The Downside Of Doing Your Teacher

We've covered many, many instances of teacher/student-athlete fornication. The latest issue of Rolling Stone reveals that even though it seems like every teenage boy's fantasy, it can really fuck a kid up.

In 2003, Jason Eickmeyer was a 15-year-old wrestler at Hammonton High School in Jersey when he began a relationship with 26-year-old gym teacher Traci Tapp. What began as an overt flirtation, soon blossomed into something bigger, something more profound, from Eickmeyer's vantage point, and eventually became a full-on sexual relationship that went on for an extended period of time. Jason found out he wasn't the first — she'd had numerous relationships with other teenage jocks during her three years at Hammonton — but he definitely wanted to be her final conquest and build a life with her once he turned 18. Tapp swiftly put an end to the relationship with Jason who, ill-equipped to emotionally deal with the letdown, soon found himself depressed, and disinterested in anything but Ms. Tapp. He quit wrestling, his grades slipped, he became prone to violent outbursts — the predictable downward spiral of a heartbroken man. By his senior year, the story says, "Jason bore little resemblance to the jock he'd once been." His mother finally intervened and told the school about the affair her son was having with Ms. Tapp. To her surprise— the school already KNEW about it, but felt uncomfortable pursuing it after the initial rumors popped up. And Jason's classmates didn't take too kindly to this news going public either:

Jason would rather not remember the final three months of his senior year. Rooms got quiet when he walked in. "Why'd you rat her out?" students demanded. "What'd she do to you?" Ms. Tapp's popularity made Jason's snitching a violation of the highest order; by speaking to the police, he had invited the outside world into their high school bubble. His best friend since the seventh grade urged him to call the whole thing off, saying, "If you go through with this, then our friendship is over." Once, at a party, a former teammate refused to speak to Jason until he had stripped down to his boxers to prove he wasn't wearing a wire.

It's been almost five years and Eickmeyer still hasn't recovered and continues to be hung up on Ms. Tapp, who was finally fired from Hammonton High about two years after their affair. The RS story is written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, pulls generously from and there's a a soon-to-be completed documentary about the male student/teacher sex phenomenon called "After School" , which will also feature Jason's story.

This well-worn territory and it seems every year more and more of these incidents pop up around the country with little or no jail time for the older female involved. It's not gonna stop, either — the hypnotic power of a teenage boy's hard-on distorts all logic and rational thought. At least it appears that's the conclusion of many schools and state legal systems.

Sex, Lies and Phys Ed [RS]
"After School" Director's Site [Chris Barrett TV]
Hammonton, New Jersey [Teacher Trash]

Send an email to A.J. Daulerio, the author of this post, at ajd@deadspin.com.

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