Susan Murphy-Milano...

Source: AP

"In courtrooms nationwide in the past six months, at least eight women - four of them teachers - have been charged or sentenced for having sex with boys, mostly teenagers. One of the women is pregnant.

No definitive data exists on whether more females are sexually abusing children. Yet the number arrested for sex crimes has risen in five of the past six years as more people consider molestation of boys as heinous as that of girls.

"There's been a decline in the double standard. That's why you're seeing more of these cases," says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. As more women enter law enforcement, he says the old attitude that boys are willing, even lucky, participants has changed."

But... in one of the more high-profile cases (Debra LaFave), the abuser was spared jail time.

So I am asking myself..How many stories would be written if a male molested an underage girl, served time and then married the girl when he was released?  A double standard is definitely in place and the losers are the children. Shame on all who try to put a spin on these female molesters, as if we are saying as a society, they are not as dispicable as their male counterparts.

There is NO DOUBT a double standard.  Mothers encourage their daughters to immediately report any contact with a stranger or even a questionable pat on the shoulder.  They do NOT encourage their sons in a similar manner.  

Why is it that the first sexual experience for a girl, especially under the age of 17, is supposedly a "traumatic" experience never to be forgotten?  But the same experience for an underage boy is passed off as nothing serious.

Yes, males and females are different...but should that excuse differing levels of sex crime enforcement?
That's akin to excusing differing penalties for various ethnic groups...we'd NEVER tolerate that!
Shame on our legal system for their part in this double standard.  Shame on society for accepting it.