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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[–] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 276 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Rape. She raped those boys. Use the correct terminology.

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 88 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Legally speaking women cannot be rapists in the UK at least from what I remember.

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 84 points 1 week ago (11 children)
[–] BussyCat@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (4 children)

They define rape as penetration

Good news is she did seem to actually be punished with a sizable prison sentence (by uk standards)

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[–] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Do I look like I give a fuck what the law says? They were underage, ergo could not give consent, ergo it was rape. Also power dynamics teacher pupil makes it even more rapey

[–] fonix232@fedia.io 92 points 1 week ago (7 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.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week 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 19 points 1 week 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 week ago

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

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[–] PoastRotato@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I agree, but there are libel laws to consider here. It serves no one to open yourself up to a lawsuit, especially one from which the rapist can only benefit.

Thankfully I'm not a citizen of TERF Island. She raped them.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Hi! I'm not worried about being sued. She raped at least two children.

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[–] tomiant@piefed.social 21 points 1 week ago

Do I look like I give a fuck what the law says? They were underage, ergo could not give consent

Underage is literally a legal definition, so clearly you do care. Calm down.

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

I agree with you, my comment was meant to draw attention to the crappy law.

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[–] abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 week ago

Which is fucked up frankly because that's clearly not true.

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 134 points 1 week ago (2 children)

falling pregnant by a second while on police bail.

She really can't stop fucking kids, can she?

Maybe she has a future in US government

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 50 points 1 week ago (2 children)

US Government? She's already in the UK, why would she leave a Pro League to go an Amatuer one?

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[–] bunkyprewster@startrek.website 97 points 1 week ago (14 children)

She forgot to be a billionaire

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[–] MrSulu@lemmy.ml 68 points 1 week ago

Whether we call it rape or not, is less relevant than the real world UK offences and sentencing guide for sex with a minor. She will serve her time, be on a sex offenders register for life, never work in teaching again and an indelible record that will show up on any safeguarding checks.

Here in the UK, our issue is that women and girls are told by the likes of Tommy (shit-for-brains) Robinson to look out for brown, black or Muslim people. Every week, women and girls have drinks spiked andraped by local white men, or are raped by people known and close to them.

This story will get some headline news because she's an attractive white woman. If it was a brown, black, Muslim male, preferably with a beard, then we would be seeing widespread fear mongering by almost every news site.

[–] MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Paedophile teacher who raped two boys is struck off

Edit: at least six rape apologists didn't appreciate my headline correction.

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[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago

I would like to welcome Rebecca Joyner to her future career in the Trump administration.

[–] lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 32 points 1 week ago

falling pregnant

I always find this expression incredibly strange.

Obligatory
south park detective: nice.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 25 points 1 week ago (4 children)

The TRA panel said that they found no evidence that Joynes’ qualities as a teacher outweighed the serious nature of the conviction

Wut? There was a invistgation on this? what evidence would outweigh???

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

“When she’s not busy raping her students, she’s actually a pretty decent teacher.”

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[–] BaroqueInMind@piefed.social 24 points 1 week ago (31 children)

Why do this? There's millions of legal age men who would love to start a family with this crazy woman. Why did she rape kids?

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/former-maths-teacher-rebecca-joynes-banned-from-teaching-after-grooming-two-school-boys/news-story/0fe2070f15e4694d585491d7ea183cdb

One kid was 15, the other 16.

She was 30 or 31.

... the answer is because she's a groomer, a pedophile, by how those terms are generally used.

She gets off on the power imbalance, she gets off on manipulating and exploiting those who don't and can't reasonably be expected to know better.

She either wouldn't prefer to be or just couldn't be in a relationship with someone on an equal playing field.

She's a sexual predator, the kind you'd stereotypically call Chris Hansen to investigate.

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[–] Mihies@programming.dev 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

She is an amateur. She should just say that she didn't know them and it's certainly a democrats conspiracy.

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[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Joynes was suspended pending a police investigation. But this did not stop her from inviting a second boy to her apartment for a “date night” that involved an Ann Summers scratchcard of sexual activities.

She became pregnant with the boy and gave birth last year, but the child was taken away from her.

This is sickening! The fact that she only got six years is a severe injustice to those two boys and the unfortunate child that was conceived in such a manner. Let's not "both sides" this: sex abuse is sex abuse. As @MrSulu@lemmy.ml pointed out, this will probably get some attention among far-right chuds for about week and get forgotten. It won't solve any issues and one more kid will fall into that hateful ideology. I hope the two boys get the help they need and that baby gets a good family that will look after it.

(Also, I had to look up what "Ann Summers" was in the context of this story and now I feel like shooting my laptop)

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[–] Rakonat@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So now the administration just needs to pardon her and make her Secretary of Education. Causes that's fucking on brand for this shit show.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 30 points 1 week ago (5 children)

They'd struggle to pardon someone in the UK.

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