It's not labour if she's not being paid.

As an interesting aside, the looming threat of sex work has long been one of the strongest arguments in favour of a progressive reimaging of attitudes towards child labour; in places like Bangladesh, studies have found that many children who are forced out of work environments, turn not to school (which is often not an option), but to prostitution.

Children who work usually work because they *have* to. The basic anti-labour strategies, of boycotts and imposing blanket bans on Third World child workforces, simply do not and cannot account for this reality; having lost their job, and having no other source of income or support, both the children and indeed often their families, are forced to choose between starvation, and finding illegal, potentially dangerous work - like stripping and prostitution.

In a sense, then, well-meaning Westerners who blindly crusade against child labour, without treating the issue with the nuance it deserves, are actually in favor of child strippers.

I hope Child Services is watching this.

Look, all I'm saying is, blanket condemnation of child labour is short-sighted and unwise. There is nothing inherently "evil" about working, so long as the conditions are safe and the pay is equitable, and even when there is a rational, dispassionate case to be made against certain instances of child labour (and I agree, many child labour situations fall into this category!), any attempts to combat it must be accompanied by a serious, sustainable plan for the future. This is not really a controversial position, and it is one shared by many in UNICEF. Unless food, shelter, and schools are in place, focusing on child labour is bound to be detrimental to the child's well-being, and even schools are nothing but a stop-gap measure, which will eventually lead to nothing unless the economic infrastructure exists to provide them with jobs after they graduate.

Or maybe they could just grow up to be adult strippers, instead?

I used to wonder if you were Rand Paul, but Rand is nowhere near as rabid libertarian as that.

What you just described is a crime against humanity.

You would take a child who has no rights and force them into slavery so, as an adult, they are less likely to choose a job you don't respect?

Do you know what the word is for that form of human rearing?

It isn't "libertarian."

Of course she's being paid. She has the freedom to negotiate her own terms. If she is content with trophies, or trips to Dairy Queen or whatever her parents reward her with for victories, who the hell are you to come in with your "morals" or your "laws" and say this isn't child labor because she's not paid? No wait, it's gotta be cash? Ok, daddy gives her a shiny nickel every time she wins. Problem solved.

Go to the youtube page and look at the other 98 videos on the channel. It would have to be worse than that.

The nature of reality tv isn't my beef with this clip. This kid is way too young for this kind of thing and I don't care who's idea it was. I'm sure I sound like an old granny with this comment.

Another difference is that there is a real little kid really screaming in fear.

Is the little girl hanging around in a cage not real? Is it all CGI?
Is the scene of a little girl screaming and crying not real? Is it all CGI and voice acting?
Is the scene of a little girl in a stripper den not real? Is it all CGI?

I don't care if what they're saying is fake or not, or even if the whole context is 100% staged. What's being shown, even if it's not a daily occurrence or a reflection of the actual lives of these people, is very much happening in this video and involving a five year old child at the command of a television network for profit.

And that's fucking evil.

Is the slobby mother's face constantly wearing an expression of hope that by making her daughter succeed, maybe her slobby husband will stop having sex exclusively with his employees fake? They really find some good actors in unlikely places!

You know, I thought that kid looked familiar.

It's Deep Roy!