OPINION & EDITORIAL
Attractive teacher deserves prison time in sex scandal
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Also by Jeff Carnes:
- Gay frat diversifies Greeks (May 4, 2007)
- Problems in city's environment vast (April 26, 2007)
- State budget must keep UW in mind (April 19, 2007)
- Students should take responsiblity for credit card debts (April 12, 2007)
- State must confront brain drain issue (March 29, 2007)
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- Write a letter, start a firestorm (December 1, 2005)
- Gender factor in child-rape sentencing (September 23, 2005)
- Limiting abortions to rape not realistic (October 22, 2004)
- Prisons under fire (March 7, 2002)
by Jeff Carnes
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Debra Lafave, a middle school reading teacher in Temple Terrance, Fla., has been charged with multiple counts of sexual contact with a 14-year-old male student. The plea-bargain negotiations fell apart, and now an April 10 trial is set for Ms. Lafave.
When Ms. Lafave's defense attorney, John Fitzgibbons, was asked why the defense did not accept a plea bargain, he stated that the prosecution was asking for jail time, which was unacceptable to the defense. According to the Tampa Tribune, Mr. Fitzgibbons said, "To place Debbie into a Florida state women's penitentiary, to place an attractive young woman in that kind of hell hole, is like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions."
Personally, I thought the unpleasantness of a prison was part of the deterrent to committing a crime.
The current accusations against Ms. Lafave represent only one of nearly two dozen reported cases of female teachers having sex with male students in 2005, according to MSNBC. These numbers reflect only a fraction of the actual number of cases that occur in high schools and middle schools in the United States for a variety of reasons, such the male student's embarrassment at reporting that a female teacher had intercourse with him. Most of these cases result in the accused female teachers leaving the court with what amounts to a slap on the wrist.
In Albany, N.Y., Beth Geisel, a 42-year-old writing teacher, had sex while drunk with a 17-year-old student in June 2005.
Colonie, N.Y., Police Chief Steve Heider told CBS News: "Unfortunately, our society precludes a lot of young men from reporting [sex with a woman teacher] because it is thought of as a conquest, not a victimization." Mr. Heider went on to state that an underage boy is just as much a victim as an underage girl, though both the cases and victims are not treated that way.
We must ask ourselves what would happen if Debra Lafave, an attractive 25-year-old woman, was instead an attractive 25-year-old man having sex with a 14-year-old girl? Would his defense attorney be able to make the same arguments to the media about not sending him to the lion's den of a men's prison? Worse yet, what if Beth Geisel, a 42-year-old woman, was in fact a 42-year-old man having sex with a 17-year-old boy?
It seems there is a problem with Lady Justice not being completely blind in teacher-student sex cases.
Fortunately, none of these types of sex cases have hit Madison or the surrounding areas in 2005. In the Madison Metropolitan School District, however, a high school student is in class for almost 35 hours per week, not including extracurricular activities. There is always an ever-so-slight chance that this can happen even in Madison. Students often spend more time with teachers than with parents, and there must be some mechanism in place to deter the rare unprofessional teacher from victimizing a student.
Measures such as installing cameras would not be accepted by teachers' unions, civil-liberty groups or taxpaying parents. Often, one of the most effective measures against crimes like this is making an example out of the teacher by issuing a sentence that not only fits the crime, but is a deterrent to others from doing the same.
Not every teacher — man or woman — is a sexual predator preying on students. Making a statement like that here would be an insult to the teaching profession, especially considering UW is home to one of the top Schools of Education in the country. When teachers — despite all of their college education and additional training programs from their school districts — commit a crime as egregious as having sex with a student, the courts need to punish them if they are found guilty. Simply slapping a female teacher on the wrist sends two messages: that they are not as accountable for their actions as their male counterparts and that boys cannot be the victims of older women. Neither is true.
When Lafave's trial begins in April, I hope she receives a fair and impartial trail. If she is found guilty, she must receive a fair sentence. If her natural feminine beauty could be a factor in her going to jail, then the fear of being a beautiful woman in a state prison should have been even a bigger deterrent to not commit the crime.
Jeff Carnes (jcarnes@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in linguistics.
Anonymous (January 16, 2006 @ 3:54am):
Hello Jeff, good article. Probably there must be cases in Madison as well, but students should feel more encouraged to reveal these facts by giving them the appropiate space to talk about them (and sentence the teacher responsible of the misconduct) rather than by secret cameras. At the end, it's a problem of (sexual and ethical) education, not of security (camera surveillance).
Anonymous (January 16, 2006 @ 9:12am):
Pedophiliaphobia
Pedophiliaphobia, an irrational fear of pedophiles, is sweeping the nation. It is based primarily on the false notion that anyone with an attraction to minors cannot control themselves. The existence of draconian laws plays into this falsehood because only those who are accused of committing crimes come to the attention of the public, or for that matter, nearly anyone's attention.
It is characterized by stereotyping (assuming that an individual has traits and behaviors generally associated, rightly or wrongly, with a group) and demonizing.
