Double Standard for Female Sexual Predators?

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," May 4, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Former teacher Pamela Rogers is back behind bars after sending pornographic videos of herself to a 14-year-old student she had sex with last year. But Pamela Rogers is just the latest in a string of young, attractive, female teachers preying on their teenage students. Are these case on the rise?

Joining us live in Los Angeles is USC law professor Susan Estrich, welcome Susan, and do you think we're getting more of these stories or we're hearing more of these stories?

SUSAN ESTRICH, USC LAW PROFESSOR: It's hard to tell, Greta. I mean we're certainly hearing more and the question is, is there an actual increase or is it just that there have always been these cases but boys, mostly boys are coming forward and actually telling us about cases we never heard about?

VAN SUSTEREN: Is there a double standard? It does seem that the prettier...

ESTRICH: Absolutely.

VAN SUSTEREN: OK. I didn't even get — I guess you feel strongly about it. Why? I mean why are we letting this happen a double standard? We've been fighting against double standards.

ESTRICH: Well, because we've got friends like Geraldo who keep telling us that there's something different and something less serious about a female teacher who has sex with a boy, a male student, than there is about a male teacher who has sex with a female student.

For the life of me I can't understand that point of view. But you've got a lot of men out there who say, "Where were these teachers when I was a boy?" And, I think it's just outrageous.

It seems to me very clear that in every one of these cases where we have a female teacher if the sexes were reversed, if it was a male teacher, they'd be in prison. We'd be shocked and horrified. And yet because it's a female teacher and a boy they get away with murder or they get away with rape, statutory rape in most of these cases.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. So, there's a double standard between men teachers and women teachers having sex with children. How about, this sounds terrible but unattractive women teachers and attractive women teachers, is there a double standard there?

ESTRICH: Always that's the case. I mean you can play these games with juries and have them judge cases based on the attractiveness of the defendant, the attractiveness of the victim and if you put a really attractive teacher out there you will have men saying to each other, knocking each other and saying, "Gee, lucky fellow, what's he complaining about?"

And what's really troubling about that is for these young boys who can be really negatively affected, traumatized if you will by this abuse of power because this really isn't about sex. It's about abusing power and the teacher is in a position of authority. And the fact that she's a good- looking teacher doesn't make it any less an abuse of power but it makes it more difficult for the boy to come forward.

And, I think going back to your first question one of the reasons we're finally hearing about these cases is hopefully because people like you are finally talking about them but it isn't easy to come forward when we do have people saying things like, "Oh, lucky guy. I wish I was there" you know.

VAN SUSTEREN: We only have about 40 seconds left but who should we look for first to clean this up, the judges or the prosecutors or the defense lawyers in terms of the double standard in the system?

ESTRICH: Well, ultimately it's going to have to be the juries. I mean the prosecutors are going to have to prosecute these cases but ultimately the folks watching your program if they sit on juries are going to have to judge these cases just as seriously no matter how pretty the teacher is and no matter whether it's a male or a female on the other end. And society has just got to change its views.

The same thing used to be true in rape cases I have to say and date rapes were judged seriously. And what changed was the social climate and that's what's got to change here.

VAN SUSTEREN: And we got to do a show some night on the issue of rape because boy there certainly is an array of different opinions on that one, date rape.

ESTRICH: Wow!

VAN SUSTEREN: That's a whole hour. Susan, thank you.

ESTRICH: That's an hour. Thank you.

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