# Mary Kay Letourneau, the school teacher of our boyhood dreams, on the streets again **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359 "2004-08-04T21:56:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/61 "2004-08-06T21:36:28Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > So, Miz, you think she’s kind of like Humbert Humbert? Huh? > > See, I’ve always had this thing with Lolita. Delores isn’t innocent. She is young. She is a child. She can not legally consent to sex. But she isn’t innocent. She seems to me to be fully aware of what she is doing - even as society absolves her of responsibility. > > Humbert is wrong. But he happens to be the wrong guy in the wrong place with the wrong girl. He is also not innocent. And as an adult responsible. However, I doubt he would have seduced Lolita if she wasn’t busy seducing him. He doesn’t seem preditory to me. (That ass Dolly winds up with near the end of the book - he’s a preditory child molestor). But much more sympathetic than the “Humbert the child molester” theory. > > I have some sympathy for Ms. Letourneau - perhaps she isn’t preditory. But she should have known better. And she should have kept herself under control. That was her responsibility. And that is the law. Delores, Dolly, Humbert–perhaps they were characters in the _Lolita_ story? I saw the movie so long ago that I don’t remember it well enough to discuss it any more. I think I read the book a couple decades ago too. I also had some sympathy for Ms. Letourneau after seeing the (slanted? biased?) movie, in which she had not seemed predatory. That’s all I was saying. You said it better! ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/62 "2004-08-06T21:41:53Z")
Yahoo! News was reporting a judge lifted the no contact gag order. Stay tuned. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/63 "2004-08-06T21:52:14Z")
A lot of posters have used the “what if it were a 35-year old man and a 12 year old girl” retort. What if it were a same sex couple? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/64 "2004-08-06T21:57:42Z")
> [@MizQuirk](#): > > Delores, Dolly, Humbert–perhaps they were characters in the _Lolita_ story? I saw the movie so long ago that I don’t remember it well enough to discuss it any more. I think I read the book a couple decades ago too. I also had some sympathy for Ms. Letourneau after seeing the (slanted? biased?) movie, in which she had not seemed predatory. That’s all I was saying. You said it better! Humbert was the guy. Dolores was the girl’s real name. Her mother called her Dolly, and Lolita was Humbert’s pet name for her. (IMO, Kubrick dropped the ball in the movie version in numerous ways, but not least was having the mother call her Lolita, instead of having Humbert “christen” her as his own.) Anyway, **Dangerosa** has a point. Early on, it’s established that Dolores has a crush on Humbert, and their flirtation (“I have something in my eye!” “Oh, I’ll get it out!”) is mutual. And in the motel room, she’s eager to show him what she [ahem] learned at camp with a male counselor. Likewise, Vili is said to have bragged to his friends that he could “get with the teach”. But, just as Humbert should have known better, so should MKL. And no offense, but when has a Lifetime Original Glurgefest not taken the woman’s side? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/65 "2004-08-06T23:03:44Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Yahoo! News was reporting a judge lifted the no contact gag order. Stay tuned. [Here’s confirmation of that report.](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/teacher_sex) If you think this story is getting a lot of play, imagine the level of coverage for Mary Kay had [her father](http://www.biography.com/tv/listings/letourneau_mk_new.html), John Schmitz, succeeded in his 1972 bid for [the USA presidency.](http://www.goodbyemag.com/jan01/schmitz.html) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/66 "2004-10-13T00:52:09Z")
Holy Crap! “[Mary Kay Letourneau says she and the former student plan to get married](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6235293/).” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/67 "2004-10-13T00:59:17Z")
I’m more astonished by the quote I heard on CNN this morning. It was something to the effect of if she’d KNOWN it was a FELONY to bang the kid she would have NEVER done it. Drop the curtains. This society is finished. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/68 "2004-10-13T02:10:03Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Plus two more innocents who won’t have anything remotely resembling a normal childhood. It’s her fault they won’t have a normal childhood inthe same way that it’s the coalition country’s fault for contractor’s deaths when they won’t pay the ransom. OTOH, if LeT really is as insane as some here think, sure, they’d have a bad childhood if nothing were done about the relationship, but sadly, nothing about it would be truly “abnormal” ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/69 "2004-10-13T02:39:25Z")
Now the story reminds me of when my nephew got married and everyone at the ceremony was making bets on how long the marriage would last before its inevitable, sad self-destruction. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359/70 "2004-10-13T03:06:51Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > I’m more astonished by the quote I heard on CNN this morning. It was something to the effect of if she’d KNOWN it was a FELONY to bang the kid she would have NEVER done it. Y’see, this is why I believe we should dramatically ratchet up the pay and perks of teachers… So we can be selective of who we let get an Education degree. Not only is she totally oblivious to the _ethical inappropriateness_ of this, when she is a teacher and he is a pupil and a legal minor, but she needed it explained to her that this was a prosecutable offense? (BTW, that was the explanation she gave in the longer interview: that at the time she thought it was “illegal, but not a crime”[!!!] and she further elaborates that she did not even really understand what was the deal with felonies vs. misdemeanors) . However, it was not clear to me from the bit of interview that I heard whether she was referring to her conduct in the actual affair, or at her trial. (OTOH I _could_ understand a misapprehension as to _what crime_ it was she was committing. Down here for instance she would just be guilty of lewd acts against a minor, because under the current Penal Code [we’re supposed to replace it in '05, but I’m not holding my breath], “rape” can only happen M–\>F .) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mary-kay-letourneau-the-school-teacher-of-our-boyhood-dreams-on-the-streets-again/258359.md?page=3)