MaleSurvivor Executive Director Christopher Anderson addresses Betsy Karasik’s Washington Post OpEd suggesting sex with underage teens should be legal.
Last Friday, the Washington Post ran a controversial opinion piece written by a former attorney named Betsy Karasik. In the piece, Ms. Karasik argued that some incidents of sexual activity should not be considered a criminal act.
Predictably, the blowback has been significant, as the overwhelming majority of people shared their disagreement throughout the web (often verging on disgust) with the opinion. And even though she has attempted to clarify her position, and says that she feels bad the she offended some survivors, it remains clear to me that Karasik is unable, or unwilling to appreciate why criminal sanctions are appropriate for these cases.
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As a reaction to this column I was motivated to act, and I felt something far more impactful than just making a comment on the article that would get buried under the 3,000+ comments that this op-ed received. I collaborated with many partners to draft a response that was sent to the Washington Post in hopes that our response would be given equal space. While Karasik’s original column was over 800 words, our response was only 500, and we hoped that our reply would receive equal placement, given the controversy that was stirred up. Today, the Post agreed to run a part of this letter under my name:
“Sexual activity between teachers and students is a profound ethical violation. The authority placed in teachers, coaches, counselors, or other instructors creates an inescapable responsibility to maintain appropriate behavioral boundaries. When that line is crossed, the power differential between teacher and student creates an abusive betrayal of the trust placed in the teacher by the student and the community. A student’s willingness to engage in a sexual liaison with a teacher cannot eradicate this truth. As Dr. Richard Gartner, a pioneer in the treatment of men sexually abused as boys, has written, “Even seemingly consensual situations may turn out to have long term negative effects…. There’s no way for an adult to know whether a particular child–even if he seems happy to participate–will be affected negatively by taking part in sex acts. And the very last person we can expect to be objective about the needs and best interests of a child is the adult who sexually desires that child.”
The full 500-word letter can be viewed here, along with the 60+ signatures from partners in the worlds of advocacy and prevention, including Joanna Schroeder, GMP Senior Editor.
It is curious…
There was a fair amount of this going on in my HS back in the 70s and it didn’t seem like rape then or now in retrospect….
Tell you the truth I’m not even sure if it was criminal back then.
Of course we also had smoking lounges in school, agression was caused by red meat, pot smoking could solve war and cops made you walk home if you were caught drinking & driving…
And now, perhaps it is the fatherhood angle, I’m ready to take an axe handle to someone.
Chicago stopped the practice of making boys swim nude in high school swimming classes about 5 years before I attended high school. Some of the older guys I spoke with mentioned it was a fairly traumatic experience and couldn’t see how the schools could get away with it. Girls on the other hand were required to wear bathing suits. The classes were not coed.
I think for the most part we’ve come forward in our recognition of sex crimes / sexual abuse. I think decriminalizing sex between teachers and students would be a step back.
Via Facebook and e-mail, I have relayed incidents that have occurred between students and teachers… Believe me, it is criminal…the response I received from the current school principal was swift and apologetic— I think he was worried I was going to sue the school!