Author aims to shock with 'sickest book of the summer' about 'insatiable' female teacher who preys on school boys for sex

Tampa, by U.S. author Alissa Nutting, has caused controversy

About teacher obsessed with teen boys, it contains graphic sex scenes

Writer said she aims to shock to change society's views

She believes male victims treated differently to females

A new novel about a predatory female teacher who preys on young boys has been banned in some book shops and branded 'disgusting' by those shocked by its graphic sexual content.

Tampa, by U.S. author Alissa Nutting, tells the story of the 'insatiable' eight-grade teacher Celeste Price, 26. She has a 'husband who is devoted to her' but has a 'singular sexual obsession - 14-year-old boys'.

In fact, she only chose the teaching profession so she could get close to school boys and the novel unfolds with sexual scenes of her seducing her pupils and caring 'nothing for anyone or anything but her own pleasure'.

Causing controversy: Author Alissa Nutting has written a book that has been banned in some shops and she won't let her parents read it

Cosmopolitan have described the book as a 'twisted tale' and 'the sickest, most controversial book of the summer' and it has been banned in some Australian book stores.



Nutting, a new mother, has forbidden her own Catholic parents from reading it and has admitted some of the abuse she has received from outraged readers has been 'difficult'.

But she told The Times the whole point of the book is to shock and offer a 'social satire' on the way male victims of predatory teachers are treated by society in comparison to females.

She said: 'When these cases occur there is all this "nudge, nudge, wink, wink, what a lucky boy."

Gender differences: Nutting said the cases of teachers Debra Lafave, left, and Jeremy Forrest, who both had relationships with their students, were handled differently by society

'It's one thing for an adult male to think, 'gee, she looks great, I'd like to have sex with her' - assuming the boy is able to consent as we are, which I think is untrue. When the victim is female we don't do any of that.'

She points out that when the victim is a male, the tendency is for people to think he wanted the attention from the teacher because he's an adolescent with raging hormones. Whereas female victims are always seen to be 'taken advantage of'.



'We eroticise the (female) teacher. I'd like to guide the reader into understanding how uncomfortable and upsetting that tendency is'

This has been shown in the British press recently with the case of married teacher, Jeremy Forrest, who was jailed for running away with a 15-year-old pupil.

There has been numerous cases of female teachers seducing school boys but these do not get the same coverage or condemnation according to Nutting.

She said: 'I wanted to satirise the ways that these cases are received in society. Always looking to excuse the woman rather than looks at it as a criminal case, the way we do with men.'

Explicit: Tampa is about a female teacher obsessed with having sex with teen boys

She said through the sexual content in her book and the extreme character of Celeste - who won't even have children because she's scared she'd want to have sex with her son when he's a teen - she wants to change people's way of thinking when the seducer of a pupil is a woman and not a man.



She explained: 'Portions of the book will shock and should shock. That's what's missing from these cases.

'We eroticise the (female) teacher, fetishise them, use them for our own arousal. I'd like to guide the reader into understanding how uncomfortable and upsetting that tendency is.'



Nutting's inspiration came from the media attention surrounding the case of Debra Lafave, a teacher in Florida who pleaded guilty in 2005 to having sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Nutting had gone to school with Lafave and was alarmed at how in the press coverage, more focus was made on the fact she was an attractive blonde (often pictured in a bikini) than on her crimes. Implying the school boy had 'got lucky' rather than been abused.

She said: 'With a boy, the reaction is so extreme as to have people say no crime was committed - 'what a wonderful learning experience, it will make him more popular'.



'If the table were turned, those comments would be so obviously appalling.'

