mid-summer crisis

so mary kay letourneau got out of jail today .. who is she, you ask? well, to catch you up, she's the elementary school teacher that had a relationship with a grade 6 student about 8 or 9 years ago (i can't remember the perfect timeline) ... was charged (while carrying his child) and sentenced ... and then when she got out on parole (i think it was) was caught having sex with him again in the back seat of a car (and was then impregnated with her second child by him) ... so now she's out, and he's no longer 12, but now is 21 and is fighting to try to strike down a court order that bars them from having any contact with each other. apparently, he's still in love with her .. and perhaps she's still in love with him (she's been rather mum on the whole issue)

there is a definite icky factor in this whole situation ... one must really wonder what a woman of 34 could see in a boy of 12 (heck, i'm pushing 24 and i don't think i could handle a 22 year old ... and if i was with a guy who was 22, he better be darned mature) ... so what is there between a 12 year old and a 34 year old? great challenging conversation? exciting sex? perhaps that's it ... but you have to remember that a grade 5 student shouldn't (although, you never know these days) be that experienced - although, then she could mold him into exactly what she wanted.

still, i think it's a little icky.

but there still seems to be this ... i won't say romantic ... but ... fascination in our society with the woman seducing the young boy situation ... it appears every once in a while - pacey in dawson's creek , irving's widow for one year (recently the centre of the movie the door in the floor based on the same book), etc ... and it's treated as it's ok ... even something for others to be jealous of, to yearn for themselves ... i think this is part of the fascination with the real-life occurrence of this fantasy ...

there's even a debate as to whether it's ok or not, if it's romantic or just pedophilic

if the genders were reversed, and it was the male teacher seducing the female student, there would be no debate, it would be straight perversion and pedophelia

but in the end, i think it's just another example as to how geared towards men the media is (aside: media is the plural of medium, i.e. one medium or many media ... but when you refer to "the media", is this treated as singular or plural ... by all rights it should be plural, but it just doesn't seem right that it would be plural ... anywya, i digress) ... many of the images on tv, movies, yadda yadda yadda (you must excuse all my yaddas ... i was watching seinfeld tonight and it was the "yadda, yadda yadda" episode) are geared towards what men would like to see ... older woman seducing younger man ... average/overweight guy with beautiful, skinny wife ... etc etc (i think the average / overweight guy married to the beautiful, skinny wife is especially perpetuated on sit-coms which i suppose makes sense as we generally find pleasantly plump men as jolly, jocular, amusing yet women in the same condition are slobs, unattractive ... but this is starting to change and kirstie alley is certainly pulling her weight in that struggle)

but in the end, it does serve its purpose ... i am entertained, and that's all i ask for, isn't it?