Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hot For Teacher?

Mary K. Letourneau hosts "Hot for Teacher" nightclub event.

Okay, as an ex-teacher, I have to say this totally rocks my creep-0-meter. I don't know if people outside the NW are as sensitized as we are to news on this woman, but she captured her fifteen minutes of fame for being convicted for statutory rape of a student. At the time she was 34, he was 12. Is hosting the event legal? Yes. Is it tasteless? Oh, yes. Is it right or wrong? I can't really answer that.

But consider... I have been a life-long supporter of equal rights and treatment for all, regardless of whatever inherited variables you want to point at. If, as a 34-year-old man, I had been convicted of statutory rape of a 12-year-old girl (and for context, I was about 32 when student teaching; my students were in the 13-14 age range), served 7 1/2 years in prison, then married that student, I would certainly expect to be lynched if I tried to monetize that experience. And I would expect the headline to read, not "Hot for Teacher," but "Cold Dead Lecher."

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