This is something I’ve sometimes wondered about for years. Every time I have seen a case in the media of a female teacher arrested for having an illicit relationship with an underaged boy, it always turns out to be a very attractive woman. And while browsing the web some time ago, I stumbled upon yet another example of it.
Could it be that it is simply the media that chooses to cover only those cases involving gorgeous women, thereby distorting my perspective?
If it isn’t just media distortion and it really is the case that the female teachers who engage in this behavior are far more likely to be beautiful, then what explains this phenomenon? Why are plain-looking teachers unlikely to do such things? (Note: it can’t simply be due to schoolboys hitting on them because most of these cases involve boys as young as 12 or 10).
No proof, but knowing the media and what sells, this must be it. If you scroll through the pictures in your link, you’ll see that all of them are NOT gorgeous.
I only pay a modest amount of attention to these cases and I’ve found most of the female teachers are quite gruesome looking. Perhaps you are too quick to blame the media for distorting your perception? I suspect you had a pre-existing blindness to ugly female ephebophile teachers that was all your own. It’s your own confirmation bias that leads to to your mistaken conclusion, not the media’s preference for pretty women.
Nope. Has nothing to do with “confirmation bias”. Perhaps i just haven’t seen enough of these cases, but the fact is that all the ones that i have (casually) seen presented in the media have been gorgeous. If indeed there have been many unattractive women doing the same thing, then it definitely has something to do with the media’s obsession with pretty women.
Good point. I didn’t see those other pictures. But the original picture was the one the website chose as their main feature.
I don’t pay much attention to these cases. Nevertheless, my casual observation, based on what the media usually presents (and the most high-profile cases) has always been that they are very attractive.
I used to read The Smoking Gun (haven’t lately) which always ran the “Female Teacher Sex Scandal” reports. Trust me, the media only dwells on the hot ones but there’s plenty of others that… well, let’s just say “aren’t hot”.
No one wants to see “Teen boy had sex with unattractive older woman” on the evening news though.
I say confirmation bias AND media reinforcement. I recently read something (print, not web) that provided a broader illustrated sample than the usual handful of exemplary cases, and there was pretty much a normal distribution of looks, with a peak at bleh. There’s also how sometimes the media outlet will chose to print the mugshot (and let’s face it, even Hollywood figures look terrible in mugshots), and other times will print flattering pics from the suspect’s Facebook or somesuch source, and some outlets will emphasize those.
On top of this there’s the element of double standard scandalmongering - how often do we hear much media froofraw or sympathetic expressions about a 30something male teacher getting it on with a 15 year old girl? He just gets “go directly to PMITA jail, do not pass GO” and little media exposure if any. Once upon a time this had hardly any problem being commercially released in the USA. OTOH this, with less salacious actual content, had a hard time getting a distributor.
Most the students tend to be in in their later teens, youngest I have heard was 13. Never heard a case of ten year olds, sex scandals are rare in elementary school, so OP I disagree with many boys being 10-12. Back to question, most teachers are average , only few would be hot. Even among those in their 20s, most are average to cute.
My advice is to stumble back over to the same link you provided and keep reading. Lower on the page is a slideshow of other teachers involved in sex with students. I think you’ll agree that many of the women there are quite plain. They look a lot like a random sample of women to me.
So I think it’s a clear case of bias on your own part more than anything else.
I’ve replied to similar thoughts expressed earlier in the board. There is no ‘bias’ on my part i assure you. In fact, i would have been relieved to see a case involving a plain/unattractive teacher. But i just wasn’t curious enough to investigate more cases other than what i casually see presented in the media.
But what we’re all telling you is that we investigated for you and we found out that most of the teachers are average to frumpy. There’s just a few who look particularly hot. That’s how we concluded you fell victim to confirmation bias - we looked into it further than you.
It’s not like we subscribe to a secret newsletter that documents teachers who fuck their students. We’re all searching for what is presented in the media and finding lots of average to below average looking women.