Discipline and punish

"Sheila" was a top student. Then her school found out that she's a dominatrix. Now Sheila's not a student at all.

Cityscape by Sarah McNaught

"Sheila" doesn't look shy. Dressed all in black, from her scuffed combat boots to her blackened fingernails, the 24-year-old often attracts long stares. There are several piercings in her ears and one in her nose. Her head has been shaved clean, save for one long tail of pink hair hanging over her right ear. She dresses in goth style, with long, flowing skirts and ragged sweaters.

But get past her appearance and you see a young woman who has battled painful introversion. And even today, though she claims to be full of self-confidence, Sheila is very concerned about what others think.

"I have such a difficult time talking about myself . . . coming out of my shell," she says, as she stirs a cup of herbal tea and stares out the window of a coffee shop in Kenmore Square. "But I am a very dedicated person. If I want something, I do whatever I have to in order to get it."

And what Sheila wants is a career in massage therapy -- something she's been thinking about since the summer of 1993, when she became friends with a certified massage therapist.

Sheila attended Ohio's Antioch College and graduated with a degree in dance, but she has always been uncertain of her future and unsure where her true talents lie. So when her friend told her she had promise in his field, Sheila saw a way to earn money, help others, and develop self-confidence.

"He told me I have a real talent for the art of massage," says Sheila, who grew up on the South Shore and now lives in Brighton. "I was so excited. From that point on, I really wanted to master the techniques and get my certificate." She wanted so badly to be certified that she agreed to remove her piercings and cover her shaved head with a hat in order to be accepted into massage therapy classes at the Muscular Therapy Institute (MTI), in Cambridge.

Until last month, Sheila seemed to be well on her way. She had started at MTI on February 9 and was doing well in her classes: her lowest grade was a 95. In fact, she says, "I cared so much about what I was doing that I really pushed myself to open up to my classmates," writing a homework essay in which she divulged some very personal things about herself. But when MTI administrators read the essay and found out that she is a professional dominatrix, they weren't so happy. On March 4, they ejected her from the program.

Sheila was crushed. "I was speechless," she says. "I spent days just shaking and crying and then shaking again. I felt like a criminal. I just couldn't believe this was happening to me. I wouldn't hurt anyone."

Sheila's case raises fascinating questions. Can a school punish a student for something the student writes in a class assignment meant only for the eyes of her teacher? Or is the illegality of Sheila's profession sufficient reason for the school to dismiss her -- even when, as in this case, there is no written policy covering such a situation? And could Sheila, as a dominatrix, be protected by the state's law prohibiting private institutions from discriminating on the basis of "sexual orientation"?

The massage school's position, as outlined a letter school administrators sent to Sheila's classmates, is that "students enrolled in MTI cannot be currently employed in the sex industry."

"It would undermine the credibility of the emerging profession of massage in our society," reads the March 9 letter drafted by Mary Ann DiRoberts, MTI's executive director. The school also feels that Sheila's profession is ethically and psychologically suspect. Although DiRoberts told the Phoenix she could not comment on the expulsion, her letter explains that someone who practices sadism cannot possibly carry out a healing activity such as massage therapy without putting the client in danger.

Sheila, however, says there is nothing dangerous about her work, which involves various forms of erotic pain or domination. And she is adamant that she does not have sex with her clients.

"The idea is for me to establish my dominance over them in different ways," she explains. "Sometimes, for instance, putting a collar on them is enough to give them the sense of submission that they seek. Whether the scenario involves forced cross-dressing or foot worship, she says, her profession relies on acting out other people's fantasies. "Some people enjoy humiliation and being under my control as a way to escape their everyday lives for an hour," she says.

But from DiRoberts's point of view, what Sheila does is not so harmless. DiRoberts believes that potential clients' opinion of massage therapy will suffer if the public finds out that MTI counts sex workers among its students. The consequence, she says, will be a decrease in clientele for the profession as a whole.

DiRoberts's concerns are understandable. The legitimate industry of therapeutic massage has indeed been tainted by massage parlors' association with prostitution. On January 22, two Cambridge massage parlors were raided, and four arrests were made, after police learned the establishments were fronts for prostitution rings. In 1995, a parlor in Fresh Pond was shut down for the same reason.

