Mary Kay Letourneau

[penguinator]

So I see Mary Kay already making the talk show circuit with Matt Lauer and he's asking about the chances of her hooking back up with the kid she raped. What the heck is the deal with this???!!! Let's switch the circumstances around here. If this had been a 35 y/o guy who had raped a 12 or 13 year old girl, 1) would he have only gotten 7 years in jail, and 2) if this was a guy, would Matt Lauer be making all warm and cozy with him, asking if there was a chance of them hooking up now that he is out of the joint? It hacks me off to no end at the double standard. Just because it is a woman she somehow gets a pass. It'll be the same thing with the nut in Utah who bumped off his pregnant wife. He kills her and he is going to be crucified in the press (which he should), but if it were a woman who whacked her husband, all we would be hearing is how terrible it is because she has mental problems, and we should be sympathetic because of her mental problems. {flame} {censored}

[Grimey]

It is definitely PC to have this double standard.

[CuriousG]

It happens all the time. That's why the number of sexual abuse and rape cases where the adult is female is so low. Society sometimes sees these instances as a feather in a young boy's hat, or a privilege, rather than seeing them for the inappropriate conducts they really are. Lawfully, is there anything different between a 19 year old man engaging in these activities with a 14 year old girl, and a 19 year old woman with a 14 year old boy? No, absolutely not. However, socially, most people see the two as completely different. Society always sees the male as the aggressor in sexual situations and if this 14 year old boy is able to successfully woo an older woman, many people see this an accomplishment, when in reality he's not doing any wooing at all.

[theyeti]

Right on penguinator! You hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned. We gotta wake up as a society and stop listening to whatever the media has to tell us, and start thinking "Gee, what if this happened slightly differently?" That's the only was to make sense of these kinds of things.

Oh, and as for the Today Show... I've given up on that one a long time ago.

[Teresa]

Ummmm... have I been misinformed... or doesn't SHE have two kids with this guy???????????

[jamesglewisf]

Yes she does, but he hasn't asked to have the restraining order lifted.

[Justawoman]

I thought he was going to court to try and get the injunction lifted against them seeing each other?? You have to give him credit. The report we saw last night said he is raising those two children.

I have to agree with what I saw last night on the news. He doesn't need to start any kind of relationship back up with this woman. I don't see how it could possibly be healthy for him. I don't see what supervised visits would hurt. Those two children are going to want to know who their mother is.