Crossing boundaries

There are some people who are out of bounds, right? Like, there are just some groups of people in your life (or even just around) who you're not supposed to desire. Such as schoolgoers. Despite their short skirts, their low-buttoned shirts, their heels, their fresh and nubile bodies beneath it all... there are just some things you're not supposed to think about those groups of girls when you walk past them waiting for the bus in the morning. A more unequivocally taboo example would be family members. But what about those who are right on the edge of acceptable, nearly-but-probably-not-quite-allowed like schoolkids? In my daily life, my students are one such group.

Let me be clear. I do not have uncontrollable (or, for the most part, any) desire to bed any of my students. But the very fact I feel compelled to make that disclaimer so early on is indicative of how not-quite-allowed it would be. I know several people who have had affairs with or married a student (or two, or more, in the case of affairs...). Generally speaking, I like to think of myself as someone who would not cross that particular boundary. I don't find it to be unacceptable behaviour in those people of whom I can think... They're all perfectly respectable (well, mostly) and generally clear-headed and trustworthy types. But there's something about the idea of sleeping with a student - maybe even the idea of wanting to sleep with a student - that just sits not quite right with me.

Especially (but not exclusively) in the case of the 'proper', 'grown-up' relationships that I can think of that have sprung out of this slightly bizarre set-up, it's really just a case of two people who happen to meet under particular circumstances. As people, they're not forbidden to each other: it's their roles in life that erect the boundaries. They could have met any time, any place, anyhow, no? So why do the borders continue to be policed? Why might it not be OK for me to set off on an affair with a student? Because of the power dynamics, one presumes. Because ultimately I potentially hold some kind of power over them. Unfortunately, those same power dynamics are in fact what makes the whole thig so potentially appealing. That's surely central to why pupils fancy teachers; I'm certain it had a big role to play in my own overwhelming, desperate crushes on my teachers. So if it's so inevitable, why would it be frowned upon? I don't get it.