Child labor

Child labor is a problematic concept. Those using the term loosely rarely define, in terms of age, the word "child". A "child" could be a person under the age of 21, 18, 16, 13, etc. depending on the attitudes and beliefs of the user of the term.

The history of child labor

Child labor has always existed in one form or another in every society. Young people have almost always been given the responsibility of performing certain services within the family, and/or required to support themselves by working for others outside the family.

Throughout most of the human history, young people of various ages have been engaged in activities which could be considered "labor" (some form of work). This has been normal and accepted. This provides social and economic benefits to the family as well. Children were expected to "help out" within the family by caring for siblings, cooking, cleaning, etc. and to "pay their way" by producing goods or providing services (to the family or to others) as resources were scarce and surpluses did not exist to allow young people the luxury of refraining from engaging in economic activities.

Young people traditionally usually followed in the footsteps of their parents, and adopted the occupation of one of their parents as their own--the son of a man who was a farmer would usually became a farmer, the daughter of a mother who was a basket maker would usually become a basket maker, too. Therefore, the expertise of the parent was transmitted to the child through informally educating the child--that is, by having the child participate in the activity alongside of the adult.

As surpluses are accumulated within societies--either by "economic rape" perpetrated by one society on another as the result of warfare, by technological innovation, or by the fortuitous availability of resources due to favorable environmental circumstances--some members of the societies may then be excluded from the roles of the production of goods and services.

Newly industrialized societies

Education in many newly industrialized societies has neglected to teach the members of their societies the economic history of their societies, which includes the role of young people as "workers" or "laborers". Therefore many people are easily swayed by propaganda put out by those claiming claiming to want to "save" children from whatever "horrors" they imagine exist.

"Child labor" is one of the "horrors" that has been put forward by these moral crusaders as a "serious problem needing addressing". <-- stopping editing here for now -- user4>

Glenda Giron writes:

“

With all good intentions, the United States passed the Child [Labor] Deterrence Act in order to ban imports of goods made by children younger than fifteen. In response to this short-sighted policy, Bangladesh dismissed thousands of child workers from their jobs, who immediately ended up in the streets, mainly working as child prostitutes. . . . . I believe that the way we treat the most vulnerable members of our society reflects who we are, and the development and wellbeing of children should be a primary concern to all nations. Nevertheless, policy makers must understand that when faced with this complex human rights issue, simple moral indignation is not the best guide to effective public policy. The Guatemalan government must take a realistic approach to combat the child sex tourism industry. Most child rights advocates may oppose child labor; however, when faced with a strong demand for child sex tourism and a supply of impoverished Guatemalan children, responsible societies must choose the lesser of two evils.

”

The legalization of child labor could be beneficial for boylovers in that it would give children another option for supporting themselves and pursuing their dreams without the need for a romantic partner to pay their way. This increased autonomy and self-sufficiency of children would help counter arguments that adult-child sex is exploitative because children have no choice but to submit to the sexual wishes of adults (especially caregivers).