Sex (in) Education

• In Event: Preventing Sexual Offending

Abstract

Sexual misconduct in our education system has garnered considerable attention over the past decade with reports occurring at a feverish pitch in recent years. National exposure has been marked by sensationalized incidents dramatized in popular culture and national news media with depictions of female teachers as perpetrators against under-age male students. Pop-culture portrayals have been the catalyst for made-for-tv movies, television documentaries, truecrime novels, and websites. The public discourse over high profile cases with female perpetrators compared to male perpetrators reveals some of society’s gender biased views about sex offenders. Despite recent interest and attention, the phenomenon is not new, empirical attention has been grossly underrepresented not keeping pace with crime prevalence. The most recent comprehensive examination is more than a decade ago (Shakeshaft, 2004). The present work draws on a comprehensive dataset of hundreds of reported incidents of sexual abuse perpetrated by educators and school personnel. The study seeks to create a typology of school based sex offenders examining offender, victim, and incident characteristics to develop baseline profiles and examine the dynamics of the crime. Comparative analyses examining M/F sex differences will be conducted to contextualize the offense, dispel media myths, and distinguish fact from fiction.

Authors

• Jeffrey A. Walsh, Illinois State University

• Jessie L. Krienert, Illinois State University

• Eric Hickey, California State University, Fresno