This article takes popular media scandals surrounding cases of female secondary school teachers charged with sexual offences against male students as its point of inquiry. Using the infamous story of former American schoolteacher Debra Lafave as a case study, it examines the over-determined dynamics of fascination, eroticisation and anxiety structuring the representation and reception of this case and others like it. The article argues that the ‘sex panic’ over female teacher sex offenders is often less about the women than it is about male adolescent sexuality.
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