this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2025
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Rebecca Joynes is currently serving a six and a half year prison sentence

A teacher who was convicted for having sex with two boys, becoming pregnant by one, has been banned from the profession.

Maths teacher Rebecca Joynes, 31, was jailed for six and a half years in July last year after being found guilty of six counts of sexual activity with a child, after sleeping with one pupil before falling pregnant by a second while on police bail.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) convened earlier this month via a virtual hearing, which Joynes did not attend, to consider her professional conduct. A panel recommended she be banned from teaching.

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[–] fonix232@fedia.io 86 points 1 day ago (4 children)

In the UK, the definition of rape requires penetration from the offending party by their genitalia. So unless the teacher has a monster clit she used to anally penetrate the boys, the definition of rape can't apply. For that there's the broader definition of sexual assault.

Journalists, since their purpose is to serve the public with the truth, have to really carefully choose their words as using the wrong legal term can get them in hot water - libel lawsuits and such, not to mention accusations of trying to shape the public's opinion, and so on.

So yeah, you'll rarely find directly said out statements in the news as most journos will try to get to as close to the definition as possible without exposing themselves to legal action. That's why you'll often see e.g. statements like "the purported killer" even if there's clear evidence of the person being the murderer, simply because the case hasn't been judged yet therefore the legal term murderer - which requires a conviction - cannot be applied, and using it before the trial even happens is a big no-no.

Don't get me wrong, I fully agree with you that if it was a man with two young girls, the article would be going on the offensive much quicker, and even here they should've used the term "sexually assaulted" instead of "had sex with", but specifically the term rape cannot apply here.

[–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

by their genitalia

So the IDF can bring their dogs and iron bars, to the UK, and that's not rape...

... Gets me wondering wtf law makers in the UK are up to.

[–] fonix232@fedia.io 4 points 21 hours ago

The UK's law is precedent based. The definition of rape thus goes back all the way to the 1800s (like many other restrictive laws that need to be revisited, e.g. classifying any transportation device with any kind of engine, i.e. not human or animal propelled, as a vehicle thus forcing the owners of e.g. low end e-scooters to have licences, registration, insurance etc. without providing the framework for any of these), wherein rape was almost exclusively committed by men, therefore lawmakers found it proper to define it as penetration of the victim using one's genitalia - in a way to differentiate from "lesser" sexual assaults like flashing someone or forcing their hands on said genitalia.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thank you for the informative reply. As a layman in another country who isn't worried about specific local laws, I'd like to add that she raped at least two children.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

New York had (has?) a similar distinction. It came up in the E Jean Carrol saga; specifically Trump suing for defamation after her lawsuit, because it wasn’t- technically- rape.

IIRC it was dismissed with the judge saying that it fits the modern lay definition of rape and that’s not defamation.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

They didn’t call it “sexual assault” either, so I’m inclined to not accept that excuse.

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

by their genitalia.

So, like not using an object of some sort?

Journalists, since their purpose is to serve the public with the truth, have to really carefully choose their words as using the wrong legal term

Still seems like a more generic term such as "sexual assault" would be applicable here.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

It would, but that's a very broad term. I expect they were trying to be specific, but only succeeded in being forgiving in the headline.