The story is not an uncommon one. A teacher is caught having an inappropriate relationship with a student, whether that means graphic text messages, flirting or actual sex. It's upsetting, but these stories bubble up from time to time. Maybe you remember whisperings of something similar in your hometown.

This week, it's Alexandria Vera of Houston, Texas. She turned herself in yesterday on charges of the continuous sexual abuse of a child, a middle-school student of hers. In court documents, she confessed to daily sexual encounters with the boy, who was 13 at the time.

Vera has earned extra attention because of the many details she shared with officials, like the fact that she became pregnant with the boy's child. Or that his parents allegedly knew about their relationship, and even encouraged it — Vera was invited to family gatherings and her victim was permitted to sleep over at her house regularly, she says. On school nights!

And she happens to be gorgeous. Her kissy selfies are on Facebook for anyone to see (for now), and they add to the lasciviousness.

Of course, her looks don't matter. Their genders don't matter: The fact that the victim is a boy, which seems to suggest to some that he enjoyed the abuse somehow. It's not scandalous or sexy or hot for a teacher to have sexual relations with her student almost every day for months. It's rape. And if the parents were really involved, as she claims — a big if, because the case is new — that means that they were accessories to the ongoing sexual abuse of a child. Their own child. A little boy.

Legally speaking, you can't 'have sex with' a 13-year-old.

We don't really have a polite verb for sexual intercourse in English: We "have sex with" someone, which is a little clumsy. Or we "copulate," which is medical or scientific at best. But legally speaking, you can't "have sex with" a 13-year-old. Not if you're 24, as Vera is. You are assaulting that boy or girl.

Maybe the word "rape" is scary to people. It's way less fun to speculate about a hot teacher and a lucky student if what happened between them was rape. But if convicted of the crime she has already confessed to, this woman will be a sex offender. Her behavior could constitute a first-degree felony and land her up to 25 years in prison. So let's talk about this depravity in a serious manner. You would if it was your kid, right?

Kaitlin Menza Kaitlin Menza is a freelance features writer.

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