See these links. http://hfp.puellula.com/Main.html http://observer.guardian.co.uk/screen/story/0,6903,532307,00.html and http://www.boychat.org/messages/921997.htm
Anonymous (January 16, 2006 @ 1:36pm):
"...was instead an attractive 25-year-old man having sex with a 14-year-old girl?"
Absolutely he'd got to a FPMITA, no doubt representing another failure of the womyns equality movement.
Anonymous (January 16, 2006 @ 5:29pm):
I think it's great that women paedophiles are finally getting the negative attention they deserve. I also think it's hilarious that women who used to complain about "all those f#%^ing men out there with nothing but sex on their minds" are suddenly quiet. It's almost like they were in on this dirty little secret themselves all along. And now they're keeping their mouths shut lest they draw the wrong kind of attention to themselves.
Yeah, the low-lifes who prey on kids all need to be locked up, but when the predator is a woman it's somehow different. Most people-men and women-think that female predators should get off light simply because they're women, of at least they seem to be willing to accept any Bulls#%* story she uses to try to get sympathy(i.e. abused as a child, was high on drugs, it was just a little innocent romp and no harm was intended).
The victims of women paedophiles are just as young as the victims of male paedophiles as well. There were cases in Stratford, Connecticut and Salt Lake City, Utah recently where the victims were 8-year-old boys. How low can women get and expect to get away with the same sick crap that male paedophiles do? And when will women stop taking every male as a deranged lunatic who is allegedy hardwired for sex. I, for one, am sick and tired of research done solely for the benefit of supporting someone's political agenda. I'm also fed up with feminists. What have they actually taught us? That every woman is morally pure and without sin, while every man is vile and contemptuous?
Women, get a grip! On reality, I mean, not someone's little boy. And all you idiot men who stick up for all these man-hating losers: you are losers too. Why can't you morons just find a woman with her brain screwed on tight, instead of these dungheads? Do you realize what it says about YOU?
Anonymous (January 17, 2006 @ 8:35am):
I agree with poster who wrote about women who molest little boys...and the wimpy-ass men who love them. I would especially be interested in hearing what a lot of these men think about the issue of women child molesters, since women have suddenly gone into hiding. Not that that's not a fitting place for them though.
What about that one stupid organization. What's it called? Men Stopping Rape? Or is it Men Stomping Grapes? Or maybe Men Chomping Crepes? Men Hanging Drapes? Whatever. C'mon, guys, don't let us down! You are the big know-it-alls on campus, so far and above the rest of us "immature, hormone-driven, adolescent-minded kids". Let's hear your take on women sexual predators. Tell us if you think women still have something to scream about. Or should we just keep turning our heads and pretend not to notice, just like society has always done. Never knew those sluts were out there preying on our sons, kid brothers and nephews until now.
At my high school we had an art teacher that used to take teenage boys home to get high so she and her live-in boyfriend could sodomize them. One of the boys even attempted suicide when he found he was HIV-positive. But since the art teacher was a woman the school board decided to make nice and pretend not to know about it. Even the cops-oh bless their hearts!-managed to weasel their way out of having to investigate. I guess no one really cares when the victim is male.
And that's why I no longer care about women's issues. Don't like it? Screw ya!
Anonymous (January 17, 2006 @ 4:50pm):
"Pedophiliaphobia, an irrational fear of pedophiles, is sweeping the nation. It is based primarily on the false notion that anyone with an attraction to minors cannot control themselves."
What kind of deviant wrote that crap?! Please identify yourself.
Anonymous (January 18, 2006 @ 5:26am):
Pedophilia Panic
An irrational fear of pedophiles leads to murder and lesser outrages.
LINKS http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=361&page=1 http://www.kptv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4296565 http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13623558.htm and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9261767/
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 11:11pm):
Jeff,
Good points. The town she is from is Temple Terrace, FL.
Anonymous (April 19, 2006 @ 7:16pm):
What is this with the conservative Americans, that they're so obsessed with sex that they prosecute that persistent someone who had sex with a 14 years old (voluntary) boy?
Do you really think that 14 years old boys don't have sex or are hoping tot get it?
And do you really think that an experience with an attractive young woman like Debra Lafave is that harmful for that boy?
Don't you know (or remember!) that such an experience is the ultimate fantasy of all schoolboys of that age?
Has there ever been a serious scientific research of the so called damaging effect of such an experience for such a boy? I don't believe so!
You should realize that the boy is a hero for his friends, who had only dreamt about what the boy in fact did!
All the judicial activities around Lafave are far more damaging for Lafave than the sexual experience itself ever would have been for the boy. And she hasn't even been convicted yet! This whole fuzz is a shame (and a joke) for the United States!
Mike wrote in this forum that the incident ruined the boy's life. I don't think so: it's the judicial fuzz and the media attention that ruins the life of this boy about an experience that wouldn't have ruined anything without all the hectic afterwards!
