Good Points from Ethics Scoreboard
September 2004 Ethics Dunces
64 Debra LaFave SupportersWho is Debra LaFave? She is the Playboy Channel version of Mary Kay Letourneau, a middle school reading teacher who has the face and figure of a Baywatch life guard, and whose student seductee wasn't 12, like Mary Kay's victim, but a more morally palatable (for some) 14. Apparently with the strains of the theme from "The Summer of '42" playing in their heads, some people are indignant that Debra faces hard time for rape, her student being a minor and all, and some have gone so far as to start an on-line petition that states:
"Save Debra Lafave"
"We believe that the charges against Debra Lafave show a legal system that has run amok. Any 14 year old male would be lucky to be able to maintain a relationship with a beautiful, older woman, and to punish Debra for this is the real crime. We request that those with the power to do so reevaluate the charges brought forth and the current applicable laws for whether they serve only to protect our children or whether they go unconstitutionally beyond that."
At the risk of stating the obvious for anyone with an ethical IQ above freezing, let's review what's wrong with this line of reasoning. To begin with, there are a couple of important principles at stake here:
1. The principle that a child does not have the requisite maturity or experience to knowingly consent to a sexual relationship with an adult. Thus this becomes a case in which a supposedly mature adult woman exploited the immaturity of an adolescent for her own sexual gratification.
2. The principle that authority figures have special coercive powers over those they supervise, and thus any use of that power to create a sexual relationship is a breach of professionalism and trust.
3. Parents entrusted their children to Mrs. Lafave to help them read better, not to provide them with advanced sexual training. Not only did the teacher violate this trust, she also did so without any permission from her boy-toy's legal guardians.
Then there's the little matter of Debra's husband, who is now in the process of divorcing her. She turned a young teenager into an accomplice to an adulterous relationship. How will this affect him in the future? Who knows? Who knows what emotional attachment he formed with his fantasy-come-to-life teacher girl friend? Will it affect his ability to form normal relationships with women his own age? Will he trust a teacher again? In these and so many other ways, Lafave put her student at risk.
But the signatories of the on-line petition can't see any of this. Or maybe they can: a majority signed the petition "anonymous," usually a dead giveaway that someone realizes that there is something objectionable about his or her opinion. Still, the ethical obtuseness on display in the written comments on the petition is awe-inspiring. A sampling:
"Lucky 14 year old boy!" [Comment: The societal double standard inherent in this and similar comments is breath-taking. I have never heard of anyone reacting to the story of a 35 year old women's sports coach seducing a teenage girl by concluding that she was "lucky."]
"Dude...where was she when I was in school?!?!?! Sorry, with her, you can call me the teachers pet!!!"
"Debra should not have to go to jail...There are a heck of a lot worse crimes committed than what she did." [Comment: An Ethics Scoreboard favorite! The "Perspective" excuse!]
"I don't think she deserves a prison sentence. Yes, it might have been morally wrong, but the boy could have told her to stop before it all happened and he didn't. [Comment: Ah, yes, the boy was at fault. I wonder: does it prove it was rape when defenders pull out all the old rape excuses?] He knowingly enjoyed it, and even told his cousin "how awesome it was." So I think she should either be moved into an office position or to the board office, and taken out of a classroom setting, but not put in jail for up to 15 years." [Comment: A creative approach: make the teacher-rapists administrators!]
"…The way we treat our 23 year old "adults" these days, it's no wonder that her perception of age was a bit askew. How many movies are out there that tell kids to dream about this happening to them, and people eat it up with a spoon, and pump their fists and cheer. She isn't some 50 year old wife beating, fat, hairy, cigar smoking, guy forcing little girls into his van. She is a 23 year old beautiful girl that got freaky and went over the line. [Comment: Oh, I get it…as long as you look good, don't smoke and are under 50, raping kids isn't so bad. This is one of many advocates for an "attractive rapist" defense.] Yes, over the line. Murderers, whether it is by drunken driving or flat out homicidal tendencies quite often get less time than she's eligible for. Hell if this was 1900, the "victim" would already be married off and having kids with his wife. [Comment: And if this was 1900, the female teacher couldn't vote, child labor would be legal, and an African-American couldn't look at a white woman without getting lynched. Your point is…?] But because some politicians saw some money in making laws, it's indecent. I don't get it. How can it be acceptable for a 22 year old man in the "old west" to marry a 14 or 15 year old girl and start having kids, but now it isn't? [Comment: Gee, that's tough one. And similarly, how could it be acceptable to massacre Native Americans in the Old West and not now? As the King of Siam used to say, "Is a puzzlement!" Seriously, the comparisons with the 19th century that pop up throughout the petition shows how historical ignorance feeds ethical confusion. In the "Old West" child mortality was over 50%, and girls were pressed into child-bearing as soon as it was biologically possible. They were old by 35, and usually dead by 50. It was not a model existence, to say the least, and certainly has no relevance whatsoever to ethical standards in 21st Century America.] In "Little House on the Prairie", one of the most God fearing and family oriented shows ever with Michael Landon who was I believe related to Jesus somehow, let his 15 year old daughter marry the blind dude, and then let Laura marry as well at about the same age, if not younger." [Comment: It is hard to tell which is more disturbing… that someone would argue that Michael Landon approved of teachers seducing their underaged students, or that someone would think "The Little House on the Prairie" was a persuasive moral authority.]
"Let the poor woman go. No harm has been done."
[From a female signatory] "I think Debra is totally getting raked over the coals for no better reason than to help some politicians make a point. Tampa has always had these stupid moralistic people trying tell us how to live our lives, and its total bull crap! We have more strip clubs in this area than anywhere else in the country... and don't even get me started on the escort services and "massage parlors"! They get all worked up over this, nothing more than a teenage boy's fantasy come true! Debra is so gorgeous, I would share a bed with her anytime, and I doubt my teenage son would turn her down either. Debra, if you ever read this, get in touch with me and you and me can go party together, I KNOW we have the same interests and I am sure we will have a GREAT time together!" [Comment: Another interesting theory…the more strip clubs in a community, the more acceptable it is for that community's teachers to seduce its students.]
There are many more, but it's too depressing to go on. Ethics Scoreboard can only hope that the relatively small number of signers of this petition indicates that most people understand the basic ethical problems with Debra Lafave's conduct. If not, home schooling is going to start looking more and more appealing.
