Caroline Berriman: sexism at it’s worst.

In 2013, Jeremy Forrest, a former mathematics teacher, was sentenced to five and half years in prison for a four-month long affair with a 15-year-old pupil. This sentence was based on the fact that he demonstrated clarity of thought and intention as to his actions; based upon text message evidence and the planning that went into the two of them fleeing the country.

With this in mind, it’s very difficult to understand why Caroline Berriman, a teaching assistant who had sex up to 50 times with a 15-year-old boy, has been handed a two-year suspended sentence and 250 hours of community service.

Now, you could say that there was difference in that Forrest abducted the girl in question and took her to France. But ask yourself, is that really significantly different to Berriman inviting her victim over every day to have sex? Is it so different to Berriman contacting her victim over Facebook to get his number in the first place? Encouraging her daughter to refer to him as “dad?”

There is one clear factor here that has had an unacceptable influence over the sentence. In a word: sexism.

Berriman is a woman and therefore she is not regarded as a rapist (in fact the UK legal definition of rape makes it impossible for a woman to even be charged with such a crime). Forrest is a man; therefore he must have manipulating his victim for his own sexual needs in the most vile and selfish way. Berriman must have just been lonely and needed a nice young man to cheer her up.

This is the thinking that seems to have been employed when sentencing here; no effort seems to have been made to taking any guidance from the Forrest case. Incidentally, I don’t doubt for one second that Forrest manipulated that girl; he was in a position of power and he abused it. But Berriman did exactly the same thing; she made the first contact, she played with his emotions, she apparently told him she was pregnant at one point.

I’m not saying the issue of Forrest abducting his victim shouldn’t mean a harsher sentence, but why is there such a wide gap between these two punishments?

Before I conclude, let’s talk about the big counter argument. The one that’ll come up in conversation when you’re in the pub talking about what’s gone wrong here. The victim in the Berriman case probably enjoyed himself more than the victim in the Forrest case. If anyone says this to you, point out that (strange as it may seem; but I read in a book somewhere) apparently women enjoy sex too. Would the victim in the Forrest case have willing got in a car and gone to France with him if she didn’t like what was going on? Before anyone attacks the comment section, I’m not victim blaming here; I’m pointing out that both victims in both cases got some sexual pleasure out of the relationships. To say that the victim in Berriman case is less of a victim because he’s male is the height of victim blaming and sexism.

Sexual abuse of children is one of the most serious crimes in western society; causing some of most prevalent psychiatric problems for the victims (not to mention the physical damage). The sentencing of Caroline Berriman demonstrates a failure to take it seriously for no better reason than her being a woman. This is sexism: plain and simple.