Is this not a double standard?

Question

A female teacher has sex with a 13-14yr old student, she got what, 3 years house arrest or something.


Watching the news the other day, and a male teacher had sex with a 16 yr old student and got 15 years in the pen.

Why will they not give female teachers/child predators what they deserve, but make no bones about throwing the male teacher to the wolves?

I thought is was supposed to be EQUAL in the law. Both times were consenual, no rape involved.

1980, sorry, I should have specified, I was talking about that girl in FL, not mary Kay Laterno(sp?)

Sorry again, I meant 1981, not 1980.

Answer 1

Great question. Remember the judge that gave the guy probation after raping a 9 yr old girl saying he was of small stature and would not survive in prison. I think the judges in this country are not following the law. They are following their own value system. A good example is the 9th circuit court of appeals.

Answer 2

I agree with you to a degree. If the circumstances were exactly the same, then the punishment is exactly the same. People often judge women in this situation a lot less harshly because they see women as a mother figure so they think, "She must love him or have feelings for him" while people think men are trying to get a piece. But the fact of the matter remains that if the circumstances are the same, they should be punished the same.

But in real life situations circumstances are never the same. There's a lot that goes into the sentencing of sexual predators such as coercion, number of occurrences, etc. So I think there's more to it than you may realize. Also, the difference might be in the public attention each case gets. Cases with a lot of publicity might be more easy going on the offender because prosecutors don't want to push it. It's all relevant.

*Edit

I just read your additional notes and was wondering if you were comparing cases from the same time period. Your comparing a case from the 1980's to one in 2006 which might mean the difference.

What I mean is that sometimes it takes time for laws to have serious repercussions. For example, when the internet was just getting big, there were a lot of cases where sexual predators weren't being caught/prosecuted because the very few laws that were around weren't enough to convict some of these men.

Another example (that was big were I live) were bomb threats. Before it was a felony, my school had bomb threats literally everyday in middle school. Then the government made it a felony to call in fake bomb threats. Things like these happen all the time.

Answer 3

From the cases i've read, the female teachers get long sentences too: Mary Kay Letourneau got 7 1/2 years in prison.

Each case is decided on it's merits, perhaps in the case where the man got 15 years there were aggravating circumstances.

Answer 4

There is a different sense of security associated with both adult males and adult females. Even if an adult female seduces a young boy it is looked at almost as a 'mothering relationship' that just got out of hand. Whereas if an adult male is seducing a young girl the whole world thinks it is dispicable and that male should die. Personally, both of these people are pieces of garbage that don't even deserve to go to trial, nevermind attempt to be mentally cured. There is also a sense of accomplishment with young boys having 'conquered' an older woman. It's every young boy's dream to marry, have sex with, or date a woman teacher at some point of there education, so when lawmakers (predominantely males) look back and see adult women and young boys they almost feel a sense of compassion for both sides.

Answer 5

Actually she did go to prison...and it was for alot longer than 3 years....she's now married to the former student she had sex with and they have a baby.....when woman do it it's not for the same reasons as men...yes it may be wrong....but there story proves to be love where in the other incidents where its an older male teacher and younger students, it seems to be pure sexual....it may not been fair, but she did serve her time.

Answer 6

It's a huge double standard! There is no reason that female predators don't get the same punishment as their male counterparts. I think the laws need to be changed and leniency NOT be given to the women who commit the exact same crimes.

Answer 7

The law of preventing sex with minors was actually based on the arguement of keeping minor women from becoming pregnant; thereby putting a strain/burden on society. Based on that, men having sex with girls is more of a liability than women having sex with boys. It's not exactly a moral situation, as you can see.

Answer 8

I know this sucks.16 yrs old is old enough to consent in some states any way like WA. and 13 14 year old boy is not sexy any way but a 16 year old girl is hot and almost irresistible to an older man if she comes on to him.

Answer 9

women need to feel protected from men so harsh peniltys have developed for men .Couple hundred years ago rape was part of war even in the civil war but american women did not want these animals around.and men began going to jail for rape .for years women blamed black men for the crimes when women would come home from a romp in the woods covered in dirt and sweat from recent indescreations with the neighbor and find dear old hard working hubby on the porch they ran up and said a man raped me who was it cryed out the husband and not wanting to reveal her lovers name she sad that black field hand of mr big dick next door.and so we began linching blacks for crimes they never commited.thats another whole story boys and girls for another question.
women liers that they are to this day blame there desire on men and men wanting to beleive in there daughters innocence have been cut off from wild sex at home for 10 years while little darlying daughter grows up to be a hoe after blowing the entire junior and senior class she goes after the teacher hoping to get a coll million or two for her injuries .THE WHOLE time riding ole teach like a cowboy on a bull at the rodeo.WHEN some one finds out poor mr. teacher he goes ttttooo jail .men are incapable of being raped right so how could a woman do this to a man.the double standard is you want a freak in the bed but a woman you can kiss in public without 5 guys going i had my dick in her mouth last night.

Answer 10

I think anyone male or female that is a predator should get thrown to the wolves!