Hi Karin, I know I could have anser your posting but I wanted to see if the title made any difference...
Anyway yes a Teacher was surprised having sex in the classroom with some of her students. Karin seemed quite shocked. Of course we all know we need to stop this - but I wanted to point out that it also happens in the US ..
Perhaps the most famous case involved Mary Kay Letourneau, a Seattle teacher mother of 4 whose relationship with a sixth-grader, ultimately produced two more children. Letourneau spent seven years behind bars (after she was convicted for a second time) but at the end a made for TV movie was made ( probably jutifying her behavior - I would not know since I did not see the movie ) and she also ended up marrying her ex student.
Last December, Debra LaFave, a middle-school reading teacher in Florida, was charged having sex with a 14-year-old.
A 29-year-old substitute teacher in Utah is facing felony charges for allegedly performing oral sex on a 17-year-old male student.
Pamela Turner was also convicted.

A question : how comes they are all women ? I looked on google for teacher having sex with students and only a list women offender appeared ... strange ! Anybody can explain ? Why a beautiful woman as Pamela Turner ( in the attached image ) ruined her life and probably hurted her students?

I think that this happens "everywhere". But I can surely say that at least when I was studying, living and working in the USA it was primarily the men who were doing it....well at least that is how it was protrayed in the media and by word of mouth at the time. There were so many sex scandals when I was at university between male professors and women students. Also, when I was working, sexual harrassment was quite common; I know personally of many cases. You say many women are listed on the Internet as sex offenders? Yes, there are. But I think the reason women are more publicized on the internet, as compared to men, is because I believe "women's behavior" is viewed as being more outrageous. The outrageous woman will have more media attention than that of a man? Yes, I think so. Society has been conditioned to accept men's behavior, but when it is about women it seems to be a different story. I have to admit that here in Milan province it was a real shock to the community; it seemed to bother the women more than anything (ultimately I may be wrong about that, too). However, I still believe men outnumber women though when it comes to sexual harrassment. But I may be wrong (it would depend which society, and some cultures are more gender equal than others, e.g. Denmark and Netherlands). Just because I am a woman and think that this even was disgusting does not mean that other women in my community necessarily share my opinion, however I think many do agree with me. Nor can I assume that all men here, would consider the event obscene; I assume that most think it was obscene. Or, will the community here be indifferent to this type of behavior as time passes? I hope not. The wanton behavior of teachers, whether male or female, in public schools needs to be dealt with.

In my view both females and males are capable of lewd behavior. And, it may well be that both women and men have always been equally lewd; in the past, I assumed like most people assumed that it was always the men who committed obscene sex acts with minors, students or employees etc......but maybe we were all wrong and the female potential was overlooked just because we assumed "women would never do such things"..........we learn something new everyday.

Here are the links to the article in their original Italian.

Corriere della Sera Milan
http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2006/11_Novembre/11/profnuda.shtml

ANSA
http://www.ansa.it/opencms/export/site/visualizza_fdg.html_2027082716.html

Il Giorno
http://ilgiorno.quotidiano.net/art/2006/11/13/5445978

I think you're right, both men and women are capable of lewd behavior. And I remember the same thing you do, that when I heard about this kind of thing happening when I was younger, it was all men perpetrating the abuse.

I wonder about these women in many aspects of all this. There does seem to be some kind of difference somehow when women seduce young men/boys than when men seduce young women/girls. In fact, even writing that I wanted to say "abuse" when I was talking about men 'seducing' girls.

Is that a cultural thing?
Is that my personal concept of sex/abuse/seduction/cultural norms are?

I'm not sure.

I think it comes down to a power imbalance, and when you have one person (man or woman) in a position of power, then using that power in such a way that a subordinate person feels he/she must do something, it's wrong. When coercion is part of the equation, it's wrong.

That somehow still begs the question, though... is it correct to say that 15,16/17 year old boys' hormones are probably raging quite a lot, and to be presented with an opportunity to have sex would seem to be something to desire? The difference seems to be that a girl has to be coerced, and a boy is more likely to be interested... ?

Again, I don't know.

What I do know for sure is that I feel that when a teacher or another person in a position of authority takes advantage of a person he or she is trusted with, that's wrong.

And in particular, the woman in the news story mentioned in another thread (the teacher in Milan) is indeed in the wrong.

Teresa

I don't think that all relationships between professors and students at university are wrong, especially if the student isn't studying the particular subject that the professor teaches. In many cases professors have actually married their students! In some cases, male and women teachers at university can take advantage but I tend to think way too much fuss is made about it these days. I know that many people will disagree with this.

An interesting book about this is 'Disgrace'. It's very well-written but I didn't have much sympathy with either of the main characters in the book and felt that the ending was unbelievable.

Best Regards,

Lisa
www.webwritereditor.com
www.bookaddiction.blogspot.com

I agree that on the university level, things change. I don't have a problem in general with consenting adults making a decision to be together, even professors and students... sort of.

For me it's still a matter of power imbalance - i.e., when a relationship forms between a student and his/her mentor or professor who has power over a grade or will be reviewing that student's progress. When sex/relationship is used to 'buy' grades - which can be subtle - it's wrong. Say a 20 year old student falls for her professor and starts dating him. He might be a great guy, and not even be overtly using his power... he might never say 'if you don't have sex with me, you won't get an A' but this can hang over her head every time they're together, and she might feel obligated to do things she might not otherwise do... etc.

Always a tricky subject.

Teresa

In most cases, any romantic or sexual relationship betweeen a teacher and a student is inappropriate, especially if the student is a minor, or the teacher actually teaches the student, and is not merely a teacher in the same school or university.

yes, it is true that a lot of students and teachers end up marrying at a university level, but anyone can see that such a situation can be distracting. But a sexual occurence between a student and a teacher at a school level where the student is a minor irrespective of the gender of the teacher is criminal, and such a teacher should be disbarred from teaching and should be removed from the proximity of children, even their own.

I agree that a teacher of either (or any) gender who has sex with a minor student is doing something wrong.

I have to ask this question, though.
I have to say first that I am NOT stating my belief necessarily, just asking a question.

Let's say you have a 25 year old male teacher who has sex with a 17 year old female student.
And let's say you also have a 25 year old female teacher who has sex with a 17 year old male student.

Is one "more wrong" than the other?
I know that it is illegal either way. That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking... do you think the 17 year old boy would be as traumatized as the 17 year old girl? (That's assuming the 17 year old girl WOULD be traumatized. I know plenty of them who wouldn't be... but for the sake of argument, let's assume she would be.)

This might be happening in Italy, but it also happens in the U.S. a lot, as Paolo says. Just recently, another woman was exposed as having seduced one of her 16 year old students in a parking lot... in the back of a car.

Teresa