Hot for teacher

This ABC News article asks if there is pro-woman bias in two different cases where teachers had sex with young teenage students.

I wouldn't call it "bias," but I think there is a big difference between a female teacher having sex with a male student and a male teacher having sex with a female student. Of course, it was completely improper for Debra LaFave and Dang Van Dinh to have sex with their students, and for that being fired was just a start. Now regarding the legal side, the students were young enough that criminal charges were certainly warranted in both cases, but my personal reaction is that Van Dinh committed a far greater violation.

Is there a rational explanation why our culture could perceive that boy as a young stud who lived a lot of teenage boys' fantasy, but virtually everyone would regard the girl as a poor victim? A young male must be sufficiently "interested" to participate (assuming it's normal intercourse), whereas a young female doesn't need to be as "willing" as much as coerced and pressured. So I for one am not really shocked about what LaFave did (though he was only 14, and she should be punished somehow), but I am outraged that Van Dinh took advantage of a girl who was just 15. In LaFave's case, she seduced someone who then had to, um, "give." Van Dinh seduced someone who didn't have to do much to "take."

About the very attractive LaFave, Jay Leno apparently said things along the lines of, "Where were these teachers when I was in school?" Well, I had such a teacher for first grade. I have a couple of snapshots from what I think was my 7th birthday festivities at school, and alas, that little Perry was too young to appreciate the beautiful woman. Or was he? In one of them, I had quite a grin going and an arm around her waist.