I spoke in confidance the other day with one of my male colleagues at the university. He is a tenured professor of more than 20 years, and we got onto the subject of student-teacher relationships. It is firmly frowned upon at this school, as it is in many institutions, so much so that it can cost one's job and reputation. I was just curious as to why men would engage in such risky behavior knowing full well the consequences. His response was surprisingly candid:

"Honestly? Sex drive. You are around all of these beautiful women all day and you get horny. And some of them are willing to fuck you. I remember being 29 and starting out as a freshly minted full professor. The temptation can be.... unbelievable. You may have some idea, but maybe you don't. Women sometimes can really just pick up on your frustration or attraction or both, and some of them are... well... if you're trying to stay 'virtuous' or some such thing, it's probably not going to work out. Again, we're talking about conscenting adults etc. But it's the power play that kind of sets it up as this kinky thing. Sometimes the temptation is there and it's just constant and daily and it's maybe one or two or three girls. It wasn't here, and it was a long time ago, but I went through an affair with a student. I was 34 or 35, she was 22. It started off with me really just pressing to politely avoid it. I didn't want to go so far as to get this girl in trouble and so... eventually... I cracked. We had sex. A LOT of sex. It was amazing... what were we talking about?"