(Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati Enquirer)The women pictured here, Stacy Schuler, was my freshman gym teacher. Within the last ten months, she has been arrested for, charged with, and convicted of inappropriate sexual actions with minors. Most details of these events are too lurid for polite conversation, but a summary is necessary. Over a 3-4 month period last fall, she provided alcohol and marijuana for five male students (who were minors), and slept with all of them. These events occurred multiple times, all at her home, which is approximately 25 miles from the high school (mine) she was employed at.
So what was her punishment for these indiscretions? Four years in prison, and a possibility for parole in six months. This women used her position of status and privilege to seduce five minors, and yet at the maximum will be out of prison when these (now) men graduate college. They are affected for life, and some are still seeking counseling for these events. Two (that I know of) are now students at this university, and are using this school's counseling services. Families of the victims have almost been torn apart. During her trial, which was this past week, the high school essentially shut down. Her actions keep resonating, and yet, she will only face four years in prison. Pathetic.
This all brings me to my mine point, and that is a double standard that exists in these cases. I have talked to men who were unaware of this case, and they all wanted to congratulate her victims, as if to say job well done. Comments under news articles claim she was only fulfilling the male fantasy of a dirty teacher. This is all repulsive to me. If a male teacher did this to five 17 year old girls, we would be rightfully clamoring for blood. We can talk about privilege and oppression in class, but when someone uses their "privilege" in the manner that Schuler did and only faces four years in prison, it is meaningless jabber. Let's address this double standard in our justice system; everyone suffers from this kind of inequality.
This is a great example of the double standard in our society. I am always amazed how men are so strongly encouraged to attend to such behavior while women are given the exact opposite expectations. The poor males who are now suffering psychological issues that will resonate with them for the rest of their lives deserve to have society realize the significance of this situation. It is not "a job well done" or a "dirty fantasy" it is a serious offense that needs to be addressed. Similar to the article on Men and Power tools it addresses the issue that men are expected to "perform" or in general be sexually active with everyone. This to me is completely absurd and i hope that society can start seeing the seriousness of this crime as they would if it would have had reverse rolls of a male teacher and female students.
ReplyDeleteIronically, a similar incident occurred at my high school 6 years ago. A female teacher had been sleeping with 3 high school boys and providing alcohol to them. Her punishment was no where no near 4 years in prison. This woman had to transfer to another school within the district. Hardly a punishment in my eyes. Our district wanted to keep this incident a "hush hush" story. They did not want the media involved, which could have ruined our district if they were involved. The difference in my story is that these boys didn't receive any counseling or have their families torn apart like original posters story, but these boys were actually proud of themselves and their friends were of course, just as proud. The young men acted as if they had crossed something off of their bucket list. It was a goal they finally accomplished. Stories like these are what keep the double standard around. These boys weren't mentally damaged; they were mentally stimulated by it. They hooked up with a cougar, but not just any cougar, it was their high school math teacher.
ReplyDeleteI would never want anything to happen in my district like what happened in the original posters district, but honestly the teacher should have received a much larger punishment. The boys may have not been distraught by sexual relations with the teachers, but she still deserved to be punished.
This is dating back a couple of years, but this sounds a lot like the case involving Debra LaFave. For those that don't remember the name, she is the Florida teacher that had sex with a 14 year-old student back in 2004. The mother of the victim agreed to offer a plea deal so her son wouldn't be forced to take the stand for a trial that was getting national attention. Several comments were made about the plea deal with many people wondering if a man in the same situation would had been offered the same deal. The short of the plea deal: 3 years of house arrest and 7 years probation. More detailed information about the plea deal can be found here:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.tbo.com/news/MGBL1FT6DGE.html
Why is this LeFave an important case to follow? Last month she got the courts to agree to end her probation 4 years early because she had done everything they asked her to do. I don't know a lot about the court system, but that seems like a lot of time to 'forgive' for a probation sentence.
I remember when this case broke and the local talk-show host in Madison, Wisconsin had a field day with it. He was calling for her to be in jail forever for what she did. This wasn't a case of a 22 year old sleeping with a 17 year old. It was a 25 year old sleeping with a 14 year old! It is something that I find disgusting in the first place, but to allow such a lenient plea deal is wrong. This woman harmed a minor that was 4 years below the age of consent in Florida. She deserved much worse than getting her name tarnished and a couple of years of house arrest.