Wichita City Council Approves Regulating Massage Businesses

A new Wichita ordinance bans all sex activity in massage parlors and requires formal training for would-be masseurs and masseuses.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the Wichita City Council approved the measure Tuesday. It's designed to fight sex trafficking and prostitution.

Under the ordinance, massage parlor owners, operators and employees must undergo an extensive licensing procedure. The measure also bans nudity while performing massages, requiring "fully opaque" coverage of breasts, buttocks and genitalia.

Kansas is one of a handful of states that doesn't regulate massage therapy. The push for regulations came from police after they started seeing an increase in the number of human trafficking cases at massage businesses.

City documents show that police arrested 22 people on suspicion of human trafficking at massage parlors in 2015.