Gym teacher, 40, 'had sex with her student, 15, hundreds of time during two-year relationship'

UK Daily Mail ^ | September 2, 2011 | Rachel Quigley

[ConservativeStatement]

The gym teacher accused of having sex hundreds of times with a student over two years when he was 15 broke down as she told a court the allegations have ruined her life.

Tania Pontbriand, 40, from Quebec, denies having sex with the student between 2002 and 2004, when she was a teacher at Rosemère High School.

[momtothree]

“Neither do many adults”.

IMHO, adults are adults. If they choose to have flings with as many people as they choose... then they are making an adult decision. A child is different. Yes, even a teen child. Even at a young age of 30, you knew that children were off limits. Didn’t matter how “hot” she looked... she was a child. There is the legal concerns of course. However, there are the moral issues as well.

[dusttoyou]

12 yes, 15 no. Besides everyone in every situation is manipulated to some degree. 15 YO dude seeing ANY chance is not being majorly manipulated, he’s volunteering at first glance.

[hout8475]

Yes, behavior usually is a pretty good giveaway with regards to age. However, having worked in high schools, you can’t always tell a 15 or 16 year old apart from an 18 or 19 year old, be it looks or behavior.

[A_perfect_lady]

You know, I think our definition of "child" is arbitrary, and I'm not sure how accurate it is. For one thing, it's only recently that we decided, as a culture, that anyone under 18 is a child. For centuries, adulthood was around 13. Girls were married, boys were enlisting... in terms of religion, I think many religions, even Christian, consider 8 the "age of reason."

We are increasingly cynical of 15 and 16 year old "youths" who riot and maim and murder... we don't tend to think of them as mere children when they get together as a gang and kick in some old man's head.

I'm not exactly sure if I can say I have a specific point here, honestly. I do know that you are right in that if this had been male-on-female, or male-on-male, I'd have a different take. I do disapprove of this woman (if she did it) but I'd want to know more before I locked her up in prison.

[Grizzled Bear]

However I do believe that the reverse, ie a 40 year old male having sex with a 15 year old girl deserves all the condemnation it gets because a 15 year old female can get pregnant and a 15 year old male cannot.

What if the 15 year old girl is on birth control? Can she have all the 40 year old men she wants? I'm basing my question on your standards and waiting for your answer...