The Smallest State is also the Greatest

[albionmoonlight]

http://www.projo.com/news/content/te...0.3985e27.html

PROVIDENCE –– Rhode Island teens under 18 can’t work with power saws or bang nails up on roofs.

But dance at strip clubs? Sure. Just as long as the teens submit work permits, and are off the stripper’s pole by 11:30 on school nights.

It’s enough to surprise even those in America’s mecca of striptease and sin –– Las Vegas.

“Everybody buzzes about ‘Nevada and Sin City, tsk, tsk,’ ” said Edie Cartwright, spokeswoman for the Nevada attorney general’s office. “But we regulate it.”

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.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” said youth services Sgt. Carl Weston, “and I can’t find anything that says it’s illegal for a 16-year-old or a 17-year-old to take her top off and dance.”

State law says that anyone who employs a person under 18 for prostitution or for “any other lewd or indecent act” faces up to 20 years in prison and up to $20,000 in fines. But that isn’t enough to prevent underage girls from working in strip clubs, said senior assistant city solicitor Kevin McHugh, who researched the issue a dozen years ago when a teenage dancer was found at a raided strip club.

The term “lewd or indecent” is subjective, McHugh said, and is applied to behavior that’s protected by the First Amendment. “Since we have strip clubs in Providence,” McHugh said, “citizens don’t consider [stripping] lewd.”

With the age of consent at 16 in Rhode Island, the police worry that teenage strippers could take their business to the next level and offer sexual favors –– and it wouldn’t be illegal. State law currently allows indoor prostitution, and two bills intended to ban it have stalled in the General Assembly.

State and federal child labor laws dictate the number of hours and times of days that minors may work, and forbid certain jobs considered to be hazardous. For example, those under 16 can’t work on ladders or pump gas. Youths age 16 and 17 can’t work in manufacturing or excavation.

“Nowhere does it say anything about a kid not being able to strip,” Weston said.

Establishments with city liquor licenses need to keep the teenagers from the booze, but not the stage. “You can’t serve alcohol if you’re under 18,” Weston said, “but you can be the target of a man’s groping hands at age 16.”

But a Rhode Island teen stripper won’t find work in Massachusetts, where state law prohibits anyone from hiring minors under 18 for live performances involving sexual conduct.

Other states have had mixed encounters with the issue.

After a 12-year-old girl was found dancing nude in a club in Dallas last year, the city council swiftly passed rules barring minors from strip clubs and automatically revokes for a year licenses for sex businesses caught employing or entertaining minors.

But an Iowa county judge ruled last year that a striptease by a 17-year-old girl at a strip club was artistic expression protected by the First Amendment. The state attorney general’s office has asked the state Supreme Court to review the ruling.

Nevada, meanwhile, doesn’t let anyone under 18 work in casinos or in public dance halls where there is alcohol — and there are no strip clubs in Nevada without one or the other, or both, said Cartwright, of the attorney general’s office. Minors aren’t even allowed to deliver mail to brothels.

When questioned about Rhode Island’s law, Michael J. Healey, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, offered a copy of the current state law but did not comment for this article.

But Weston, of the Providence police, was adamant that the law should be changed.

“It leads to a societal breakdown,” he said. “These are just little girls.”

[DaddyTorgo]

lol - awesomely interesting.

providence is only like 45 mins away...lol

[RendeR]

So yer saying...you want to see 16 yr olds stripping?



Just askin, ya know?

[DaddyTorgo]

lol no. i'll pass on the 16 year olds...although i do think the story is amusing in that there's this loophole that through good old fashioned ingenuity people are exploiting.

16's a bit young. 18...sure. You might even catch me eyeing a particularly attractive 17.5 year old once in a while.

also enjoyed the fact that indoor prostitution is legal in RI...i didn't realize that.

[fantom1979]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

lol - awesomely interesting.

providence is only like 45 mins away...lol

At first I thought you were referring to this line

After a 12-year-old girl was found dancing nude in a club in Dallas last year, the city council swiftly passed rules barring minors from strip clubs and automatically revokes for a year licenses for sex businesses caught employing or entertaining minors.

[DaddyTorgo]

a 12 year old dancing nude at a club in dallas? YUCK

i found it awesomely intersting that there are obviously some enterprising teenage girls in providence who have decided to take advantage of the opportunities available to them to make some good money due to a loophole in the law as it stands.

and you'll note i laughed when i said providence was 45 mins away. i've only been down there to a club one time, and that was when my (then) boss took me on my 21st birthday. Man that was a long time ago.

[Autumn]

I love the term "indoor prostitution".

That is a pretty bizarre story. It's almost impossible to believe there's not some wy that's illegal with all the protection on underage kids. Crazy.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

a 12 year old dancing nude at a club in dallas? YUCK

Exactly. I hate Dallas, too.

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Exactly. I hate Dallas, too.

Winner.

[Lorena]

Jeez, who the hell hires a 12 year old to strip? Sickos. Oh no wait, I bet she told them she was 18.

Great article, but my favorite was this:

But an Iowa county judge ruled last year that a striptease by a 17-year-old girl at a strip club was artistic expression protected by the First Amendment. The state attorney general’s office has asked the state Supreme Court to review the ruling.

Hahaha, artistic expression and protected by the 1st amendment.. nice.

