16 year old boys are fucking gross. I am a high school teacher, and I spend the whole day surrounded by them, I cannot fathom why you would choose to fuck a student. Particularly if you are a relatively attractive woman who could probably get laid fairly easily. Therefore, there must be something wrong with you to want to fuck a child you are legally in charge of.
I am also a high school teacher, and it is obvious that you guys who think this isn't a big deal have not spent a lot of time around 16/17 year olds (boys or girls). They are pretty much incapable of thinking beyond the moment. Their concept of "future consequences" and "right and wrong" boils down to "will I get caught" and "how is this going to make me look in front of my peers". Now I am not saying that all 16 year olds are going to go on mass murder sprees to fit in, but they definitely aren't thinking about the emotional fallout of sex and it's possible repercussions on their futures on the same level as a 21, 24, or 32 year old.
Um...it was against the law right? Statutory rape is still a thing right? Now I'm not saying teachers should be "above reproach" in all things. They don't get payed enough for all that bull shit. But "don't commit felonies by fucking the minors in your care" is a fairly easy standard. Seriously why is this a discussion? There is a law designed to protect children. We can debate where the lines of consent are drawn all day. Yeah they are arbitrary and kind of stupid but they are there. We have a line in the sand that precludes fucking. So why not just not fuck those people?
See I get that and thats why the laws in place, they haven't had enough life experience to know the consequences. Just, in this case, I still struggle to think this kid will be weeping into pillows and be useless to the world between therapy sessions.
Crimes are still committed independent of how the victim responds. I just got a call from a bank that someone was trying to use my credit card to withdraw many thousands of dollars in cash. I'm not weeping into my pillow, but if I were, would that make what they did more or less illegal? Should the punishment be more or less severe because of how I reacted?
Please point to where I said there should be no, or lesser punishment, because the victim's reaction*. I'll wait. *That wasn't an obvious joke.