The date has been set. The bride has made her selections and registered at a downtown Seattle department store. The couple already has two children, so some people might say it's about time. In this case, it isn't.
This is a couple who never should have been together. It is a crime, not a cause for celebration.
Mary Kay Letourneau, 43, and her former sixth-grade student, Vili Fualaau, 22, are planning to marry in April. Letourneau was convicted in 1997 of statutory rape and served seven and a half years in prison for the crime.
"It's going to be fabulous seeing them get hitched finally," one of their friends told the Seattle paper. "It's long overdue."
Would he be saying that if a 33-year-old male sixth-grade teacher had raped and impregnated a 12-year-old girl?
Letourneau was not even imprisoned after her 1997 conviction until she refused to obey the judge's order to stay away from the then-14-year-old. Only when she made clear that she had no intention of ending the relationship did the judge order her incarcerated.
No man in a similar situation would have enjoyed such leniency. Men who commit statutory rape, particularly if it involves a student-teacher relationship and an age disparity as big as this one, are called rapists and punished severely. Their victims are rightly considered just that.
Women who do the same thing are called "Mrs. Robinson," and their victims, too often, are afraid even to report the crime lest they be mocked for not knowing how "lucky" they are.
Upward of 90 percent of all rapes are committed by men. But across the country, a recent spate of cases resembling the Letourneau case has cast attention on the other side of the gender divide. In Tennessee, 27-year-old Pamela Turner is awaiting trial on charges that she had sex with a 14-year-old physical education student of hers; in California, 28-year-old Sarah Salorio has pleaded not guilty to charges of having sex with two of her students and inappropriately touching a third boy, all of them under 14; in Florida, lawyers for 24-year-old teacher Debra Lafave are planning to offer an insanity defense against charges that she had sex with a then-14-year-old student in her home, classroom and car.
None of these women is "Mrs. Robinson" and none of these boys will escape the injury and stigma that rape victims too often suffer. In many respects, being a boy can make it even harder "“ harder to come forward in the first place, harder to testify, harder to deal later on with the complex of emotions and feelings that can so easily get in the way of a healthy sexual relationship.
It doesn't matter if the boys "went along" with their teachers "“ consent is no defense to statutory rape. What makes all of these cases particularly egregious is not only the gaping age differences between the women and the boys, but also the abuse of power inherent in the teacher-student relationship.
All of this is so clear when the man is the teacher and the girl is the student that it is striking to see how automatically most of us apply the double standard. Criminal defense attorney Bernie Grimm makes the point that in his experience, defending some 3,000 different criminals, good-looking women always get lower sentences when accused of the same crime.
The teachers here face sentences ranging from five years to 40; Letourneau's seven years was decidedly on the long side, especially for a good-looking woman. Yet there is no telling what price these boys, or their wives and girlfriends, will pay later in life, for the harm done by women whose job was to teach them, in classrooms where they were supposed to be safe
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May 30, 3:11 am my little girl was born.
Susan Estrich is an idiot. It doesn't matter if Letourneau's sentence was too lenient, not lenient enough, or just right. . . the fact is, society imposed a sentence on her and she has served her sentence. She did her time and now it's time to get off her back and let her live the rest of her life.
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This is a couple who never should have been together. It is a crime, not a cause for celebration.
A crime? Estrich really ought to keep her nose in her own business. What happened eight years ago was eight years ago. These are two consenting ADULTS who WANT to be married to one another. It's hardly a crime and, whacked as it may seem to the rest of the world, it is cause for celebration for them and theirs and it's none of our damn business.
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none of these boys will escape the injury and stigma that rape victims too often suffer.
Really? And exactly how does Mrs. Estrich make this assertion? I'm not defending statutory rape by ANY means. Offenders deserve what they get when they commit these crimes. But I can tell you that at age 14, if I'd had a teacher like Mrs. Turner from Tennessee. . . wowzers. I suppose that isn't really fair to the victim in this case, but Estrich isn't really painting an accurate portrait with her assertions, either.
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It doesn't matter if the boys "went along" with their teachers "“ consent is no defense to statutory rape. What makes all of these cases particularly egregious is not only the gaping age differences between the women and the boys, but also the abuse of power inherent in the teacher-student relationship.
I certainly agree with that, however it doesn't change the fact that Estrich's opening statements are way out of line. There's nothing I despise more than an irresponsible op-ed columnist.
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Sure its a crime and perhaps a double standard when sentences are handed out to an adult female vs an adult male. But I have one other thing to say about that.......I highly doubt the under age male will be as hindered or burderned if at all, later in life as much as any under age female. In fact I would venture to say that in most cases of the young male, he would probably see it as a conquest.
To say that a 12 or 14 year old boy would not be tramatized in any way by sex with a teacher three times there age is ridiculas. Ben and Cougar are exactly the reason why these teachers got away with rape, the silly belief that it was a male being raped makes it more permissable. Children of that age simply lack the emotional ability to deal with the ramifications of sexual activity, and yes, they more than likely will be scarred for the rest of there lives. If you listen to the audio tapes of the one teacher, it is clear that kid is being totally manipulated by a higher authority and lacks any semblence of emotional control. These are kids, emotionally unpreppared for what has been put on there plate, and these teachers need to be put in prison where they belong.
I remember back in the dark ages when it was bantyed around that you couldn't rape a man. The arguement was crudly put you can't rape the willing and if the male wasn't willing his body parts wouldn't function.
We have came a long ways on this issue.
Thanks
Mr-Pirk
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I just saw that "new gym teacher" on tv. WOW!! She could have raped me all she wanted when I was 14. Hell, she can rape me today if she wants to. I am sure she would overpower me despite my best efforts to fend off her advances. At least that is the story I would tell my wife.
Gotta agree with Ben. Not saying what she did was right---but, if she has served her sentence then what's left to complain about.....Let her now get on with her life and more power to her. Btw I think there probably are differences between rapes by men and women. I know I had intimate moments (in my mind) with several of my teachers from high school I don't mean to make light of the subject. I'm sure in certain cases of female on male rape there are very traumatic consequences, but I do think there is a difference in general
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I think it is wrong that female suspects are getting far lighter sentences than males. A crime is a crime. And for those who think it's okay for Tourneu to marry the same boy after she's out of prison (which is technically legal), would you feel the same way if it was a 40-year-old male teacher having sex with a 15-year-old female, going to prison and then marrying the female when she's 22 years old? What if this was your son or daughter?
We all know that it's legal but does that make it right or a wise idea? And does anybody think the child who is now 22 years old is going to make a well-adjusted parent? Would you want you son or daughter dating a child from these two? They're getting married now that he's 22 years old is technically legal but it still doesn't address many other issues.
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She served her time in prison so how did she get away with it?
She went to prison for violating the terms of her probation by violating the restaining order. She never went to prison originally for the rape. I cannot believe if a 36 year old male teacher has sex with a 14 year old girl he would even have the benefit of probation to begin with, herein lies the double standard. Let me go one step farther in talk of a case a few years ago here in Montana. Woman cried rape the next morning, sex was consentual, however, under Montana law one cannot give consent while the are under diminsihed capacity, drunk in this case. Apparently the two had be drinking all night before the "rape". This begs the question, if they were drinking all night, why is it that the male could give consent, but not the female? Why wasn't she charged with rape since he was drunk too? Clearly a double standard in this country reguarding rape laws. Don't even get me started of child custody laws.[:@]
Statutory Rape Double Standard
I suppose that isn't really fair to the victim in this case, but Estrich isn't really painting an accurate portrait with her assertions, either.
