While most cases – -worldwide — of teacher-student sex involve male teachers with female students, more and more cases of female teachers getting it on with their male students have made headlines in Japan, and North America and Europe, too. The Mainichi Shimbun’s Wai Wai section reports this week on a recent case in Japan, where a 32-year-old female teacher at a high school in Mie Prefecture was fired for seducing a male student.

Why do female teachers do it?

No one is talking directly to the media, but a few female teachers in Japan have talked about the pressures they and their colleagues often feel, according to an article in the September 19th issue of a weekly magazine called Shukan Jitsuwa. Masuo Kamiyama, a contributing writer for the Japanese-language magazine, listened as the women talked:

“I’m not trying to justify such behavior or make excuses,” says one, a teacher at a public middle school in Tokyo. “But it’s easy to start feeling attracted to them. Today’s boys grow up fast, and I can feel them undressing me with their eyes.

“Teachers these days are really overworked,” she continues, “and the more serious and dedicated the person, the less time she will have for herself. In many cases we have to work on weekends, so have little time for dating or socializing. As the stress builds up, some women feel a strong sexual urge. And at schools full of young guys, they are surrounded by temptations.”

“When fatigued, I feel beset by all sorts of urges, and to be honest, those young guys appeal to me more than the male teachers at the school,” admits an attractive math teacher at a Kanagawa prefectural high school.

Teachers who give one-on-one lessons in such disciplines as music, art or home economics seem to be in the best position to milk the situation to their advantage. One, a piano teacher in her 30s, admits to getting a perverse thrill out of teasing adolescent boys.

“Many are hoping to apply to music schools,” she says. “During a private lesson, while they’re sitting on the stool I will ‘accidentally’ nudge their shoulder with my breast, and I see them stiffen — in more places than one,” she winks. “Watching how they react, and then thinking about it later, really turns me on.”