[QUOTE=HessenBub;1606832]I stated it before: 18-21 year old girls are far more often trafficked than girls above 21. That is the main reason. For me.
HB.[/QUOTE]+1. Excellent point.
And in response to the other poster, I doubt that this "movement" is coming from middle-aged working ladies trying to suppress the younger ones. You don't really believe that do you? Do you think that 18 year olds are going to protest for their right to hook?
Raising the age is a societal issue. Hooking isn't like other jobs, so justifying standards as such is not an appropriate comparison. You can't compare the right to hook to the right to work at McDonalds. It involves selling an intimate part of yourself that you can never get back. It has effects down the line in terms of your personality and beliefs, as well as very real health risks. All of this on someone who has barely reached the threshold of an adult level maturity. If you think back to when you became 18, you didn't suddenly become instantly wiser. I didn't know crap about life when I was 18.
In addition, there will always be an illegal market for girls below the legal limit. We all know that. At least if the legal age is 21, then the ones who sneak by under the radar or are traffiked are still over 18.
Look, I understand the logic. There are some very mature 18 years olds, and yes, some really need the money, and yes, there is an additional factor of safety when its legal. But given the unique nature of the job and its far reaching consequences, I think that an additional safety factor of 3 years is reasonable. I am not going to preach and say that its unethical at 18, but that the suggestion of raising the age to 21 makes common sense and is probably a good idea.
We make compromises in society all the time. Here in the USA, the legal age to drive is often 16, but the right to drink is over 21. I think that putting in a 3 year safety factor, at the risk of offending all those 18 year olds demanding their right to hook, is a reasonable compromise.
