Laura Lynn Cross, 36, charged with sexual battery in Ohio after giving birth to her former student’s child, joins the growing number of women accused or convicted of having sex with adolescents. About two weeks ago, a Georgia woman, Angelene McAnulty, 25, was charged with having sex with a 15-year-old boy. Last week, Lee Annette Williams, 50, of North Carolina, was charged with statutory rape of a former student when the now-22-year-old man was 14.
What is going on in the minds of these women?
First, there is the obvious: In order for an adult to manipulate an adolescent to have sex, that adult has to have little regard for free will. The adolescent in such a scenario — relatively new to sexual encounters and potentially worried about the consequences of saying no — would be ill-equipped to refuse the advances of his teacher.
What sort of women have so little regard for the autonomy of others? Generally, they are women whose own boundaries were shattered in childhood or adolescence. It is cliché, but also true, that sexual offenders were most often victims themselves (whether of sexual misconduct or physical violence or significant emotional violence).
As I have said before, there’s no original evil left in the world; everyone is just recycling pain now. ..Continued..
