Let’s get real. Men and women are different. Boys and girls are different. When Debra Lafave was 23 she had sex with a 14 year old boy who was her student. Big deal. She should get a slap on the wrist, not jail time.
Which is pretty much what happened. Today the remaining sex charges against Lafave were dropped, leaving her subject just to three years of house arrest and seven years of probation. Good.
There’s a lot of people (translation: “guys”) in the blogosphere who think she deserves a medal. I wouldn’t go that far, but when this 57-year-old saw her interviewed on Fox News this afternoon, my inner 14-year-old said, “Wow! She’s hot! Whatever teacher wants to do with me, bring it on.”
This also is the basic theme of “Living out every teenage boy’s fantasy” and similar blog posts here, here, and here. The honest male point of view, absent artificial political correctness, is: “When a gorgeous 23 year old woman has sex with a willing 14 year old boy, that’s a gift, not a crime.”
Note the important proviso, “willing.” And I’ll admit that willing or not, there are some psychological risks involved in teacher-student sex of this sort. I just don’t believe that they usually are very great. We’re talking boys here, not girls. A male teacher having sex with young female students is a completely different thing. Remember: boys and girls are different.
It’s being reported that “A psychiatrist who examined the teenager told the judge at a previous hearing that the boy suffered extreme anxiety from the media coverage of the case and does not want to testify.” That’s why the remaining charges were dropped, to protect the boy.
If Lafave and her student had never been caught, the boy would have been a lot better off. The trauma he’s suffering from all the media attention is far less than the trauma (better termed “joy”) he received at the hands, and other body parts, of Debra Lafave.
The age of consent in many countries is 14 or less. If Lafave and the boy had been in Germany, Canada, or Mexico their conduct would have been censorable but apparently not criminal. Here, as with many other issues, perhaps the United States has something to learn from the rest of the world.
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its sad to say that if it went to trial,and i was a juror,id have convicted her. no,its not fair,and id hate to do it. but when men go to jail all the time,even when the age diff is a year or two,i see no reason why she shouldnt go as well. besides,if a few pretty ladys go to the big house,and more people get angry at the stupidity of it,then maybe some laws would change a bit.
You could make the same argument with a ‘cool’ older guy and a 14 year old girl. These are difficult questions, and I have to hope those involved with this trial did the right thing taking into consideration the woman’s claim she is bipolar and it was a factor in her behavior. Frankly I don’t think an older woman who has sex with a boy has done him any favor– whether he thinks she did or not.
What a double standard!!!!!!!! If Lafave was a man she would get jail time, be a registered sex offender, the whole 9 yards – the girl wouldn’t even have to testify. There would be no question of guilt.
I am a teacher, and I see 14 and 15-year old boys AND girls who, sadly, consent all the time. In my state (KY) you must be 16 to consent – even if a 15-year-old girl says she consented, the state says she didn’t. Girls typically feel guilty after the sex – boys don’t. But standards should be the same regardless. Any grown women who would sleep with a 14 or 15 year old boy is sick. That should be the point. She should go to jail.
On a bit of a different note, there are many registered sex offenders who were 20-yr-old men that got their 17-yr-old girlfriends pregnant. Many times they go on to get married to the girl and try to get on with their life which is very difficult. (Most employers don’t want to hire sex offenders regardless of what the details of their case was) That’s unfair and a shame. What’s wrong with America?
she should have been in jail for 25 years