Im not sure how people got this reversed, but she was not the one in the position of power; he was. As soon as they had sex, he had the power over her, not the other way around. He, literally, was fucking authority. He had her career in his hands at the same time he had other things.
What power had she over him? What, give him an F in reading class? 14 year olds arent stupid, the kid had to be aware that she had far more to lose than he did. No, the power was in his hands. If anything, I think a good case could be made that this is an issue of a male taking advantage of a female when she was in an emotionally delicate state. Show me a 14 year old who is stupid enough to think a junior-high or high-school teacher can have a lasting bad effect on them enough to be coerced into having sex and Ill show you a 14 year old in 5th grade.
Hell, shes only 23, barely out of childhood herself. The older I get, the less of a difference I see between a 23 year old and a 14 year old. Kids are kids.
And yes, I for one recently have a daughter. I believe, and will tell her so, that if something feels good, and she think she wants to try it, to go for it. Thats how one learns. If she doesntlike it, great. If she does, great. But then Im raising a human being, not a unit.
The fucked up people in this world are the ones who hold themselves back from trying things they want to try because of social beliefs or attitudes or public legislation. If you dont pee in the shower because of what other people would think, youve got something seriously wrong with you. If you want to try smoking pot, can get it, but dont just because its either illegal or perceivedly socially unacceptable, youve got something seriously wrong with you. If youre a teenager, with someone, turned on and want to have sex but dont because of something as stupid as current cultural/social beliefs about marriage or even just ‘what your friends might think’, youve got something wrong with you.
If there is a current widespread psychological problem, I think it would be some peoples fear of not being socially accepted, of being outside the norm, or being ostracized. I would imagine that psychologists would try to deal with this by helping the person understand that social/cultural beliefs are as substantial as farts, and try to build up the persons obvious lack of self esteem, rather than facilitate an even deaper plunge by essentially agreeing with the person and waving the vistom flag over their head. If no one is above society that means no one is beneath it either.
Who the hell cares if some people have sex a year ealier than the norm? So the hell what? Not being like everyone else is something to be proud of, not worried about.
Yes, of course real abuse happens ands its bad and its wrong. The stickler I think is how one defines coercion. This is where the current trends in psychology (we cant really call them understandings) differ from the average person as evidenced by many posts on this board. Im sorry, but the fact that she was his teacher is not enough for me to think he was coerced, current laws be damned. Actually no, current laws not be damned; its because of current laws that he was the one with the power, not her. Look whats happening to her as compared to whats happening to him; how could one think she was the one in the role of power?