Is ten too young to consent?

   Most people know by now that the models featured in fashion magazines and walking down runways are young, but what age should be considered "too young" to be modelling in adult photo shoots? This web article at jezebel.com examines this very question.
   First of all, I'd like to touch on the concept of consent, and whether a ten year old girl is truly able to consent to posing in the nude, or almost nude, depending on how you want to look at it. In the article, it says that because models are essentially their own company or boss, they are not subject to certain very serious areas of the law, such as the legal age to work and issues concerning sexual harassment. Am I the only one who finds this completely horrifying? What this basically means is that if this 10 year old was working on a photo shoot and got molested, that's all right because she's a model? I understand there are work-related hazards but no ones life or at least sexual safety should ever be in danger. One could argue that a sex worker puts herself or himself in these dangerous situations every day. Well, for one thing, the majority of those jobs are criminalized and therefore the probability of them reporting sexual harassment is no doubt slim, but more importantly they (the ones whose jobs are legal) must be 18 or over. That's a almost twice the age of little Thylane.

   I personally don't blame Thylane for her employment choice, or even the slightly disturbing photos that she is in. Nor do I blame Vogue, really. What really confuses me is how this girl's parents would allow their child to pose completely topless or nearly bottomless. Oh wait, I forgot; her father's a famous soccer player and her mother is a talk show host/clothing designer. Not to be too judgemental, but people in the entertainment industry and celebrities just don't seem to have a real grasp on reality, for the most part anyway. While Thylane's mother acknowledged that the public hasn't taken well to these racy photographs of her baby on her Facebook page (quoted here), she even says "she's so young...", she really shows no sign of regret. I am glad, however, that she wants to protect her daughter from these bad rumours and the issues surrounding her nearly nude photographs. Maybe she should have thought about protecting her before the pictures were actually taken...? Just a thought.