Thursday, November 03, 2005

Lesbian Statutory Rape Case

Back in August, A. C. Kleinheider had a post on the double standard in terms of sentencing and censure for statutory rape committed by females against males vs. that committed by males against females.

In a discussion on the Nashville Channel 2 News website,
(link no longer exists) I pointed out that the double standard, to the extent it exists (whether in terms of punishment or just in terms of the societal attitude) is probably based on the sex of the perpetrator rather than the victim (technically, I said it depends on whether the teacher is the penetrator or the penetratee). That is, one would likely respond to a male teacher having sex with any underage student more negatively than a female teacher having sex with any underage student. The sex of the victim doesn't matter. (Kleinheider agreed that I might be right).

Well, my theory is about to be tested. Apparently, WorldNetDaily has posted an article about the case of Jaymee Wallace, a math teacher and girl's varsity basketball coach who is accused of having sex with an underaged teenage girl (I'm not certain whether or not she was one of Ms. Wallace's students).

If the allegations are true, then this would be a useful example of a case where the victim and the perpetrator are both females, and so would indicate whether whatever double standard exists is due to a greater value eing placed on the virtue of teenage girls than teenage boys (Kleinheider's initial theory), or due to greater damage to one's virtue being inflicted by a penetrating male than a (non-penetrating) female (my theory).

That is all.

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