Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Arts myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.“She’s got 900 kids there and she selects me. I thought I was something special.” These are the words of Gareth, who is recalling an alleged sexual relationship with a female science teacher at his London school in the late 1980s. When it started, she was 27 and Gareth — not his real name — was 14. He claims she would take him back to her house after school where they had sex. At the time, he couldn’t believe his luck. In Lucky Boy, an affecting and discomforting four-part podcast from Tortoise Media, reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou tells of the relationship that would go on to derail Gareth’s life. Now in his fifties, he suffers from mental health problems and is unable to work. From the vantage point of adulthood, he sees himself not as lucky but as a victim of manipulation and sexual abuse. (The teacher in question, who declined to be interviewed, has denied all wrongdoing.)The are two objectives in this series. One is to establish the veracity of Gareth’s claims — a tough call, given how much time has passed. Combing through school records and social media, Hadjimatheou sets about tracking down former teachers and pupils, but not everyone wants to talk. She speaks to Gareth’s mother who tells of her failed attempts to get the school to investigate. It was Gareth’s older brother who sounded the alarm (sworn to secrecy, Gareth denied what was happening until much later). His sister says the experience has “fossilised him, emotionally”.Lucky Boy also examines our shifting understanding of issues around consent and abuse. In the 1980s, terms such as grooming and coercive control weren’t widely understood, and cases of sexual misconduct within institutions were often swept under the carpet. Even now, after the myriad cases of sexual abuse that have come to light as a result of #MeToo, little is heard from male victims of female abusers. Hadjimatheou navigates all this with thoughtfulness and empathy. That said, her getting a group of 14-year-old boys together to talk about girls and shaving achieves little other than to make the listener uncomfortable (the idea is that it will help us understand how immature they are). By far the most compelling element of Lucky Boy is Gareth himself, whose testimony is blunt, shocking and sad. In 2023, following a tribunal by the Teaching Regulation Agency, Gareth’s former teacher was found “guilty of unacceptable professional conduct” and prohibited from teaching. In her investigation, Hadjimatheou unearths two other pupils who also claim they had sexual encounters with the same teacher. Gareth’s response to this underlines the emotional complexity of the case. He is relieved that their allegations seem to back up elements of his story, but he also feels betrayed. “It’s like finding your first girlfriend is kissing all the boys,” he says. “I don’t want to hear that.”tortoisemedia.com
