Florida Aims to Ban Those Under 21 from All Adult Entertainment Jobs

Supporters Claim Move Will Combat Trafficking and Addiction

Currently, 18-year-olds who live in the United States can serve in the military, vote, engage in sexual activities, marry, buy firearms, and work in the adult entertainment industry. If Florida legislators and supportive anti-human traffickers get their way, that last legal right will end for anyone under the age of 21.

Florida Senate Bill 1690, sponsored by Republican Senator Clay Yarborough, proposes to protect young adults from exploitation by denying them the right to work in any business deemed to be an adult entertainment establishment. Along with companion bill HB 1379, proposed by Republican Representative Carolina Amesty, such a place of employment includes adult theaters, adult bookstores, unlicensed massage establishments, special cabarets, strip clubs, and anywhere that nudity or its depiction takes place.

Advanced by the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice, the bills state that if anyone younger than 21 is found working in a Florida adult business, its owners would be guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor. If that job involves nudity, any owners, managers, fellow employees, or contractors who knew the person was younger than 21, would face second-degree felony charges.

Organizations dedicated to combatting human trafficking cite Florida as one of the top three states for the crime due to a variety of industries within the state. The Senate Bill states that the adult entertainment business is infamous for “a link between human trafficking and certain adult entertainment establishments.”

To determine whether an applicant is eligible for employment, those tasked with hiring will be required to check ID, and accept a driver’s license, passport, or United Services identification card. Managers and employers that hire workers would be allowed to “act in good faith and in reliance upon the representation and appearance of the person in the belief that the person is 21 years of age or older.”

Good intentions aside, there is no guarantee either bill would actually cut down on the number of young adults being trafficked or becoming addicted, although WFLA media company in Tampa stated that, “victims of sex trafficking are frequently recruited to work as performers or employees in adult entertainment establishments.”

If the bills pass, they become law on July 1, 2024. A Criminal Justice Estimating Impact Conference concluded that its financial impact on the state is currently unknown. Of chief concern is how it will affect prison costs and bed availability. As Place of Hope, an anti-trafficking organization states, the goal of the bills is to help young adults “make better decisions and keep them out of the hands, at least for a bit longer, from someone who wants to exploit those vulnerabilities.”