Double Standards
Over the last few days I've been watching coverage of the Mary Kay Letourno (?sp) and her fiance's wedding. Entertainment tonight (or one of those tv tabloid shows) is covering their wedding preps and their wedding on TV. They show a part of an interview every night along with them shopping for a wedding gown and tux etc. If you don't remember who they are, this is the high school teacher who went to jail for 7 or 8 years because she slept with her then 12 year old student and was just released recently. In addition they have 2 children together, both under 7 years old.
Is it only me or does anyone else find this truly disturbing? Now I have no problem with older women marrying younger men (hey the Prophet married someone much older than him). But if the tables were turned in this case (ie a male teacher and a female student) there would be a huge uproar about this marriage and it would be called sexual abuse, he is controlling her, etc. etc. In this case, instead, the media is glamorizing their relationship and almost saying it is ok for a teacher to sleep with her 12 year old student, have him father her child, go to jail for it and then marry him.
Very disturbing at what the media is portraying as an "almost" ok thing to do. What's worse, she wants to go back and teach. She doesn't really think that she did anything wrong....HELLO...she's a bloody child molestor and rapist! She needs to be registered as a sex offender (if she hasn't been already)...
God, the double standard makes my blood boil!
Is it only me or does anyone else find this truly disturbing? Now I have no problem with older women marrying younger men (hey the Prophet married someone much older than him). But if the tables were turned in this case (ie a male teacher and a female student) there would be a huge uproar about this marriage and it would be called sexual abuse, he is controlling her, etc. etc. In this case, instead, the media is glamorizing their relationship and almost saying it is ok for a teacher to sleep with her 12 year old student, have him father her child, go to jail for it and then marry him.
Very disturbing at what the media is portraying as an "almost" ok thing to do. What's worse, she wants to go back and teach. She doesn't really think that she did anything wrong....HELLO...she's a bloody child molestor and rapist! She needs to be registered as a sex offender (if she hasn't been already)...
God, the double standard makes my blood boil!
posted by Anokhi at
8:01 PM
5 Comments:
i totally agree - this is really sick. it's one thing ot let it go - but the media is NOT letting it go, they're glamourizing this. reality TV needs to die. if i wanted reality, i'd live my life instead of watching TV
By
F.S.Kabir, at 7:48 AM
r u willing 2 consider da possibility dat, may b, just may b ..dey r in luv?
Though I must admit , i know nothing about the couple other than the info u provided in ur blog.
I can understand why u feel "disturbed" but isn't dat a sort of ageism when anyone passes judgement on who should have sex with whom at what age in what circumstances?
shouldn't b it left alone as deir "private" matter as long as it doesn't "harm" any other person other than making them feel "disturbed" "sick"?
but I do agree with u on media hype/hypocracy thing...and ya reality Tv really sucks..
I hope I haven't offended u in anyway, or made u feel "disturbed".
In fact I 2 find things extremely disturbing every now and then and pass judgement....but in dis case I 'm just not sure...
nice post though...
f
By
f, at 12:32 PM
what happened 2 u ?
u r not updating ur blog for a while?
r u okay?
By
f, at 12:20 PM
Finally back from vacation and thought I'd put up a post.
The couple in question is regarding an old case. The woman was a middle school teacher, married with kids in her mid 30s when she had an affair with her then 12 year old student. She became pregnant, was convicted with 2nd degree child rape, sentenced to six months and had his kid. One month after her release, when the student was 13 years old she was caught again having sex with him, got pregnant again and pleaded guilty to 2 charges of child rape. She spent 7.5 years in jail and had her second child while in jail.
While I have no issue with age differences between couples, I do feel that when one of the 2 people is very young/still a child then they are not really given a chance to develop themselves and their own personalities outside of the relationship and I often wonder what other relationship are they looking to fulfill (ex. father figure etc) when they are with the older person. Once a person is an adult and has experienced life enough to form their own judgements and opinions, then age is just a number. Also, when one of the two people involved is a child, then it is rape...plain and simple. A 12 year old child does not have the capability to understand the intricacies of a serious relationship, much less one that involves sex, especially sex with an adult. There is a huge power differential and the child is extremely vulnerable. We are all taught to trust the adults in our lives (parents, uncles, aunts, teachers) and assume that they will not take advantage of you. However, in this case this woman is a rapist...plain and simple. There is no reason for a 34 year old to start a relationship with a 12 year old child...be it a man or a woman. My problem with this whole case is that they are sensationalizing their relationship, their wedding was a TV show and probably paid for. This boy has suffered a trauma that he himself does not realize he has...their families have accepted this "relationship" that began with what our society calls rape and the media is presenting their nuptuals as if it is any other wedding. If the roles were reversed, ie a 34 year old man had begun a relationship with a 12 year old girl, this would definitely not be the case. Right now, he is 22 years old, she is 43 and if they had just began their relationship, I'd say more power to them. But this is just sick.
By
Anokhi, at 12:18 PM
Point well taken....
u r absolutely right.
i apologise 4 doubting your judgement.
I've learned a few things from this post.
thanx.
By
f, at 5:49 PM
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