Sexism in the Teaching Profession

Interesting article from a few days back. I think one of the interesting questions it poses is: Are we too lenient with female offenders or too harsh with male offenders for the same crime?



http://ift.tt/1AEU6rY

Quote:

Canadian law is clear that a minimum jail sentence must occur in sexual charges involving children, meaning those under age 16, the age of consent; when an adult is in a position of authority or trust, however, that age rises to 18. Yet a cultural double standard persists in attitudes toward and legal treatment of male and female teachers who sexually exploit students. Men routinely face jail time. Women do not.

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Judges tend to reflect community values, says Shoop, and generally [in the U.S.] judges are over 50 and male. One of those values, he says, is that women are powerless and need to be protected from sex-addled males, whatever their age.

Quote:

Schools also can appear to ignore allegations, revealed in the 2013 trial of former teacher Bonnie McLachlan of Prince Albert, Sask., who was found guilty of sexually exploiting a 15-year-old in 1993-94; she avoided jail, instead receiving 18 months of house arrest, but was allowed to keep working. The former student went to authorities in 2010. As recounted in the Crown’s failed appeal for a harsher sentence, the administration of Queen Mary school was notified of McLachlan’s relationship with the student at the time by teaching assistant Wanda Kent, who reported that McLachlan told her she and the student were having sex in her car. McLachlan’s behaviour was even more flagrant: she was seen rubbing up against the Grade 9 student at his locker and kissing him in a hot tub on a school trip. But Kent would be the one professionally sidelined; she was assigned to the photocopy room and eventually left teaching altogether. McLachlan, on the other hand, was suspended with pay before landing at another school. She taught until 2008.

Opinions or thoughts?

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1rgs7q6