It is legal to be an escort in Minnesota. It is legal for an 18 year old woman to be an escort in Minnesota. Nothing illegal about an 18 or 19 year old woman accepting money to accompany someone to a baseball game, or the opera, or a play. It is only certain sexual services allegedly performed by some escorts from time to time that are not legal.
So if it is legal for 18 year old women to be escorts, how does the State justify discriminating against them when they wish to advertise their services? How do you show an overriding State interest required to avoid the oft repeated State policy against age discrimination? The only way would be to point to the alleged illegal activities, and that would put the State in the position of attempting to regulate these activities after it has already prohibited them. Like requiring burglars to register their tools and muggers to wash their hands. Not going to happen.
Now if they would just legalize prostitution this, along with a host of other societal ills, could be easily resolved.
Focus on runaway girls, who are easily taken advantage of, and get the assholes who exploit them. Makes me believe Mpls' finest are really interested in dealing with underage trafficking, rather than just using it as an excuse to harass the hobby in general.
http://www.minnpost.com/two-cities/2013/01/new-minneapolis-police-approach-juvenile-prostitution-paying
http://www.minnpost.com/two-cities/2013/01/new-minneapolis-police-approach-juvenile-prostitution-paying
I am very sensitive to to this issue as I came close when I was younger. I probably still could have gotten in serious trouble as a nearly 18 year old having slept with a girl much younger then me. I was shocked mind you when I found out how young she was. Between her dress, body and having been introduced by an acquaintance that was my age.
It's easy to castigate the "other guy", but, aren't we all the "other guy" to someones moral standards?
There are kids... KIDS.. Whose lives are being ruined by a seemingly innocent text message with a gf/friend, whatever. and having their futures jeopardized by these laws.
If you're a pedophile, may your dick fall off and you rot in hell for all I care. But, to the others I urge caution.. Be careful what you wish for...
The next slip up might be yours. Just cause they say they're 21 doesn't mean they are....
Under our system adults are responsible for their behavior. Lawrence Taylor got popped for seeing an underage prostitute in New York and justifiably so. His "friend" told him she was of age, well he has to think with the big head from time to time.
If a provider looks to be even close to the age of consent, avoid her.
If you think she is being coerced, drop an anonymous dime to give LE a heads up.
Our "community" is safer when we look out for the well being of all participants and keep underage participants out.
the point he was trying to make was not to disagree that this shouldn't happen but to remind us not to be quick to judge and throw the book hard at.
I'm piping in, because I see the sides of this, and I don't want it to go down that path of attacking him, because he does make a good point.
ooxx,
Trinity
I agree with you 100% sweet Trinity. Glad to see you jumping out to try and stem the tidal wave that we know usually comes with a comment like this....
There are close calls and hard cases presented by enforcement of every law. But frankly, in the context of child prostitution, I don't care if the pimp's age is 35 or 15. A pimp who doesn't make real damn sure that his girl is at least 18 deserves everything he gets, no matter how young or stupid he is.
The John who gets caught with an underage girl is a slightly harder call, if and only if he honestly believed she was of age. But if the girl is 15, that "honest belief" becomes hard to credit. Echoing Uptonogood here, but I don't think there are many 18 year old johns walking around, and a grown-up needs to use good judgment or suffer the consequences. That is true whether or not prostitution is involved. You can't expect a free pass because you were paying for it. Quite the contrary.
I can't see where the minnpost article cited in the OP has has anything to do with underage sexting and don't see the point of inserting that subject into the conversation.
The thrust of the article, that cops are thinking about treating underage prostitutes as victims rather than perps, is distressing only because it took them so long to get there.
I believe adults should take responsibility for their actions and not see escorts with questionable ages. It is one thing for an 18 year old to unknowingly have sex with a 15 year old, and another thing for a 40 year old man to do the same. A grown man should know better and only see escorts who look well above the age of consent. Child prostitution is real and the effects on women who have experienced it are damaging. Accidents or not, it should never happen, so clients who seek barely legal teens should start taking notice.
http://www.minnpost.com/two-cities/2013/01/new-minneapolis-police-approach-juvenile-prostitution-paying
I am very sensitive to to this issue as I came close when I was younger. I probably still could have gotten in serious trouble as a nearly 18 year old having slept with a girl much younger then me. I was shocked mind you when I found out how young she was. Between her dress, body and having been introduced by an acquaintance that was my age.
It's easy to castigate the "other guy", but, aren't we all the "other guy" to someones moral standards?
There are kids... KIDS.. Whose lives are being ruined by a seemingly innocent text message with a gf/friend, whatever. and having their futures jeopardized by these laws.
If you're a pedophile, may your dick fall off and you rot in hell for all I care. But, to the others I urge caution.. Be careful what you wish for...
The next slip up might be yours. Just cause they say they're 21 doesn't mean they are....
