like easy money from the outside.

Unfortunately, it’s not an easy business. And what’s more, it’s a very public space that can have a large reach and influence. I know this is what content creators are looking for, but when you’re dressing opinions up as facts and parading them around you start treading into ethical and sometimes legal territory.

I know there’s a cultural shift that has happened in the last 10 years or so here in the U.S. This shift has made it uncool to insist on accuracy, sources, and data. Science and rigor have become inconvenient and “too hard.” Studies are showing young people are not keeping up academically to the previous decade. More value seems to be placed in being in the right social groups and fitting in than independent thought.

Not accurately representing facts when you’re commenting on cultural and opinion issues is fine. I mean, it’s not, but I think (hope) everyone knows it’s more entertainment than factual in these cases. It’s definitely not fine if the public is looking to you as an expert in your field.

What if they’re believing your opinions that have little to no factual basis? “I was taught that in massage school,” doesn’t cut it when your state law says differently, when scientific studies say differently, and when you’re misleading your clients. Not to mention that you’re making everyone else in your field’s job harder because they work differently, know the law and the science and are having to re-educate people who’ve been told something incorrect.

Hopefully the misinformation that is shared is not physically damaging or dangerous. A few years ago, there was a woman who drank an unhealthy amount of Epsom salt solution and died after trusting the incorrect advice of a health coach. People have also died from excess soy sauce consumption on the advice of weight loss experts. And don’t forget the Tide pod challenge, the cinnamon challenge and the asphyxiation challenges that social media has brought us over the past few years. These are all from people who have forgotten that they need to consider the ramifications of their actions before making outrageous claims to garner online reactions in the name of a paycheck.

Unringing the Bell

There’s really no way to unring a bell. Fortunately, you can sometimes garner trust and respect and gently re-educate people who have been unintentionally mislead. Hopefully they will ask why you work differently from the person they saw online or visited for bodywork. This opens an opportunity to educate on why your work is different, research-based, and lawful.

If It’s an Opinion, Say It’s an Opinion

So how do we ensure that we are speaking from a place of authority without misleading our clients? “This is just my opinion, but I have noticed that…” Most people will think you’re even smarter than you are if you tell them this up front.

Later, when they ask you a question they know you will tell them if it’s your opinion, if you know for a fact, or if you don’t know, but will certainly do some research and get back to them. This is how you build trust and credibility. And people talk about this kind of stuff. At least, smart people do. Also, you must follow up with what you found out during the research you promised to do.

So how do we go about ethically and sometimes legally sharing what we know in a larger space like a blog post, vlog, social media post, or on our websites?

Litmus Test Yourself

A simple litmus test can help you determine whether what you’re about to publish can be considered credible or an opinion piece.

Is it True?

To evaluate whether what you’re going to publish is true, it must have a basis in reality. In other words, most people would agree that the sky is blue, and grass is green and not the other way around. And while there’s always going to be people who disagree, we’re talking about the general consensus and basic understanding of how the world works.

Is it Factual?

To evaluate whether what you’re going to publish is factual, it must be based on evidence. A good question to ask yourself is, “Can this be proven or disproven?” Scientific white papers and published research that support your work are a good indication that current knowledge is backed up by data and is therefore factual. Sometimes there is a good case for anecdotal evidence, but caution must be taken and it’s probably wise to disclose that your “facts” are based on anecdotal evidence.

Is it Complete?

To evaluate whether what you’re going to publish is complete, it must present all sides. Presenting all sides of the subject in question can be difficult. Biases sometimes keep people from presenting all sides. If you have intentionally omitted a competing side or opinion because you think it weakens your point, your piece must be considered opinion. If you don’t know if you’ve covered every side, say so and ask for feedback from your audience. Make sure your audience knows you’re trying to be as complete as possible.

Is it Ethical?

To evaluate whether what you’re going to publish is ethical, it must uphold all Codes of Ethics identified by your licensing and professional organizations. It must also be lawful and adhere to a basic sense of human respect and decency.

