Love me tender....
This is a little more serious than my typical blog....no fart references (stop crying....I will do some fart blogging later.) I just want to share with you a situation and see what you think.I want to tell you about Jessica. I want to start her story from when she was 12 years old. Like most 12 year olds, she felt like she was a "woman" and was more than ready to be treated like an adult. She felt quite capable of deciding what was best for her.
Way back in the second grade, when she was just a kid, she befriended a teacher. She maintained contact with Mr. Jones throughout the years, and eventually ended up back in his class at her oh-so-mature 12 years old. She realized her feelings for him extended way beyond friendship, and a time came where it was obvious he reciprocated the feeling. In a night of incredible passion, Jessica ended up making love to him, like the adults do, and felt as though she were truly a grown woman. These encounters repeated frequently, and she felt so good being in love. Jacob routinely confessed his love for her as well, yet stressed the importance of secrecy as "other people" may not understand their very special relationship.
The secret was exposed, however, when she ended up pregnant. Scandal rocked the small community in which they lived, and her love was found guilty of raping a child and sent to prison. He is warned not to make contact with her, and her family vows to protect the child from this terrible man. She didn't completely know what to do - she was in love, but confused. Jessica felt brainwashed, but wasn't sure by who. Then he is released on parole a few years later. At the sweet age of 16 she felt more than capable of making her own choices, and she resumed the relationship. Jessica would sneak away with him to a secluded spot, and share an intimate encounter. However, they were once again discovered and off to prison Jacob goes again. Shortly afterwards, she discovers that she is once again pregnant, and gives birth to another child.
Time goes by, and the community around her slowly recovers from the shockwave that began before Jessica was a teenager. But it won't last as Jacob finishes his sentence and is released. The judge imposed an order not allowing him to communicate with her, but Jessica successfully fights to have it removed. They are finally married, set to live happily ever after. The wedding is a huge fanfare - attended by an agency with exclusive rights. A reporter talks her up, shows off her dress, remarks about how in love this couple is. There are routine interviews with Jacob, who states that the age difference of more than 20 years has no bearing on their relationship, he is truly in love with Jessica. He still does not believe that it was wrong to sleep with her when he was 33 and she was 12 - there was nothing indecent. There was only love.
As you may have guessed the above story is slightly inaccurate. First of all, "Jessica" was not a little girl, she was a little boy named Vili Fualaau. The teacher was Mary Kay Letourneau.
What is true is that they had two children together, they were wed this month in a highly guarded ceremony, and they both say that they are truly in love.
What is also true is that Vili Fualaau and his mother filed a civil suit against the Highline School District and the Des Moines Police Department because they "didn't do enough" to stop the relationship between Fualaau and his teacher/lover. Mary Kay Letourneau spent 7 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of statutory rape. She even spent 6 months in solitary confinement for refusing to abide by the courts no-contact order.
Furthermore, a lot of people have profited off of their relationship. for example:
If Loving You Is Wrong, by Gregg Olsen
The Mary Kay Letourneau Affair by James Robinson
The Mary Kay Letourneau Story: All American Girl,a 2000 TV movie
Mary Kay Latourneau: Forbidden Desire, a Court TV documentary
"Mary Kay Letourneau: The E! True Hollywood Story,"an E! THS episode
"Mary Kay Letourneau: Out of Bounds," an A&E Biography episode
A new book Mass With Mary: The Prison Years by Christina Dress, with Mary Kay Letourneau was released in July 2004. It was written by three of Letourneau's fellow inmates.
Info obtained at
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mary-Kay-LetourneauAnd let's not forget that exclusive media coverage of the wedding was given to "Entertainment Tonight'' and "The Insider,'' who I am sure had (sarcasm warning) *no* financial interest in publicizing the marriage of a sex-offender to her victim. (For those interested, the shows did lose some sponsors over the move.)
I have really been thinking a lot about this situation, and I admit that my opinion is greatly affected by the fact that I am the mother of two boys. I am also a little sick to my stomach because I have always been under the impression that teachers are to protect the children when they are at school, not violate them. I think of the victims in this case, Steve Letourneau, Mary Kay and Steve's children, Vili Fualaau, and the two little girls Mary and Vili brought into this world. I think of lost innocence, and the increased trepidation felt by parents every day as they send their kids off to school. I think of having the "talk" with my own children much sooner that I thought I needed too. I am forced to rethink my position regarding sex education in schools. I think about parents considering every consequence of every action they take towards their children much more carefully, fearing that it may cause the child to feel "unloved" or "unappreciated" and drive them to accept the attention from those who don't maintain their best interests.
The law knows the difference between child molestation and true love, and the law used it in the case of Mary Kay. However, I am not so sure society does - I don't believe the Entertainment Tonight producers do. Or maybe they just don't care. Exclusive rights to the Letourneau-Fualaau will probably get them great ratings and some nice cash. (sarcasm warning #2) Lord knows when you are owned by Viacom you can always use more money. I just wonder if the same decision would have been made if it were teacher Jacob Jones marrying little Jessica.
posted by Heather @ 3:44 PM
6 Comments:
Ugh, I saw that they got married. I don't get it. I just don't get it.
It's so sad isn't it. My husband said "Vili's entire life was messed up. He's not the man he would have been."
Who knows WHO he would have been, I guess we'll never know.
(I suppose he wouldn't be famous and probably receiving money from a million sources for selling his story...)
Love comes in many different guises, next you'll get some billionaire musician accused of child molesting, who will walk free.....
It's a sad world where news makes money and everyone profits!
I'm with Jen; I just don't get it. That woman has got to be living in her own little freak world.
So Scott are you saying it's love? I mean, I don't doubt that (Or rather I don't judge that, only they know)...but the fact that they began having sex when he was TWELVE is wrong..wrong...wrong.
I wonder if they're settled in yet, and who's paying the bills?
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