Emergency AssHat Award: Minors in Rhode Island can be Strippers
I would like to wake up one day and see something in the local paper that doesn’t tick me off. What I read today made me wonder if someone in this state of disprepair (otherwise known as Rhode Island) might want to take a look-see at the law that permits minors to work in stripclubs.
That’s right. My son is almost 14 and can’t get a job bagging groceries but a 16 year old girl can work as a stripper? There is something fundamentally wrong with the laws in this state and who knows how many girls have been flocking to this state (on their own or by force?) to trip the light fantastic around a stripper pole.
Of course, invariably there will be someone who is going to tell me that it’s not that bad…the law does protect these young girls:
They have to have a work permit and they have to be off the stripper’s pole by 11:30 on school nights.
That makes total sense. The work permit shows that they are qualified. The requirement to be off the pole by 11:30pm on school nights so they can get a good rest before they go off to learn their ABCs in the morning. What about on weekends? No school the next day? Dance all night!
This is frightening. With the increase in teenage runaways and the issue with the other pathetic Rhode Island law — prostitution is legal as long as it’s done inside of a building in Rhode Island. Yes, those buildings with the word “SPA” on it aren’t anything like the Canyon Ranch Spa. They are basically human trafficking centers.
This whole minors dancing legally situation was only discovered quite accidentally according to an article in The Providence Journal:
Providence police recently discovered that teen job opportunities extend into the local adult entertainment world while they were investigating a 16-year-old runaway from Boston. The girl told detectives that she worked at Cheaters strip club this spring, and the police got tips about other underage girls working at another club on Allens Avenue.
That’s when the police found that neither state law, nor city ordinance bars minors from working at strip clubs. Those under 18 can’t buy pornography, and no one may take pictures or film minors in sexually suggestive ways. But the law doesn’t stop underage teens from stripping for money. Even if the police saw underage boys or girls on stage at a strip club, they wouldn’t be able to charge them or the club owners with a crime.
So, it’s safe to say that as long as little Suzy is off the pole by 11:30 on a school night so she can get a full night’s rest, it’s a-OK here in Rhode Island for her to make money stripping down in front of adult men? No wonder perverts are running rampant.
My AssHat award is typically given out each Friday. This situation requires an emergency AssHat that should cover the whole State of Rhode Island for some of the screwed up laws that seem to go unnoticed.
My idea? Get rid of the guy who gets paid $100K a year to be Providence’s “Director of Protocol” (a/k/a I kissed someone’s ass for a job placing flags in the correct order and judging art contests) for the city of Providence. Hire someone with the freed-up $100k (or two people…I’ll take the job) to read through every cock-a-mamie law in this state and make sure our children are being protected.
I’m raising my kids in this state????
Read more of my opinionated self: Providence Social Media Examiner
[...] Providence police recently discovered that teen job opportunities extend into the local adult entertainment world while they were investigating a 16-year-old runaway from Boston. The girl told detectives that she worked at Cheaters strip thedailyblonde.com [...]
Someone considers bagging groceries degrading? Has said person ever had to work to put food on the table or to keep the electric turned on or to buy some diapers? I doubt it or they wouldn’t put down an honest job. Said person sounds very young by the way they are speaking…
These days jobs are hard to come by and people with extensive schooling and experience are having to take jobs typically considered socially ‘beneath them’. If really needing a job, they wouldn’t reject an honest job bagging groceries by saying it’s degrading but would be happy to have it to support themselves and their family.
An honest days work or stripping? I’d choose bagging groceries any day.
This is sobering for sure. I know some folk may see the seriousness, but I agree: This is serious, and war needs to be declared.
I always remember the story of the frog. You put him in some water, and he loves it. You put the pan on the stove, and turn on just a little heat. He accommodates. You turn up the heat. Once again he adjusts. Finally it is frog for supper!
Are we silently being cooked? Its time to wake up methinks, and Cheryl keep blogging your opinions!
.-= Jill´s last blog ..Making Friends =-.
That is what I was writing too my opinion. i am sorry to offend you but, there was a button to click on that said comment. And I did not say that your son wanted to bag groceries… I said it was a degrading job based on my opinion. The reason being is the pay. its is just another form of slavery to me.
