I thought you were making fun at Sita for the lack of a capital letter. Once an English major, always an English major.

The grooming aspect is so important to remember and, I think, not well understood by a lot of people. Sexual abusers are master manipulators and that ability to manipulate and confuse their victims' minds and thoughts is often one of the things that has the most lasting effects and trauma. I was sexually abused as a…

It drove me deeper into the closet, since I was already aware that I was gay and that whole thing was just so confusing and traumatizing. I trusted no one for a very long time, and it added PTSD and severe anxiety on top of my Bipolar disorder. But I'm coping a lot better now. Married to a lovely woman, more highs…

As far as I'm concerned if it's any kind of high school student (male or female) with a teacher it's gross. Simply due to the power imbalance. A 17 year old sleeping with a teacher is a bit less gross than say a 13/14 year old but it's still gross. The teacher is in a position of power and is the adult so it's not…

i agree. consent can still mean there's sexual violation

Yes. YES. Being used is a traumatic event. And these teachers are using these students, manipulating the issue of consent into something tortured and twisted.

Coming of an age to make a decision and having that agency manipulated away from you is especially horrible and mind-warping. Just because a young person can drive, pack his/her own lunch, or start thinking about college doesn't mean that an adult with power over their lives can deliberately use that power to trick,…

I'm doing much better now thanks.

Part of it is just that there are way more female teachers than male, and it's not until you get into college that the numbers reverse (and sexual assaults by professors are less likely to be reported).

but i dont agree with your conclusion though

I was sexually abused by a girl when I was eleven years old. She was eleven too, and her 15-year-old sister joined in on it. I'm sure they were abused too, as some really creepy shit was going on in that house and her parents were weirdos, but yeah. A double team molestation of a female minor by two other female…

I have a friend who was "initiated" when he was 13 by an middle aged woman, and then became a boy for lots of older women when he was a teenager. He's in his forties and still hasn't connected it to his inability to form healthy, non-anxiety inducing bonds with women. He's also a really good looking man, a self-made…

The main issue is that a teacher is in a position of authority over the student—so how can a student freely give real, meaningful consent when an adult who has the power to flunk them or potentially get them suspended or expelled approaches them?

Thanks, I wasn't trying to stir the pot, but I've run into this issue before. I never listened to Serial, but I had read an article about it on Salon and they had no pictures and I was not able to recognize whether the victim was a man or woman from the name (Hae Min Lee). (I fully admit that this is due to my…

No, you were correct. The assumption in rape is generally male perpetrator and female victim. I think we're hearing more of this lately because boys are being encouraged to come forward. I was never sexually abused as a child or teen but if I had been assaulted by a woman I can't imagine I would have told anyone.

i dont know if its proper to say that there are more women rapists than people think? like. there are more rapists around us than people think, period.

there are a lot more women rapists than people think

I looked it up because I was also confused about the use of "assassinate," and it turns out the killer was targeting black ministers, and had specifically come to kill her husband because of his prominence as a minister, and decided at the last minute to kill her instead. So assassination is appropriate, even if he…

if religion got out of the business of politics and morality-legislation (while being tax-free) i would be more on board with this... but the religious influence politics and make policies based on their religion that affect us all - as a non-believer, i don't tolerate that.