Florida celebrated International Women's Day last week by treating the state's young women like children. On Friday, the state House approved a bill that would prohibit 18- to 20-year-olds from becoming strippers or working in other occupations at adult entertainment establishments.
like Similar bill passed in Texas in 2021, claims Florida's bill is a blow against human trafficking. Like many attempts to 'protect' people from sex work, this one has a huge potential to backfire and exacerbate abuse and exploitation.
It's also part of a growing movement across the United States to push the boundaries of childhood, making all sorts of things once legal for 18- to 20-year-olds now off-limits.
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Felony crime of failing to detect a fake ID
Under the new measure, adults under the age of 21 in Florida would be prohibited from working in strip clubs, burlesque establishments, adult bookstores, or any other business that falls under Florida's definition. adult entertainment. Currently, you can legally do so once you turn 18.
March 5th, Florida State Senate Voted almost unanimously It was proposed to raise this minimum age to 21 years. Only three senators voted against it. Days later, just three members of the Florida House of Representatives voted against it.
The measure is currently working with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. If he signs it, the law will go into effect on July 1.
Youth strippers and adult venue staff themselves are not subject to penalties. Rather, the bill would make it a crime to knowingly employ, contract, or otherwise permit anyone under the age of 21 to work in these businesses.
Doing so is a second-degree felony, punishable by the following penalties: 15 years If a young person shows any part of their buttocks, (female) breasts, private parts or genitals „not fully opaquely covered“ or „shows covered male genitals covered in white“ ” is punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $10,000. Obviously a frustrating situation. ” If the youth remains fully clothed, it is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison or a fine of up to $1,000.
And it doesn't matter if the facility is fooled by a fake ID.
„For purposes of this section, ignorance of the age of another person or misrepresentation of age shall not be raised as a defense to a prosecution for a violation of this section,“ the bill states. (He also states that employment must be done „knowingly,“ so it's unclear exactly how these two standards can coexist.) Deliberately This simply means „you knew the person worked there,“ but not necessarily „you knew the person was under 21.“ )
Just to be clear, people who use fake identification to get a job will not be punished at all. Only those who cannot see through this deception will fall into trouble. This is a dizzying way of thinking about criminal liability: those who try to break the law are innocent, and those who try to obey the law are guilty.
Essentially, the only way for an adult business to avoid liability under this law is to conduct background checks on all workers or contractors or not allow anyone who looks even remotely young to work.
What's worse, responsibility extends beyond employers and those who run businesses to the „owners, managers, employees, and contractors“ who put young people to work.In theory, this means Anyone If an employee under the age of 21 is employed at a strip club where they slipped through the cracks, they could be held liable for failing to report.
“Sex slave” panic again
The Florida Legislature says the measure is aimed at stopping sex trafficking. (Legally, sex trafficking is defined as prostitution that involves violence, fraud, coercion, or minors.) Young people who work in strip clubs are „trafficked and are at risk of being sold into prostitution or sexual slavery.“ „It's highly sexual,“ said Rep. David Borrello (R-Doral). Said Bill under consideration. “We should stand with young girls who are barely legal.”
But neither Doral nor anyone else has marshaled any evidence that strip clubs are places of „sexual slavery“ and that requiring strippers to be over 21 would put a stop to this supposed scourge. I don't think it can be done.
Even if it's sex trafficking teeth It's a problem in strip clubs, but it's unclear how the system that prohibits young people from stripping will stop it.all things criminal That is, they tend not to care about what the law says. Are we really supposed to believe that someone who tries to force someone into prostitution will suddenly stop because their victim can't legally work in a strip club?
If you are a young woman teeth Because she is forced into sex work, she will almost certainly continue to be harmed even after the law takes effect. But from now on, it will take place in a more private place and there will be fewer people around who might help the victim.
Similarly, if a young woman has an independent decision to do sex work, it probably won't stop her. However, instead of working in a relatively safe environment like an official strip club, she may choose to work full-service sex work (which is illegal) in an underground facility. This means turning to black market options that increase the potential for exploitation and abuse.
I've heard people claim that the problem is actually minor people working in strip clubs, and argued that raising the minimum age would make it easier to stop this. But again, no one has come forward with any evidence that underage strippers are really a problem.
In any case, police will need to investigate people's actual ages to determine the validity of reports that strippers are too young. For the first time, the category of „too young“ has been expanded, giving authorities even more opportunities to conduct age checks.
infantilization of young people
In short, such laws do nothing to plausibly „stop human trafficking“ and may actually make matters worse. Meanwhile, the government is giving authorities more powers to crack down on strip clubs and the people who work there. Even if a company has done nothing wrong, police can always ask for a „tip“ that someone looks young to verify the identity of the people working there.
And there's an even simpler reason why these laws are bad. Because it violates the freedom of young people for no good reason. Just because some people want a society where 19-year-olds don't want to dance sexy for money doesn't mean 19-year-olds shouldn't have the right to do so.
„This is just another way women are controlled.“ Said Rep. Michele Reiner (D-St. Petersburg) during debate on the bill last week.
This is also another way in which adulthood continues to be defined, with people who were previously granted most of the rights and responsibilities of adulthood increasingly being defined as the legal and moral equivalent of children. It will be so. These days, young people from the age of 18 to her 20s are often prohibited not only from legally drinking alcohol, but also from smoking, stripping and vaping.
Given how much the minimum drinking age deters young people from drinking, these bans should be successful…right? Ahahahaha. Rather, she has set the minimum age to legally purchase or drink alcohol at 21, increasing the risk of young people drinking. But just as there are people who look at the failed war on drugs and think we need to step up the war on drugs, there are people who look at the devastation of banning alcohol among college students and other young people and think: There are some too. Yes, let's try something more.
That's madness. However, recently, infantilization among young people has become very popular. And they wonder why so many of them feel depressed, anxious, and think it's other people's job to make them feel „safe.“
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