Capitalism !! So many of us with jobs work for someone else and not for ourselves, our pay checks reflect that. This is so off topic.. yes we do have different ideas on what is right and what is wrong that is why there is truly no right or wrong in this situation. You are unable to get everyone to agree on this issue, but you wrote a blog and you got what you wanted in response… My apologize
BY the way…my blog IS my opinion…and yours is welcome. It’s not rocket science to figure out that is what I was writing…my opinion.
Most of the time I don’t publish comments from people who don’t at least give a name…but your comment was too interesting to pass up.
@currency: I did not say my son wanted to bag groceries, I simply pointed out he wasn’t old enough by law to work in a grocery store–as opposed to a 16 year old being able to strip in front of grown men. Nothing wrong with bagging groceries, though–it’s a job that is respectable!!
Degrading? yes. A 16 year old is barely old enough to understand what sex is about–and I’m pretty modern—it’s an emotional and physical commitment. I’m not that conservative but holy SHIT, 16 year olds stripping? Are you kidding me that you thing bagging groceries is just as degrading?
My opinion,yes, but you and I…we have very different ideas about what is right and what is wrong.
YIKES!
I think this is a very opinionated subject. I really can’t take a side on this. I think that’s the best way to see it. We as people are so judgemental! That really hurts us! That really takes away from choice! How much choice is a 16 year old allowed to have? Age is nothing but a number, it’s expereince that tells us what we are ready for right? I mean we trust or kids to drive at this age, the danger levels are just about the same. Maybe as the writer you feel this is degrading. But to me bagging groceries is degrading.
See it’s all opinion, words just get in the way.
Wow, and I thought Rhode Island was so benign! I had no idea. I think you should run for office and kick some common sense into their bureaucratic $$es!
BTW, been working a lot and I’ve missed reading your blog!
.-= Kat´s last blog ..Just Call Me “Sucker” =-.
AMEN – As a fellow RI’er, I am appalled at some of the laws – and corruption – in this state. Let’s do something to change these crazy things – I’m in!!!
Bill O’Reilly did this story tonight, but I heard it first from the Daily bBonde.
Cheryl, you make me laugh even when this is such a serious matter. I worked almost all my life to protect young people and though I am too tired I feel like I should start again. Someone needs to protect kids even when they think, especially when they think, they are all grown up. We need politicians who give a damn and will be unpopular to do the right thing such as pass laws that make sense. Where do we find them?
Don’t you know someone in city government that you can work with on this? Oh, forgot….Not Important anymore! Ooops. My bad!
Cheryl, my mother was married on her 16th birthday. My maternal grandmother was married at 12, and my paternal grandmother was married when she was 13. My late first wife’s mother was an old maid of 23 when she married, but her grandmother married at 12.
I’m surprised that there are carryout boys in the State of Rhode Island and The Plantation Provinces. I don’t think I’ve seen one in 25 years. But if your 13-year-old wants to work part-time doing it, and he’s able to maintain his grades in school, I’m all in favor of his being allowed. I was toting 50-pound bags of fertilizer and 100-pound bags of seed corn when I was 10, on the farm, and I was doing 3-4 hours a day of farm work from about the age of 8.
Kids need to learn to work hard and responsibility at a young age, or else they never get used to it.
What bothers me most about 16-year-old strippers is that they can’t really do the job. If the owners want to attract men to your bar, they need to be hiring *hot* women – and that usually means age 35 to 45, although there are some in their 60s that I find highly appealing. If they’re hiring 16-year-olds because they’re cheap, the next thing you know, the bar owners will be relocating to foreign countries where they can hire women for a 14c an hour.
.-= Harl Delos´s last blog ..Ruby Tuesday Has Waldorf Salad Again =-.
The Ass Hat seems the perfect fit. May they wear it in shame.
.-= Marion´s last blog ..Writing Sistory, or, Was I a Dodo to Profile My Friend? =-.
As a fellow Rhode Islander all I can say is “Well said Cheryl” and add “why am I not surprised with this state and elected officials”.
Sorry, if a young woman kills someone, and can be tried as an adult, I see nothing wrong with the same woman bearing her breasts.
A serious and sad situation. This is really not good. I am sorry, to laugh in the light of this, but you are so funny.
It really did require an “Emergency AssHat Award”.
Terre….I picture the AssHat with a big siren on his head…all out emergency……..
ONLY in this state do we have AssHat emergencies!
You go girl! Give ‘em hell!
How sad for the young women of Rhode Island. Go get ‘em Cheryl. Emergency Ass Hat indeed!