Putting It into Action

Here are a couple of very different examples of something you might see on the internet along with the litmus test questions answered.

Example 1: ABC Wellness Co. is adding a new service to their menu. Available only on April 1^st a fairy will sprinkle relaxation dust on all clients at the beginning of their bodywork treatment. Service Upcharge: $10 (donated to the local foodbank)

Is it True?

Unfortunately, no. Fairies don’t exist in most people’s reality. Can you still publish your social media post about your new service offering on April 1^st? Absolutely, but no one is going to believe they’ve hired on fairies because it’s April Fool’s Day!

Is it Factual?

While we can’t absolutely disprove that fairies don’t exist in our reality, there has never been an actual fairy identified anywhere in our world.

Is it Complete?

Well, they didn’t explore the different kinds of fairies that might be sprinkling the relaxation dust, but sure...

Is it Ethical?

It’s April Fool’s Day, and clearly a joke. The $10 upcharge might be considered iffy until you see that it’s a passthrough donation to the local foodbank. There are no ethical violations here unless you let a client leave believing they’ve been sprinkled by fairy dust.

Example 2: Let’s go back to the beginning with the therapist asserting that glutes must always be draped, and all glute work must happen through the sheet.

Is it True?

It depends. What this therapist is saying could be true and certainly is the reality for their own practice. They may have a policy that they only work on glutes that are fully covered with the sheet.

They did not mention the law in their social media post, and because it wasn’t addressed some people could assume that it’s the law. What does the law say? By and large, in the United States, most states allow for glutes to be worked uncovered as long as the gluteal cleft remains covered.

So, no, it’s not true for everyone’s practice. The therapist in question is making a sweeping assertion with this post.

Is it Factual?

The only way to know is ask ten or twenty or fifty massage therapists how they drape the glutes. From my personal experience as a massage therapist, massage therapy educator that teaches glute work, and a lifetime of receiving massage, working the glutes covered is not normal unless the client requests it or leaves their underwear on.

Is it Complete?

No. The therapist who published this left out a lot of information. There was no mention of the law or state/local regulations in respect to this issue. They also did not recognize the way peers may handle this issue differently.

Is it Ethical?

In my opinion, which is based on my personal and professional experience, no and at best, maybe. Do I think this therapist is intentionally trying to manipulate the public and/or their opinions regarding this matter? Maybe, maybe not. Most likely they were angling for clicks, likes, and comments without regard to the full picture on the issue.

Rebuilding Trust

What happens when you discover you’ve accidentally misinformed your followers or clients? The professional thing to do would be to follow up with more information and come clean about not covering the subject thoroughly or correctly. It’s rare you see that kind of thing from lesser known content creators though, so I won’t hold my breath in this instance. But it’s good for all of us to know that we can mess up because we’re young or misinformed or enslaved to a bias we haven’t yet conquered and have options on how to fix things. “I was wrong, and here’s how I’m going to fix it…” goes a long way to re-building trust and credibility.

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Food for Thought

Have you tried out content creation for your massage practice? How did it go?

Do you notice when people present wrong information as education? How do you handle that?

Have you ever mis-educated your clients? How did you correct and recover from it?

Postscript

Special thanks to the Badass Bodyworkers group over on Facebook for helping me with a crowdsourcing project on state laws concerning massage therapy

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Thank you for reading!

I’d love to hear from you and what you think about Things I Should Have Learned in Massage School. And if you find what I’m sharing helpful, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or donating enough to cover a cup of coffee. For now we’ll keep TISHLIMS free, but I would appreciate it if you’d share my work with your friends and neighbors so we can make the world a better place to give and receive massage!

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About the Author: Sharon L Bryant has been a massage therapist since 2008 and a massage therapy educator since 2014. You can read more about the TISHLIMS project, its history, and what brought Sharon to Substack.