It’ll shock some readers that, although we generally don’t think prostitution should be criminalized, we also think it ridiculous and vile that 16 year-olds can be strippers here. (Mind-blowingly, we also believe that, even though they ought not strip, they also ought not be thrown in the can or deported if they should happen to engage in the practice; rather, they should receive counseling, and the people responsible should be penalized.)
The Peanut Gallery is also weighing in. Turns out 26.29% of ’em are pervs!
Do you think 16 and 17 is too young to be a stripper?
Just Look At Facebook!! Why not at least get paid for it.
No, as long as its not my daughter
Things that make you go ewwwww. That’s just nasty. Not so much the girls but those who think it’s okay. Pervy. Creepy.
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whoops, I meant that our age-of-consent is 16… I had a rough night.
I think the answer to this would be to clearly define ‘adult entertainment’ as a job category, then add that to the list of jobs that you can’t do unless you’re a full-blown adult. While I think that the issue is being massively misrepresented in the media, it is somewhat of a safety issue if you have minors working jobs in alcohol-drenched sexually-charged environments.
That this issue is getting mixed in with indoor prostitution, which is being erroneously mixed in with human trafficking is just insane. These are all separate problems, and each one needs different solutions.
I was in high school with a single-mom who was 17 and worked (under a false identity) as a stripper. It should be noted that it’s not like the strip clubs are out there ‘preying on our daughters’, the girls who apply for these jobs (all of whom seem to misrepresent themselves as adults) are -intentionally- getting into the industry.
While part of me thinks that the civil-liberties issue of letting folks do this job makes sense (hey, 16 year-olds can legally copulate with dirty old men, our age-of-consent is 18, and they can drop out of school, have kids, and rent apartments, too), I think it makes more sense to make sure that women getting into the industry are more mentally-developed and are able to fully understand the ramifications of the work they’ll be doing.
My view is that if 16 year olds are old enough to decide to have sex (it is, after all, the legal age of consent), then they are also old enough to legally decide if they want to remove their clothes in front of a bunch of pervs in a strip club.
Times are tough, even for teenagers. If they can work, why not choose to strip? I’m, personally, opposed to the government regulating what we can and cannot do to our own bodies.
Now while I do have an issue with 14 year olds stripping, I don’t see any reason why a 16 year old shouldn’t be allowed. And for the record, I don’t go to strip clubs. This is simply a civil liberties issue to me.