"The massage industry is very sensitive to these issues," says Eric Zutrau, president of the Boston Shiatsu School & Clinic, in Cambridge. "There is a definite stigma related to massage therapy."

Zutrau adds, however, that although schools need ground rules, there are far more diplomatic ways to handle the issue of sex-industry workers who wish to study the art of massage. Zutrau's school accepts students from many walks of life, including strippers and people in the porn industry.

"What they do with their lives is their business," says Zutrau. "Provided there is no solicitation on the premises of the school, it should not be an issue."

Sheila's fellow students say her profession never affected her behavior in class. "Would I ever consider doing what she does? Of course not," says one student during a lunch break at the school. "But I took classes with her twice a week for a month, and I never felt threatened or disgusted by her. She was actually quite easy to get along with."

"She was odd-looking, sure, but the city is full of New Age people," says another classmate with a laugh. "I definitely think the school handled it wrong. They have drawn more attention to themselves by kicking her out than they would have if they had just let her finish out the course."

MTI argues that anyone associated with sadism is emotionally unhealthy. "Our paradigm of emotional health leads us to believe that practicing sadistic acts on another person, even with their consent, is not an expression of health; rather, it is an emotional defense or coping mechanism to handle past emotional trauma," reads DiRoberts's letter.

In fact, according to Sheila, the school suggested that she get psychological help before attempting to return to the program. "They told me the door was open for me to return in the future, after I had worked out my emotional problems," she says.

But Sheila, who has been a dominatrix for a year and a half, balks at the school's outlook on her own and her clients' mental health.

"It is my contention that the practice of bondage and domination -- sadomasochism -- in my personal and professional life has been and will continue to be a method of empowerment and personal growth, having contributed to my dramatic increase in self-confidence and self-awareness," she says. "The reason I have been rejected by MTI is because I chose to empower myself."

Other massage schools in Massachusetts are divided on their policies toward enrolling sex-industry workers.

For instance, the Bancroft School of Massage Therapy, in Worcester, was recently confronted with a male student who revealed that he was a dominator.

"We approached the student and told him it would not be tolerated because massage has gotten such a bad name because of [its association with] the sex industry," says Jennifer Tondel, the school's director of student affairs. "He took a leave of absence and has since come back after cleaning up his act."

Tondel says she agrees with MTI's reasoning but feels the school went overboard when it expelled Sheila. "You can't expel someone for what their outside profession is if it doesn't affect the learning environment."

The Massage Institute of New England, in Somerville, takes an even more liberal attitude. According to the school's director, Henry Corley, massage and prostitution are two totally different professions and should be viewed as such.

"There may be a moral question involved, but so long as the student is here to learn the technique of massage and not just to attract more johns, we are fine with it," says Corley. "It's our goal to make the distinction clear for the client's safety."

The question is not just a moral one, though, because what Sheila does is illegal in this state. Sadomasochism -- providing sexual pleasure through the infliction of pain -- is against Massachusetts law, according to Kate McMann of the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. Simply being a dominatrix is not an offense, McMann explains, just as being a prostitute is not a crime in itself. But if someone is caught engaging in sexual conduct for a fee -- even if, as in Sheila's case, intercourse does not take place -- she is subject to arrest. Even sadomasochistic behavior between romantic partners can be illegal; it is considered a form of assault and battery if it involves a weapon, such as a riding crop.

As for whether MTI violated Sheila's civil rights, the issue is murky. School officials admit that they have no policy addressing situations such as this one. But they may not need to, says one legal expert.

"A private institution has the right to remove anyone who they feel goes against the school's code of conduct," explains Natasha Lisman, an employment attorney for the Boston law firm of Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen.

Yet if what Sheila does falls under the category of "sexual orientation," says Lisman, then she could prevail if she takes legal action. According to federal law, any person or institution that discriminates on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, or sexual orientation is committing a civil rights violation.

Sheila has been given the opportunity to appeal the school's decision, and she plans to do so with the help of her attorney.

"I was doing very well and would really like the opportunity to get my massage license," she says. "That's all I really want."

Sarah McNaught can be reached at smcnaught[a]phx.com.