(no subject)

[grinninfoole]

Here's a case which has been bugging me. Apparently, Milton Academy (an old, prestigious prep school, much like the one that I attended) has dismissed five boys (ages 16-18) for getting blowjobs from a 15 year old student. The school's rationale is that, with a five to one ratio, it had to be coerced. The 15 year old (who happens to be a girl) is also on 'leave of absence', though the school decides when she can come back, not her or her parents.

I find it entirely plausible that five teen athletes did, indeed, pressure a young girl into fellating them. However, I also find it plausible that she actually wanted to do it on her own. Maybe that also indicates poor-self esteem or other psychological issues on her part, but I don't think that automatically does so. (I prefer not to judge a woman's sexual behavior while knwowing nothing about her.) The information released by the school (I have linked to an article in today's Boston Globe. There was a longer one a few days ago that I don't have time to find) makes it clear that they have presumed that the girl was coerced, so they were disciplining the boys. (Why she's out isn't clear.)

Basically, I'm not sure what to make of this story. If it was coercion (or, to call the shovel by its proper name: rape) then the school acted entirely properly. However, what the school has said doesn't make it sound like they actually talked to the boys or the girl (OK, so the boys will almost certainly say that it wasn't rape, and they will be either lying or not) except to observe that the girl is 15, and thus is legally unable to consent to any sexual act. (I do have to wonder what they would have done if one of the boys had been 15. Can two 15 year olds statutorily rape each other? As it is, will the 16 year olds be charged with anything? If so, will they charged as adults, or as what they are: minors?) That's certainly true, but also suggests that she was perfectly cool with the idea.

Which leads me to suspect that five young men have been expelled for having voluntary sex with a willing young woman, and the school of shamefully covering its ass. And that pisses me off. If she'd been 16 would they have done the same? If the boys had been younger? The whole thing reeks of hypocrisy. If it really was rape, then why the hell not just say "the girl told us she was raped and we believe her, period." I mean, when did it become a crime for high school sophomores to sleep with seniors? By all means, let us not excuse rape, and turn a blind eye to 'boys being boys.' Let us not take this young woman's experience lightly, and brush off her suffering because the boys are football stars. But, let us first actually hear what the young woman's experience actually WAS. Ignoring rape is, among other things, sexist and misogynist. But, is presuming to know what any woman's experience was before even asking her any better?

Anyway, this has been bugging me. I want to keep my feminist credentials nicely buffed, but I'd prefer not to pillory anyone in advance of the facts. I wonder what ginmar would think?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/02/23/academy_details_sex_case_to_parents/

Comments

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

I don't know MA state law on this, but the 18 year-old may have been committing statuatory rape.

IL has a rule where you're fine so long as both parties are within three years of one another ("three up, three down"), so a junior in high school having sex with an hs freshman won't be hit by the law, which is, after, intended to deal with adults victimizing teens.