Letourneau, Ex-Pupil Plan to Wed April 16

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4798877,00.html

Letourneau, Ex-Pupil Plan to Wed April 16

Monday February 14, 2005 12:31 PM


SEATTLE (AP) - Mary Kay Letourneau and her former sixth-grade pupil, Vili Fualaau, with whom she had two children, have set the date for their wedding, according to an online bridal registry.

Letourneau, 43, and Fualaau, 22, plan to wed April 16, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Monday. Letourneau served 7 years on a 1997 conviction for raping Fualaau.
<snip>

Soriano said they became engaged when Fualaau proposed last fall, but they have been trying to keep wedding details a secret. But with a guest list that will include more than 200 people, the news was bound to come out eventually, he said.

The wedding will likely be held in a Seattle-area church, Soriano said. Details are yet to be completed, but plans call for their daughters to be flower girls and Fualaau's nephew to be a ring bearer, he said.

The couple's bridal registry at the Bon-Macy's listed 31 items Sunday. <snip>

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. hmmmm

How come society shows greater disapproval of these relationships when the victim is a male...

[BikeWriter]

2. Well, uh, she did serve seven years...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. If It Was A Man He Would Still Be In Prison...

I am sure you see my point...


If a male teacher slept with a twelve year old female student the stigma would be huge but if a beatuful female teacher like Mary Kay La Tournneau slept with a twelve year old male a lot of guys wished something like that happened to them...

It's the ick fator that piques my interest...

[BikeWriter]

5. Possibly. She may still be on probation, too.

[DistantWind88]

8. Any stats

That support your claim that a man would still be in prison for this? What's the average sentence for a male committing statutory rape.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. I'm Talking About Community Reaction..

If a male teacher was convicted of having sex with his twelve year old female student the opprobrium would be huge...

I don't have the statistics... And statutory rape is a benign term in this instance.. A 18 year old man can be accused of statutory rape for having sex with a sixteen year old girl in some states.... This is a case of a thirtyish year old woman actiing in loco parentis sleeping with a twelve year old boy..

I am not saying she should have been punished more severely ... I am just curious as to society's reaction especially among men...


In this case most of the guys I have talked to thought Villi was lucky and why it didn't happen to them...

[DistantWind88]

14. Most guys DO

think he was lucky. I know I would have at his age. I'd have especially thought that with either of those teachers in Florida and now Tennessee.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. That's The Part That Puzzles Me...

If it was a male teacher and a female student the ick factor would be stratospheric....

[DistantWind88]

16. You're right

We consider the Male teacher-Female student relationship much more coercive.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. It's the great Cosmic Asymmetry of the Universe

Men are ugly. Women are beautiful. :loveya:

[Raenelle]

21. Why young female-old male is worse by four

It's about power relationships. Generally, male trumps female. Men start with a control edge. But, older trumps younger. Older people start with some cultural claims to deference. So, with young female-older male, you have the young female tending to be dominated twice over. With young male-older female, it's a wash.

[El Fuego]

28. For LeTourneau, it was all about real true LOVE

So there is less of an ick factor, I think, in this case. Our society's standards of 18 years being acceptable for adult relations are purely arbitrary and imposed by the reigning mores and traditions. In more "primitive" societies, sex and partnering off starts as soon as sexual maturity is reached, which can be MUCH sooner than 18.

[shrike]

40. Being that she was diagnosed bipolar

This whole thing has always made me wonder. Bipolar people do irrational things. I have some in my family. One flunked out of college twice, became a missionary, lived in Europe for years and now is engaged to marry a woman who wants eight children. He also believes God has cured his illness.

Have to wonder about the practicalities of it, too. She can't teach, he's a high school dropout with a GED, and from the last I heard, few employment possibilities. Maybe they're hoping for a book deal or a reality TV show.

[philosophie_en_rose]

49. For raping a child.

Vili is an adult, but he's also a victim of an adult who put her childish fantasies above a child's well-being. Sorry, but Mary Kay LeTourneau could have waited until Vili was an adult.

LeTourneau is a pedophile and, in Washington state if not the entire country, she will always be a registered sex offender.

Vili is an adult now, but how much of a choice does he really have? He has no education, job, or anything to depend upon but the relationship with LeTourneau. It's like being forced to become a prostitute.

True love knows no age-limits? Maybe. But real love would wait.

[LynneSin]

4. They're both adults - I wish them the best of luck

Sure, his life was was torn apart and she served jail time. But they are both adults - I hope they have a good life together and stay together forever because surely we don't want these 2 single and preying on new victems (because let's face it - he's probably pretty messed up too)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. The Whole Story Has Shakesperean Overtones...

Mary Kay LaTourneau's father was a conservative Republican congressman who got in trouble for sexual indiscretions...

[papau]

9. Did not know that - yes it is truly Shakesperean! :-)

We should have a musical version in New York fairly soon!

:toast:

:-)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. They Have A Similiar Case In Tampa Now And That Teacher Is

Smoking Too...


Maybe they are emotionally stunted and find gratification in having sex with an inferior...

[papau]

18. Sad - child rape is child rape - sick - very sick :-(

:-(

[barb162]

30. ditto

[JohnKleeb]

11. Yes and who was kicked of the John Birch society for being too extreme

Old Man Schmitz was a nut.

[arwalden]

6. I Hope That They Live Happily Ever After!

:-)

[hlthe2b]

10. Well, thank God... Can we be done with them now?

BTW, anyone want to take bets on how long the marriage will last now that the thrill of the "forbidden" is gone?

