Female teachers: The sex offenders no one suspects

xQuebec Justice Valmont Beaulieu addressed the double standard in the treatment of teachers who have sex with students when he sentenced Tania Pontbriand to 20- and 18-month jail terms to be served concurrently, plus two years probation. The judge made clear that sexual exploitation of a male adolescent by a female teacher must be punished just the same as a male posing the same actions toward a female adolescent. The case has sparked international headlines, with its tawdry and disturbing details revealing how the then 30-year-old Pontbriand acted as mentor, confidante and sexual aggressor to the 15-year-old. While Canadian law is clear that a minimum jail sentence must occur in sexual charges involving children, the cultural double standard persists in attitudes toward and legal treatment of male and female teachers who sexually exploit students. Sentencing in the Pontbriand case, as well as the two-year prison term given former Calgary school teacher Jennifer Mason in July for sexually exploiting a 16-year-old, recognize the severity of the crime. However, conditional sentences are still common in such cases, highlighting the need for greater awareness and understanding of the issue.

Recent reports of female teachers having sexual relationships with minor male students have raised serious questions about society’s attitudes. Robert Shoop, a professor of education law at Kansas State University and an internationally recognized expert on sexual harassment and abuse prevention in schools, notes that when a male is a victim of a female, society does not take it as seriously as when a female is a victim of a male. Judges, who tend to reflect community values, often say “where’s the harm here?” when the female is the perpetrator. Popular culture also celebrates “MILFs” and “cougars,” and male teachers who have sex with underage female students are viewed as statutory rapists or creeps, while women who do the same are perceived as doing the boy a favor. 

Clinical forensic psychologist Franca Cortoni, a professor at Université de Montréal, notes that female sexual offenders have always existed but have not been studied until recently. Women are behind only four to five percent of all sex offenders, and Canada’s national sex-offender registry does not provide gender breakdown for “privacy reasons.” However, a recent freedom of information search in Wales showed female sex offenders in that part of Britain were the fastest growing category, more than doubling from 78 in 2009 to 193 in 2012. 

The sensationalized template for the female-teacher-and-male-student relationship remains mired in the decades-old spectacle of California teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau, a married 34-year-old mother of four who was jailed in 1997 for second-degree rape of her 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau. The couple, who would have two children and marry, turned their “illicit love” into an industry with a tabloid-ready happy ending. 

Media, along with screenwriters, are complicit in shaping attitudes, says Shoop, who points to criminal behaviour being referred to as a “steamy affair” or rape referred to as an “inappropriate relationship.” This confusion is writ large culturally, with Netflix categorizing A Teacher—a movie about a sexual relationship between an unhinged young female high school teacher and her male student—under “romance.” 

In the past year, there have been numerous allegations and stories involving female teachers having sex with students. This month, two Louisiana teachers were arrested for “carnal knowledge of a minor” for allegedly engaging in a ménage à trois with a 16-year-old male student. In early October, a 44-year-old Ottawa teaching assistant was charged with a series of felonies stemming from allegations she conducted a two-year relationship with a male student, starting when he was 15. Last week, a married 32-year-old British teaching assistant was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence after admitting to a two-year sexual relationship with a male student that began when he was 14. 

These reports are raising serious questions about society’s attitudes towards female perpetrators of sexual abuse. We are only beginning to understand the consequences of female teachers sexually exploiting students, and it is clear that the conversation is still in its early stages. It is essential that we continue to explore this issue and work to ensure that all victims of sexual abuse are taken seriously and given justice.

Researchers have long assumed that cases involving teachers are under-reported, according to Cortoni. Shoop further explains that boys are more likely to disclose a relationship while it is ongoing, whereas only five to fifteen percent of people who are abused ever tell anyone. 

Public records from provincial bodies governing teachers provide limited information. For example, Ontario and British Columbia provide disciplinary actions online, whereas other provinces, such as those in the Maritimes, do not. Gabrielle Barkany, spokesperson for the Ontario College of Teachers, states that there has not been an increase in female teachers’ licences being revoked for sexually related misconduct in recent years. Of the 32 teaching licences revoked in Ontario in 2013, 28 were for sexually related misconduct, but only one of these involved a female teacher. 

Similarly, in 2012, three of the 15 revocations were female teachers. Shoop notes that women are typically given more lenient sentences than men. A 2012 University of Michigan study found that men received 63 percent longer sentences on average than women, and women were twice as likely to avoid incarceration if found guilty. Two decisions involving former Oregon high school teachers, found guilty of having sex with students earlier this year, demonstrate this. Denise Keesee received 30 days in jail and five years probation, while Charles McLauchlin was sentenced to almost 10 years in prison. 

The lenient sentences given to both female and male teachers reflect the fact that they are seen as pillars of the community. However, in July, Alberta provincial court Judge Sean Dunnigan made clear that it was the court’s duty to denounce and deter such behaviour. The Alberta Crown argued that it was precisely because of McLachlan’s status and the regard parents had for her that she was able to pursue her relationship with a student and abuse him for as long as she did.

Cases involving female teachers illustrate the extent to which they can earn the trust of their students’ families. Tania Pontbriand and her husband were given a $5,000 pool by her victim’s family, while Deborah Marion Ralph’s trial revealed that she had groomed her 11-year-old victim by paying him to clean her pool, taking him on outings, shopping for him and having him to her house for sleepovers. Jennifer Mason began contact with her victim when he was 14, and waited until he was 16 before they had sex. 

The behaviour of these teachers often oscillates between cold calculation and that of impetuous, immature adolescents. Mason and her victim watched Disney movies after their motel-room trysts, while Pontbriand signed an email “your friend 4eva”. The teachers, often married with children, exploit the power imbalance between them and their less-experienced, besotted partner. British teaching assistant Charlotte Parker shared 3,000 WhatsApp messages with the student during their relationship. 

Testimony from teachers’ disciplinary hearings reveals a lack of judgment and professional boundaries. Toronto teacher Nathalie Champagne lost her licence in 2012 for violations that included engaging in “acts of a sexual nature” with a 16-year-old while his friends watched on video conference. In 2013, Ottawa teacher Andréane Hélène Cadieux lost her licence for inappropriate behaviour that included “exposing her breasts” during an online chat with a student. 

Experts in the field have identified the process of ‘grooming’ as a key factor in these cases, which involves identifying susceptible students and making them feel loved. Shoop, author of the 2003 book Sexual Exploitation of Students: How to Spot it and Stop It, has heard teachers report they fell “in love”. Cortoni rejects the term “predator”, noting that it is not accurate or useful. 

Theories about female sex offenders remain tentative. However, it is known that female and male sex offenders differ in significant ways, with the former being over-dependent and not seeing all children as sexual beings. The notion that teenage boys can be victims of women runs against an entrenched cultural grain, with males stopping being seen as victims when they hit adolescence. Cases such as Mary Gowans’ also demonstrate the difficulty in prosecuting these cases, with the judge in her case dismissing the case in part because of inconsistencies in the boy’s testimony.

Recognition that men can be victims of sexual violence has been slow to come. In 1998, a U.S. National Institute of Justice survey found that one in 33 men would be the victims of sexual violence in their lifetime. It was not until 2012 that the FBI updated the legal definition of rape to include men. Controversial cases, such as that of Cierra Ross in 2013, who was charged with picking up a stranger in her car and forcing him to have sex with another woman at gunpoint, have reframed the subject. Data from the U.S. military has also reshaped perceptions, with reporting of sexual assault rising 50 per cent between 2012 and 2013. This is thought to be due to increased awareness of sexual trauma, although it is believed adult men disclose at a lower rate than women. 

The 2014 documentary It Was a Woman, by Canadian Cherri Low Horn, who was abused by a woman as a child, highlighted female offenders. Ottawa social worker Rick Goodwin, co-founder of the Men’s Project counselling group at the YMCA, reported that between one-third to one-quarter of the men he sees were sexually abused by a woman. The situation can be especially complicated with children, according to psychologist David Shoop. He believes that it is difficult for people to understand that a boy can willingly participate in, and even enjoy, an experience and still be exploited. Shoop claims that there is long-term damage to both males and females, with the child becoming sexualized and having difficulty developing appropriate relationships with appropriately aged people. Testimony from male victims provides insight into the aftermath of such experiences, with victims often suffering from depression, self-directed anger, and hindered careers. The furtive nature of such relationships can also isolate a student from friends and family, with the student becoming a co-conspirator. 

Retired NHL player Theo Fleury, who was sexually abused as a boy by a male coach, spoke out against the conditional sentence given to former Saskatchewan teacher Bonnie McLachlan, calling it “a slap on the wrist” and highlighting the unseen damage. Jokes on late-night TV have the same effect, according to Shoop, as they are why males don’t come forward. Even after proven guilty and sentenced, female teachers can be defended, as evidenced by a “Support Tania Pontbriand” Facebook page which attracted more than 150 members. Such statements reveal how much we still have to learn, says Shoop, as someone who molests children cannot be an excellent teacher.

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