So you're saying that the development of the white gooey stuff in the big head is more important that the white gooey stuff in the little head, though both are essential for determining the readiness of a girl to offer dating services.

So it really is all about the white gooey stuff.
rik


-- Modified on 9/16/2002 11:49:06 AM

Emotional instablity in a person, as you point out, is bound to be a bad mix with the business.  

When you say that you have questioned the appropriate age of consent yourself, do you mean that you feel it should be younger, or older?  I know that of course it varies considerably from state to state, but what would you suggest that it be?

One could make a pretty good argument that an appropriate "age of consent" would be a lower age than an appropriate age to enter the business, since having sex with complete strangers on a regular basis is different than having sex with someone who the young woman presumably is more likely to have romantic feelings for.

I think the real explosion in brain maturation is from birth to around 5 years, which accounts for why it is so much easier for young children to learn languages. Typically, you learn approximately 95% of everything you'll ever know by the time you're 5.

The next big sculptor of brain development is the onset of puberty, in which you have all of those hormones coursing through your body. I think Nicole is correct that this phase lasts through ~20 years old, and accounts for why teenagers act as though they're from another planet.

On the plus side, recent brain studies indicate constant cell creation and turnover even in adult rats (probably people too). But I don't think it's near as pronounced as these earlier brain spurts.

How this all relates to the maturity of the individual is problematic. For example, most good scientists never really grow up - the world is all just one big sandbox.

probability that by becoming her client, we are not essentially having sex with a child?  I personally do not want to feel like a child molester.  I'm interested in knowing providers' views on this.  NOSC alluded to a very young woman not being bale to handle the situations that come up.  NOSC, were you referring to problem clients, and a very young woman not being able to handle them?

looking to find out.  A good list of potential problems for the very young provider, and a list that really rings of the truth.  Leaving aside even the safety/business issues, the prospect of being emotionally drained would not be a good one for a young woman.  People that young should not be put in a burn-out situation.

I've decided to use only providers who are at least 21, when I am in the mood for a young provider.  The next question is, though, what age do you think a 21 year-old provider (or her agency) would say she is?  Should I only go with providers who are supposedly 21, or is it likely that a provider who is billed as being 18 will really be 21 or older?

NOSC, you are on my short list of providers I'd like to play with.  I wish you weren't so far away that I'd have to fly to get there!  Maybe someday...

of the Vietnam War.  All young men were required to register for the draft at 18 years of age and a good number of them were less than 21 when they were sent to Vietnam.  A movement was started that gained rapid support to lower the voting age to 18.  Simply put if you were old enough to go to war and possibly die for your country then you should have the right to vote in elections.

To me the bottom line is that it's really not YOUR job to determine whether or not someone has made the right choice of profession.  I mean if we were going to do that, we'd be sitting around judging one another all the livelong day.  I do agree that *generally speaking* most people under 21 are not prepared for this kind of occupation. I wasn't.  But there are exceptions to every rule.  Regardless though, as long as the age is *legal* in your state, and YOU are comfy with your choice, it shouldn't be an issue... You cannot ask US to validate YOUR choices. What is right for you may not be right for me, and vice versa.  

There are many women of EVERY age who should not be in this occupation, and I do not see clients judging them, even when they KNOW, for example, that a woman has to be drunk to see her clients. They still go.  So unless we want to start judging across the board (I don't), let's leave it at what's legal, and each make our own choices based on our own comfort zones.

Hugs*
Nicole

defining my comfort zone.  My own view before I started the thread was that the answer to the question "How young is too young to be a provider?" was somewhere around 20.

But although I can be a very opinionated person, I also value other peoples' opinions, especially when they know more about the subject than I do.  I have a great deal of life experience, but I have never been a provider.  I am interested in getting the perspectives of providers on this question, because they are the ones who have been there.  NOSC gave me some great insights, which I appreciate very much.  

I have pretty much decided that I will not meet providers who I think are under 21.  You said that you were not prepared for this kind of occupation when you were under 21, which is also useful information to me.

I am certainly not into judging other peoples' choices, least of all adults.  But I feel that children are not adults, and the bottom line for me is "at what age does a young woman become adult enough to be in the business?"

Children are not adults, and in matters of sexuality, I don't want to be treating children as if they were adults.

Age is a factor to be sure. There is nothing more revolting that a pack of young girls sitting around smoking, gossiping and giggling... But the Dawgs line up.... So really it's gotta be up to the woman and I don't get a valid opinion on this issue.

That whole concept just sickens me. That our country, needing more bodies to ship home from Vietnam, would say... "OK, we need you to die, so NOW you are old enough."

That is just disgusting.

Not to mention the fact that these days, our country is essentially saying... "At 18, you are old enough to die for your country, but you are NOT old enough to drink alcohol."

Maybe one of these days our leaders will show a little consistency in the choices they make... but I won't be holding your breath.

I didn't know this fact before, thank you for putting it out there for consideration!

Nicole

You are absolutely right.  It was truly strange to come home to a country where I was still thought of as a kid.  I was a highly decorated, combat experienced, wounded veteran and yet I could not vote and in most states could not go into a bar and buy a drink.  It really didn't make any sense to what was my way of thinking at the time and was tough to adjust to.  I think this, along with the kind of reception we got from the public in general, is why there are still some Viet Nam veterans who are messed up yet.  I couldn't believe the questions that people would ask and can't imagine anyone going up to a WWII veteran and asking him how many women and children he had killed.  It made me feel unappreciated by my own country and was enough to make me want to go back.  At least over there some things made sense to me.  The readjustment blues are a real bitch.  I guess that's why I really struggle with the thought of sending or young men into any unneccesssary war.

Let me clarify this a little more.  During WWII the troops landing at Normandy were on average 21 to 22 years old by the time they reached Paris the average age was closer to 18 or 19.  The difference was the replacement of dead or wounded GI's with younger men.  In WWII my uncle was in the war at 18 and in WWI my grandfather was in the war at 17.  Throughout its history many young men have fought in this country's wars and did not have the right to vote.  During the Vietnam War the fairness of this was questioned and resulted in the voting age being lowered before the end of the Vietnam War.  There was also a movement to lower the drinking age to 18 but it did not have the same strength and the law is made on a state by state basis.  For example at the time in New York State the drinking age was 18, in Ohio you could drink 3.2% beer at 18 and in Pennsylvania the age for everything was 21.

I am not trying to justify Vietnam but want you to understand that Vietnam did not create teenage soldiers.

I guess the main thing I was trying to get at was the difference in the way returning veterans were treated.  I certainly don't mean to take anything away from WWII veterans.  In my mind they are deserving of our praise and thankfulness for what they did.  One advantage that I feel they had was a slower return home that gave them time for adjustment, reflection, and a return to normalcy.  They didn't have the experience of going from battlefield to walking down a city street 3 days later and wondering why everybody is staring at your uniform like it's being worn by a leper.  Trust me, it takes a while to mentally make the adjustment from one reality to another.  To get used to bathing regularly in clean water, to realize that your toothbrush can be used to clean your teeth and not your weaponry, to eating real food, and to learning not to stare at round-eyed women like you've never seen one before.

I agree with what you say Wooferdog.  I believe that the way soldiers returning from Vietnam were treated by some members of the public was inexcusable.  In my second post I was primarily trying to explain to Nicole from DC that in most of our wars young teenage men have died fighting for our country.  In that respect Vietnam was nothing new.