[Massachusetts]

17. Who gives a SH#T

:wtf:

[trof]

20. Ain't love grand?

[EstimatedProphet]

22. kick

[edbermac]

23. Letourneau, ex-pupil to wed after prison.

Perfect timing for this announcement on Valentine's Day...who says there is no romance left in the world?

SEATTLE -- Mary Kay Letourneau plans to marry the former sixth-grade pupil with whom she had two children, months after her release from prison for raping him, according to an online bridal registry.

Letourneau, 43, and Vili Fualaau, 22, set a wedding date of April 16, according to their registry at a department store. Letourneau served 7 1/2 years on a 1997 conviction for raping Fualaau, who has said in the past that he hoped to wed his former teacher.

"It's been long overdue," Noel Soriano, a friend of the couple, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in a story published Monday. "It's going to be fabulous, seeing them get hitched finally."

Letourneau was a 34-year-old married mother of four when she began a sexual relationship with her then-12-year-old elementary school student in 1996. She was pregnant with Fualaau's first child when she was arrested in 1997 and ordered to serve a six-month sentence for second-degree child rape.

Soriano said Fualaau proposed last fall, but the couple has been trying to keep wedding details a secret. Details are yet to be completed, but plans call for their daughters to be flower girls, he said.

"They have gone through a lot," Soriano said. "That they lasted this long proves how strong their love is."

[Jack_Dawson]

24. True Love

is not bound by age restrictions or other societal norms. Guess they were the Real Deal?

[JI7]

25. like Charles and Camilla

things which seem wrong or questionable at first to people for reasons from being outraged based on age and teacher/student relationship to just appearances as with Camilla.

but they still want to be with each other after all these things.

[Jamastiene]

26. I still don't see

what Prince Charles sees in Camilla. But then again, I don't see what she sees in him either.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. Prince Charles Is Weird..

He wrote Camilla that he fantasizes about being one of her sanitary napkins....


I don't care how much you like the stuff.....


ROTFLMFAO

[arwalden]

27. And They Lived Happily Ever After.... THE END!!

[opihimoimoi]

32. If he livesa to 85, he has a damn good chance of becoming a great great gr

eat great great grand father.......holy bat shit.

[JohnKleeb]

37. I dont know about that opi

but hey my late grandmother lived to be 92 and a great great grandmother.

[opihimoimoi]

48. I wuz being faceticious....... LOL

[Yavin4]

31. Older Female/Underage Male Relationships Probably Happen A Lot More Often

than what's reported. Boys probably won't complain.

[hollywood926]

43. I doubt that.

That's just not typically the way women think. Mary Kay is an unusual case, to say the least. The vast majority of hetero women want an intellectual equal and are attracted to the physique of adult males.

Not so true for men.

This case only got national attention because of how rarely women engage in this kind of behavior. It will always make the news when women do it. There would have to be a 24-hour news network to cover the number of men who do it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

46. No, I would say that it only got national attention because of how rarely

a teenage boy will complain that he got to have sex with a hot-ass sweetie older woman.

I bet this happens WAY more often than you think.

When I was a teenage boy, the chance was pretty much nil that I would ever complain about having sex with an older woman. Pretty much guaranteed I'd brag to hell about it, though!

Unless it was an ugly or gross woman who forced herself on me, then it's rape; but a cute/hot older woman? That ain't rape.

Now, YOU might think it's rape ipso facto, and the LAW might think it rape ipso facto, but I can guarantee you that, if the kid thinks the woman is a hottie, the kid DOES NOT think it's rape. THe kid is gonna think of it as an "OMG I have to brag to my friends about this they're never gonna believe it I scored the teacher holy shit!" event.

[Yavin4]

47. I Have To Disagree With You

I don't think that the Mary Kay case is all that unusual. Older Female/Underage male probably does happen at least as often as the Older Male/Underage female. Women are not some sort of superior form of humanity. IOW, women can be just as depraved as men.

[Dookus]

33. Well

they're both adults, so congrats and best wishes, Mary Kay and Vili!

[Goathead]

34. Where is he from?

That name sounds Samoan. But I thought I saw somewhere he is from Palau or someplace in Micronesia. Their customs are much different from Western customs, maybe it is no big deal where he comes from to wed somebody much older than yourself.

[cmf]

35. There was an awesome quote in the original P-I article

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/211946_wedding14.html

"She's not a pedophile, she's a 'Vili-phile,' " (Noel Soriano, a longtime friend of the family) said.

For some reason this had me rolling with laughter. Bad CMF. :spank:

[drumwolf]

44. Yes, she's a "Vili-phile," and she's been "Vili-phied" for it

Ba-dum-bump! :P

<ducks>

In all seriousness, though... if they still want to be together after all these years and all that's happened, and now that they're legal, then why not get married?

Best of luck to their romance in all of its dysfunctional glory. :shrug:

[LoZoccolo]

36. Didn't the guy not want to get back with her at some point?

I seem to remember this when she was released or he turned 18 or something.

[kwassa]

38. Older guys marry much younger women all the time

Good luck to the happy couple.

[shrike]

39. But young girls generally don't marry their rapists

If the boy involved had been in his late 'teens, well, that's sort of a gray area. At least he'd could have legally consented. But a 12-year-old kid ...

[kwassa]

42. It is hard without knowing more to define it as rape

[CubsFan1982]

41. Ew.

Just, ew. I just get creeped out every time this story comes up. Maybe if I'd had some reasonably attractive teachers K-12, I might feel differently. Every school I went to, it seemed the faculty was dominated by dried up old figs.

[regnaD kciN]

45. Maybe they can arrange a "double-wedding ceremony"...

...with Charles and Camilla.

:eyes: