Female Teacher Gets "Probation" in Field-Trip Sex Case

.... I just wanted to point out one of the comments from the original source of the story because I found it interesting. S/he posted it twice, s/he felt so strongly in her/his opinion.

I believe she will have to register as a sex offender.

There is a certain double standard.

A 16 year old boy having relations with a 44 year old woman is looked upon much
differently than a 16 year old girl and a 44 year old man.

Sad but true, consider this, a young man of 18 will be congratulated for relations with a
44 year old woman, just as a 44 year old man will recieve pats on the back for relations
with an 18 year old young woman. In both cases the male seems to be revered and the
female is considered a tramp.
mikealford419 -at- earthlink -dot- net
February 8, 2007 10:19 p.m

Now I tend to believe this is either a woman posing as male in her comments or a male who is young in years and has not gone through a single day of life where he did not receive post-second wave feminist mandated daily estrogen injections.

There were allot of idiotic comments, and the usual emotional crap, but this one tries to be smart through diversion which is why I found it particularly worth pointing out.

Notice how the author turns the double standard around. Instead of the double standard about sentencing between men and women in the justice system s/he tries to make it about perceptions of sexuality that society holds. Though s/he misses the point entirely. To much American Pie and not enough reality.

This is a classic feminist distraction from the real issue. It's even more sad that it appears to be coming from a male author.

The issue here is not how society treats men and women differently, it's the double standard that exists in the Justice system that is of issue. Her sentence was EXTREMELY lenient and there is absolutely no chance that a male would have been given the same deal in the same set of circumstances. That's the only double standard that matters in this context.

How about that other myth that society just will not let go of but cannot be proven that girls mature faster then boys? If that's true, shouldn't we come down harder on people abusing young boys because they are more immature on average then girls the same age and therefore even less likely to understand the ramifications of the situation? If a 16 year old girl really is more mature then a 16 year old boy on average then shouldn't we afford her greater freedom of choice then we would a 16 year old boy because her greater level of maturity grants her a greater ability to understand the situation and the potential risks involved make a mature informed choice?

I personally disagree with the maturity myth. I just find that it is that much more idiotic that we perceive males as lacking in maturity compared to females yet the group we do the absolute least to protect from their own immaturity is males.

There are lots of unrealistic double standards out there for both genders, but justice should be blind to gender and not subscribe to any double standards.

Would an article about a 44 year old man having "sexual relations" with a 16 year old girl leave out the words RAPE and ASSAULT? There's a double standard in reporting as well it would seem. When the accused (not even convicted yet) is male every other word in the story is rape, sex offender, assault, pedophile, or likewise inflammatory statement.

That story was written as if it was for the journal of medicine it was so clinical in it's descriptions.

girls DO mature faster than boys...physically, anyway.

however, a man's overall maturity is much more complete once it's done.

this is potential which needs to be cultivated.

... even physical maturity is entirely subjective and the criteria cannot be match up between the genders as they have DIFFERENT physiologies.

So, in what respect do you consider girls maturing faster physically?
Height? The average 14 year old boy is taller. Muscle mass? The average 14 year old boy has more.
Pubic hair? The average 14 year old boy has allot more of that if you count chest, leg and arm hair and not just hair around the genitals.
Onset of pubic hair? There is no conclusive evidence, no one has ever rounded up a bunch of kids and told them to pull their pants down to see who's got hair and who doesn't and at what age. Pubic hair also has a great deal to do with race. Some races get allot of hair and some don't.
Breast growth? Boy don't grow them so their's no way to compare. But a boy at the age of puberty tends to already have a greater ratio of muscle mass to fatty tissue content then a girl.
Onset of menstruation? Boys don't menstruate, so what's the comparable criteria, ability to ejaculate or wet dreams? That varies wildly from boy to boy, some boys can get erections very young and some can't. Some boys have wet dream and some don't.

What are the metrics used to conclude this and how are they compared between the genders as boys and girls show different signs of physical maturity? An 8 year old boy could have a viable sperm count just as an 8 year old girl might start menstruating, so how do you measure physical maturity?

Or is it that you personally find a 13 year old girl to look more adult like then a 13 year old boy? Could it have anything to do with the make up and clothing she wares which have absolutely nothing to do with physical maturity?

Should we also lower the age of adulthood for females while raising it for males to comply with the maturity myth? Should girls be allowed to vote, sign contracts, get marries and all that at 16 while at the same time not allowing boys to do any of that until they turn 21? Or should we approach it the same as we approach sex and allow boys all these things at 16 and not allow girls any adult privileges until they turn 21? After all, that would be in accordance with our societal beliefs that the gender that is perceived as being the fastest to mature both physically and mentally should be allowed the freedoms and reduced societal protections that come with adulthood last, while the gender perceived as maturing slower should be granted the least protection and the most adult freedoms.

Paragon, I agree completely Paragon.

It is common knowledge that girls mature faster than boys. The only thing missing from this absolute truth is any compelling evidence. Or if there is evidence, I haven't seen it despite repeated requests. I believe this belief is held because it used to imply that girls are superior to boys (of course, a house fly matures faster than a human, too).

I've made the same analogy. If girls really do mature faster than boys than why isn't the age of consent 15 for girls and 18 for boys. When a boy is raped by a woman (I'm sorry, I mean when a boy has a relationship with a woman), people often say, "He wanted it. It's every boys dream." No one says this about girls, even though "they mature faster" and therefore should have an ability at an earlier age to make adult decisions.

Notice this case happened in North Carolina where 3 Duke University students essentially had their lives ruined on false rape accusations of a slut and a slimy hick DA on the political make. But admitted statutory rape between a much older adult female and a young male is no big deal really in the eyes of North Carolina and worthy only of a judicial slap on the wrist. Double standard? I would think so!

(reply to Paragon)

i was basing my argument on the fact that life forms who develop faster tend to be less overall complex.

it applies to pretty much anything. the longer it takes to build/make/etc, the more complex it's likely to be.

making one gender's legal age different? aren't you putting words in my mouth there? why would i trust someone just because they "look" older?

all i basically wanted to do was give a quick pros/cons of one side's maturity speed. even if women get their puberty done earlier, it's men who end up doing most of the important stuff.

We are not a different species then females...

I was not meaning to put words in your mouth, merely suggesting that since it is an extremely commonly held perception that the female half of our species is the faster developing half, then it is odd that our society coddles and protects the female half of the species as we do our children indefinitely where as the perceived slower developing half of the species is disproportionately subjected to a total lack of protections. Just a bit of social commentary on my part.

Your way of looking at it is interesting, but I do not think that the general perception is women are "less overall complex"

In fact I think the general perception is the opposite of that. A T-shirt at a novelty store confirms that for me. It had two control panels on it. One had switches, knobs, buttons, slots, dials, gauges and meters on it and all were ironically labeled with algebraic formulas instead of words. The other control panel was empty except for one switch labeled on/off. The first control panel was named "Woman" and the second was labeled "Man"

So I can't agree with your stance on the whole "who matures faster thing" because I don't agree that one gender matures faster then the other over all (it's an individual, family history, ethnic group, and environment thing not a gender thing) and I also can't agree that women are somehow less complex. Society doesn't believe it and I certainly don't. I don't believe like the T-shirt that they are more complex either. Just the other side of the same human coin.