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Could child labor ever be acceptable if it's done consentually? (monyet.cc)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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While child labor is viewed negatively, apparently child labor and child slavery aren't the same thing, and child labor though it could still be exploitative/cruel in other ways, can be done voluntarily by the child, and with fair treatment/compensation/etc.

I suppose you could make the argument that any child labor opens itself up to problems, but could it be done responsibly? And if not, then at what age do we draw the line of labor being not ok regardless of consent?

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[–] 22 points 2 years ago (2 children)

We have decided as a nation that children under a certain age are incapable of consenting to anything.

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  • [–] [S] -5 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

    What age is that? Unless they're really young, isn't that somewhat denying their ability to make their own decisions? What if they truly want to work and make money or get experience at a younger age?

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago*

    isn’t that somewhat denying their ability to make their own decisions?

    Somewhat, yes, and that's by design.
    Kids under a certain age should not be held responsible for making all of their own life decisions. When kids grow up, if their parents doesn't suck, they get succesively more agency and responsibility, not making all of your own decisions is just part of being a kid.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    I mean this with all due respect, but are you under the age of 21? Your posts sound a lot like my opinions when I was younger.

    I grew up thinking a lot of the rules surrounding childhood consent were dumb—I considered myself intelligent and mentally complete, so I figured the rules existed for some other type of kid. Then I got to 25 and realized that I had profoundly evolved mentally over the previous decade, and finally realized what adults had been saying all those years ago. I have had another one of those revelations recently, and it has been about another 10 years.

    I realize now that my confidence as a teenager was primarily an expression of immaturity and inexperience. Yes, school sucks, but work does too. There is no magic freedom with adulthood, there is responsibility. Expanded choices also bring expanded consequences, and failure is most definitely possible.

    If I could do it all again, I would enjoy those younger years for what they are, and not try to move too fast. You’ll have plenty of long decades as an adult to decide how you feel about it. My guess is that you’ll feel differently than you do now.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Agree, op honestly sounds like someone who was offered something and is upset that they are too young to accept it.

    I was like that, I worked fast food and they offered me a trainer position, but I was "stuck in school" and "wasn't allowed to speak for myself". I honestly thought about dropping out for a while.

    If I had done that my life would have been so so so fucked. Unless you're literally inheriting a company it's not worth it, and even then I don't know what dad would pass on a company before the child finished school.

    Let's see. If I had accepted that job and not waited to finish school I'd be making.... 8 times less than I do right now according to my quick napkin math. Trust me, school is more important OP

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    And yet kids are given gender-affirming care without parental consent, meaning only the medical practitioner is giving consent for the treatment. How do we square that with the wider discussion of the ethics of childhood consent and labor?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    This is about child labor, and I feel that getting drug into a discussion about gender affirming care is a distraction from the main point. If you were honestly seeking my opinion and not trying to derail the conversation, then I will just state briefly that one is considered a medical correction that is intended to improve the person’s life, and the other is work, which by its very design is meant to be exploitative.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago

    No, I'm being 100% serious. Why can't we, as a society, be consistent around the concept of childhood consent? Either they're adults capable of consent, or they're children who require a parent or guardian to give consent for them. I don't understand how anything can be a gray area.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    You would need to look at Federal/State/Local laws to confirm, the one that is more strict would apply, in most cases. Working for your parent has other rules.

    https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/youthrules/parents

    https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/youthrules

    As a general rule, the FLSA sets 14 years old as the minimum age for employment, and limits the number of hours worked by minors under the age of 16.

    https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/youthlabor/agerequirements

    Employment/Age Certificate per state

    https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/age-certificates#Texas

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