[DaddyTorgo]

i can't imagine that at 12 she was attractive to anyone but pedos.

at least you can say that at 16-17 there are (some) girls out there who are more fully developed and look like women

[Bad-example]

If anyone in that area decides to pay this club a visit for research purposes, don't take pics with your cell phone. Nobody needs child pornography charges in their life.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

i can't imagine that at 12 she was attractive to anyone but pedos.

at least you can say that at 16-17 there are (some) girls out there who are more fully developed and look like women

As someone who works in a restaurant and hears birthday announcements night after night, you would be amazed at how well developed some 12 year olds can be...

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

i can't imagine that at 12 she was attractive to anyone but pedos.

at least you can say that at 16-17 there are (some) girls out there who are more fully developed and look like women

Originally Posted by JeeberD

As someone who works in a restaurant and hears birthday announcements night after night, you would be amazed at how well developed some 12 year olds can be...

Of course it is wrong for 12 year old girls to be stripping, but I saw a 12 year old girl in my clinic today who had to be at least a well developed C cup and she could have easily passed for 18 in every aspect as well. Actually, that is part of the reason she was seeing me, depression related to her early development.

[RendeR]

EF: I keep seeing and reading anecdotes about kids(IE girls) developing far sooner than they used to. Personally with what I know of the middle ages, and even the 1800s in this country and how young girls were married off and what not, is there really any validity to this?

I mean is it really a case of kids developing sooner or is it more perhaps just our perception of development since today kids younger and younger are doing more and more instead of being overly sheltered (but just as developed physically) as they were in teh past?


did that make sense?

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by RendeR

EF: I keep seeing and reading anecdotes about kids(IE girls) developing far sooner than they used to. Personally with what I know of the middle ages, and even the 1800s in this country and how young girls were married off and what not, is there really any validity to this?

I mean is it really a case of kids developing sooner or is it more perhaps just our perception of development since today kids younger and younger are doing more and more instead of being overly sheltered (but just as developed physically) as they were in teh past?


did that make sense?

I've read also that the earlier onset of puberty has been observed empirically. I'm certainly no expert, but from what little I have read, the leading theories seem to revolve around obesity or exposure to household chemicals.

[DaddyTorgo]

it's body-fat related isn't it?

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

it's body-fat related isn't it?

It sure is. It sure is ... oh wait, what are you talking about?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

it's body-fat related isn't it?

The girl I saw today was 5 foot 5 inches tall and 130 lbs. She was in very good shape. Sure, some early well developed kids are secondary to obesity, but not all of them, and this dancer in Texas may have been a thin early developer.

[Desnudo]

The fact that prostitution is legal in Rhode Island has to be one of the most under-publicized state factoids. I had no idea.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

The fact that prostitution is legal in Rhode Island has to be one of the most under-publicized state factoids. I had no idea.

exactly. i never knew that and i've lived next door for like 30 years

[jeff061]

I worked in downtown Providence when people became aware of the "indoors prostitution", probably 3 or 4 years ago. It's really a legal loophole, it's not meant to be explicitly allowed. I'm surprised it hasn't been closed yet.

[MrDNA]

exactly. i never knew that and i've lived next door for like 30 years

... he said while rueing thirty years of missed opportunity...

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by MrDNA

... he said while rueing thirty years of missed opportunity...

At this point it's probably my best shot of getting some.

[cartman]

[ColtCrazy]

I swear I can't tell from 16-24 anymore. I'm sure it's a sign I'm getting older. Hopefully they just aren't finding a way to hire 17 year olds that look even younger.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by RendeR

EF: I keep seeing and reading anecdotes about kids(IE girls) developing far sooner than they used to. Personally with what I know of the middle ages, and even the 1800s in this country and how young girls were married off and what not, is there really any validity to this?

I mean is it really a case of kids developing sooner or is it more perhaps just our perception of development since today kids younger and younger are doing more and more instead of being overly sheltered (but just as developed physically) as they were in teh past?


did that make sense?

That's a good question. We do have much more access to healthy foods and medical care so I'd imagine that plays a role in the onset of puberty. We don't really have a lot of kids dealing with severe illnesses early on in life. I know our height has increased over the years, which I believe has been attributed to the fact that we have access to much better stuff.

[ColtCrazy]

I'm not sure about developing sooner...I would say as a teacher it seems kids are more knowledgeable about it. We've had incidents in elementary school of a girl taking cell phone pictures of herself in her underwear and of boys writing sexual suggestions in letters to their "girlfriends".

I think that goes back to parenting though. I remember my wife subbing in 1st grade and hearing a kid talk about how his dad lets him watch the Halloween movies.

I remember kids in my class growing up that developed faster than others. The thing that worries me now is the ones that develop earlier coupled with a questionable home life are the ones that end up in trouble by 15 or 16.

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I remember kids in my class growing up that developed faster than others. The thing that worries me now is the ones that develop earlier coupled with a questionable home life are the ones that end up in trouble by 15 or 16.

Or, if you're in Arizona, 8 to 12. Sheesh. (Actually, not just Arizona, I've seen stories a few times over the years from various parts of the country that had similar aged kids involved in such acts, though not with the shame stigma the girl in Arizona's getting right now.)

[Izulde]

What an awesome state.