When I saw a Washington Post article entitled "The unintended consequences of laws addressing sex between teachers and students," a WTF expression came across my face and I couldn't help but read it.
The article was written by former attorney Betsy Karasik and prompted by a recent case where former Montana high school teacher Stacey Dean Rambold was sentenced to just 30 days in jail after he pled guilty to raping then 14-year old Cherice Morales, who committed suicide at the age of 16.
After briefly going over the controversial ruling made by Judge G. Todd Baugh, Karasik said this:
"...I don't believe that all sexual conduct between underage students and teachers should necessarily be classified as rape, and I believe that absent extenuating circumstances, consensual sexual activity between teachers and students should not be criminalized..."
Later in the article, she wrote the following:
"I've been a 14-year-old girl, and so have all of my female friends. When it comes to having sex on the brain, teenage boys got nothin' on us. When I was growing up in the 1960s and '70s, the sexual boundaries between teachers and students were much fuzzier. Throughout high school, college and law school, I knew students who had sexual relations with teachers. To the best of my knowledge, these situations were all consensual in every honest meaning of the word, even if society would like to embrace the fantasy that a high school student can't consent to sex. Although some feelings probably got bruised, no one I knew was horribly damaged and certainly no one died."
She closed with this:
"If religious leaders and heads of state can't keep their pants on, with all they have to lose, why does society expect that members of other professions can be coerced into meeting this standard? A more realistic approach would be to treat violations in a way that removes and rehabilitates the offender without traumatizing the victim. ... Laws related to statutory rape are in place to protect children, but the issue of underage sex, and certainly of sex between students and teachers, may be one in which the law of unintended consequences is causing so much damage that society needs to reassess."
As far as a response goes, I don't even know where to begin. There may be nuances to sex laws as Ms. Karasik contends. In some states, a 16-year old boyfriend can get into trouble for having consensual sex with his 15-year old girlfriend. I've also read of cases where a girl with a fake ID got into a 18-and-older club, went home with a guy, slept with him, and he was later arrested due to it because it was discovered she was younger than her ID led people to believe. So, yes, I believe there are nuances to some sex laws. However, when it comes to teachers having sex with students, I'm in total disagreement with the former attorney on the matter.
While teachers may not receive the kind of pay that many other full-time workers get, they hold more power in their profession than most others do, and are arguably more trusted than any other worker. From pre-kindergarten through at least high school, parents trust teachers to look after their kids for 6+ hours a day, to take care of them, to educate them, and to better prepare them for the future. This is extremely difficult for some parents to do, which is why they opt to home-school their kids. Even in college, while students may be of legal age to give teachers their sexual consent, parents funding their kids to attend these universities are doing so to ensure they're receiving a solid education and through that, being better prepared for the "real world." While their kids may not be kids anymore, they're still entrusting teachers to simply do their jobs.
Teachers having sex with students, especially prior to college, are abusing their power. These students' futures are at least partially dependent on their academics. In other words, these students' futures are at least partially dependent on their teachers. Even if the teacher isn't using that to his or her advantage when engaging in sexual relations with a student, they should at least possess the maturity and moral fortitude to either not initiate any such relations or just say no. Through high school, teachers have regularly told students to "just say no" when it comes to drugs. The least they can do is "just say no" when it comes to sex with students.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-30/opinions/41619432_1_teachers-consensual-sexual-activity-sexual-relations
The article was written by former attorney Betsy Karasik and prompted by a recent case where former Montana high school teacher Stacey Dean Rambold was sentenced to just 30 days in jail after he pled guilty to raping then 14-year old Cherice Morales, who committed suicide at the age of 16.
After briefly going over the controversial ruling made by Judge G. Todd Baugh, Karasik said this:
"...I don't believe that all sexual conduct between underage students and teachers should necessarily be classified as rape, and I believe that absent extenuating circumstances, consensual sexual activity between teachers and students should not be criminalized..."
Later in the article, she wrote the following:
"I've been a 14-year-old girl, and so have all of my female friends. When it comes to having sex on the brain, teenage boys got nothin' on us. When I was growing up in the 1960s and '70s, the sexual boundaries between teachers and students were much fuzzier. Throughout high school, college and law school, I knew students who had sexual relations with teachers. To the best of my knowledge, these situations were all consensual in every honest meaning of the word, even if society would like to embrace the fantasy that a high school student can't consent to sex. Although some feelings probably got bruised, no one I knew was horribly damaged and certainly no one died."
She closed with this:
"If religious leaders and heads of state can't keep their pants on, with all they have to lose, why does society expect that members of other professions can be coerced into meeting this standard? A more realistic approach would be to treat violations in a way that removes and rehabilitates the offender without traumatizing the victim. ... Laws related to statutory rape are in place to protect children, but the issue of underage sex, and certainly of sex between students and teachers, may be one in which the law of unintended consequences is causing so much damage that society needs to reassess."
As far as a response goes, I don't even know where to begin. There may be nuances to sex laws as Ms. Karasik contends. In some states, a 16-year old boyfriend can get into trouble for having consensual sex with his 15-year old girlfriend. I've also read of cases where a girl with a fake ID got into a 18-and-older club, went home with a guy, slept with him, and he was later arrested due to it because it was discovered she was younger than her ID led people to believe. So, yes, I believe there are nuances to some sex laws. However, when it comes to teachers having sex with students, I'm in total disagreement with the former attorney on the matter.
While teachers may not receive the kind of pay that many other full-time workers get, they hold more power in their profession than most others do, and are arguably more trusted than any other worker. From pre-kindergarten through at least high school, parents trust teachers to look after their kids for 6+ hours a day, to take care of them, to educate them, and to better prepare them for the future. This is extremely difficult for some parents to do, which is why they opt to home-school their kids. Even in college, while students may be of legal age to give teachers their sexual consent, parents funding their kids to attend these universities are doing so to ensure they're receiving a solid education and through that, being better prepared for the "real world." While their kids may not be kids anymore, they're still entrusting teachers to simply do their jobs.
Teachers having sex with students, especially prior to college, are abusing their power. These students' futures are at least partially dependent on their academics. In other words, these students' futures are at least partially dependent on their teachers. Even if the teacher isn't using that to his or her advantage when engaging in sexual relations with a student, they should at least possess the maturity and moral fortitude to either not initiate any such relations or just say no. Through high school, teachers have regularly told students to "just say no" when it comes to drugs. The least they can do is "just say no" when it comes to sex with students.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-30/opinions/41619432_1_teachers-consensual-sexual-activity-sexual-relations
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