This case study, discussed in “Jailbait: The Politics of Statutory Rape Laws in the United States” reminded me of a clip from our recent conversation with Richard Hanania. Richard, what do you think of Tara? Sexual predator or generous redistributor of sex to young, mentally incapable boys?

Tara, a 23-year-old assistant teacher, had sexual intercourse with two of her 13-year-old male special education students; indeed, she was living with one of them and his parents. The parents “knew she was staying there, but they didn’t have a clue” about the sex. The student asked her to move out after three weeks, feeling “strange” about the relationship, and requested that she not have sex with his friends. She moved back into her parents’ house, and indeed began to have a sexual relationship with his best friend. Around this time, she also apparently performed sex acts on two other 12-year-old males at her parents’ house. All of this was discovered by police after she confided in another student, who told a teacher’s assistant, who told a principal, who told the authorities (Leftkowitz and Gardiner 2001).