As Minn4ever pointed out, it is just sad it has taken this long. I am all in favor of locking up human traffickers for a very long time as I consider them slavers and this is true whether or not their victims are minors. Unfortunately, this does not mean they will stop arresting consenting adults; Sergeant Snyder's name has come up in any number of stings and busts where there was no trafficking going on although they always like to play it like there is. As far as the issue of guys seeing providers who are underage goes, I think the blanket LE solution of charging them with a felony regardless of the circumstances is unwise; it would be better I think if the legal system made some effort to distinguish between those who knowingly see underage girls and those who do so accidentally. Let me be clear, I am not suggesting it is OK to see underage girls, just that someone who sees a provider thinking she is 18-20 when she is actually not quite that old yet is not as serious a problem as someone who seeks out underage girls or the pimp who exploits them.
Require an State issued ID to either be brought in or faxed in before to prove age and identity before anyone can place an ad in the adult entertainment sextion.. ((word mix! YAY!!))
Eros requires that before you can start advertising with them
Actually I believe I read somewhere that Rybek made that suggestion some time ago..
I personally think that it should be taken one step further and make the age requirement for adult advertising 21+ with State ID having to be shown before you can start advertising adult services..
Ofcourse it's not going to stop it completely but it would certainly serve as a deterrent since coughing up fake id's nowadays is quite the expense with the holograms and specifics they put into id's now to make them tougher to duplicate..
Just a thought..
doing the same unless they were to request IDs of those advertising as 18-23 year old escorts only, not ladies close to 30's like Eros does. Their requirement is totally invasive.
I dont believe its invasive at all, since they have categories and it helps eliminate the use of fake photos and all that. Just like reputable providers have screening processes to see good and safe clients, ad agencies should make you jump through hoops to prove you are a good and safe provider.
Im of the opinion that the decision to become an escort in the first place should not be taken lightly.
You should have a good head on your shoulders and not just jump in because you want a new pair of prada shoes. Though there are bad apples in all categories, There has been a huge influx of issues with cash and dash and less than savory business practices in regards to the 18-20 category, because that's the age category that pimps target and they learn their "skills" from garbage.
What really is the big deal about waiting till you are 21 to participate in the sex industry?
So it would eliminate the "barely legal" category ? boo hoo..
I know this is going to ruffle some feathers but...
As clients you would run less risk of running into the whole "Well her ad said she was 18" when you get busted having sex with an underage girl. But what gets you in that position in the first place is because you wanted to "legally have sex with a TEEN-ager" but a month ago before her 18th birthday it was considered socially taboo to look at her in a sexual way ? pfffffft
Gosh all of a sudden she can join the military and vote for president, that must mean she is a sex machine superstar of mature proportions... lol
How about we eliminate the grey area where there is a bigger risk of getting busted for underage sex.
And start directing clients to look into 21+ categories,,
You have to wait till you are 21 to pick up an alchoholic beverage..
And believe it or not that 3 years does make a considerable difference in regards to intelligence, common sense and maturity
The whole 18 makes you a legal adult argument is weak, I dont know anyone who is an "adult" at 18. And quite a few are still in highschool. If you are between the ages of 18-20 and are struggling financially there are alot of great resources out there to get you by till you could jump into a life-changing decision like sexcorting...
Let's be realistic shall we ?
Backpage fosters a troubling environment in regards to trafficking .. and if there were guidelines in place that were implemented it would deter that environment.
Rarely if ever do you see that on Eros, p411, Date-check, or any of the ad sites that require you to jump through hoops to advertise with them.
But we can all breathe easy, afterall this was just my opinion and it isnt something that actually is enforced at the moment. So you can all calm yourselves, no one is taking away your teenager tail anytime soon.
~Cat xoxo
And believe it or not that 3 years does make a considerable difference in regards to intelligence, common sense and maturity
-- Modified on 1/22/2013 12:56:11 AM
-- Modified on 1/22/2013 1:00:01 AM
So, if a woman age 18-20 who is a legal adult wants to be an escort to help support her family, pay for school, etc., she shouldn't be allowed to do so? I don't agree with that.
That argument doesn't fly with me. There are way too many resources out there these days to assist ANYONE in achieving such goals. Just have to take the time to search for them. Will it likely be a struggle & take a bit longer to get where she wants to be? Absolutely. But so what? Nothing wrong with that at all. In fact most people that I know of are doing fine, have high self esteem because they worked hard to get where they're at & most importantly when they hit bumps in the road (something that is inevitable) they have the skills to deal with it.
-- Modified on 1/20/2013 3:20:08 PM
From everything I am told, they will have plenty of challenges trying to make it as an escort regardless. I see no reason to make it more difficult.
It is legal to be an escort in Minnesota. It is legal for an 18 year old woman to be an escort in Minnesota. Nothing illegal about an 18 or 19 year old woman accepting money to accompany someone to a baseball game, or the opera, or a play. It is only certain sexual services allegedly performed by some escorts from time to time that are not legal.
So if it is legal for 18 year old women to be escorts, how does the State justify discriminating against them when they wish to advertise their services? How do you show an overriding State interest required to avoid the oft repeated State policy against age discrimination? The only way would be to point to the alleged illegal activities, and that would put the State in the position of attempting to regulate these activities after it has already prohibited them. Like requiring burglars to register their tools and muggers to wash their hands. Not going to happen.
Now if they would just legalize prostitution this, along with a host of other societal ills, could be easily resolved.