Commentary for Avodah Zarah 36:3

Meir’s saying saves the jailer, but now makes R. Meir into the most wanted man in Rome.

Some Romans see R. Meir and in order to convince them that he is not R. Meir, he acts in a way that R. Meir would not act. He either enters a brothel, pretends to eat forbidden food, or Elijah disguised as a prostitute embraces him. This works and the Romans let him go.
Nevertheless, R. Meir still runs away to Babylonia. There are two suggestions as to why he runs away. The first is due to the incident described above. The second is due to “the incident about Beruria.” This is not explained anywhere in the Talmud. Rashi adds the following legend. Beruriah made light of the Talmudic assertion that women are “light-minded.” To vindicate the Talmudic maxim, Rabbi Meir sent one of his students to seduce her. Though she initially resisted the student’s advances, she eventually acceded to them. When she realized what she had done she committed suicide out of shame.
I should emphasize that this legend is not in the Talmud itself; it is found only in the commentary of Rashi. It is likely that someone (I do not imagine Rashi himself) made this up as a mirror image of Beruriah’s sister. Beruriah is known elsewhere for being learned in matters of Torah. Someone may have invented this text as a way of deterring women from studying Torah. Such study, in the eyes of the author of the legend, will lead to women taking Talmudic learning lightly, for the tradition itself deprecates women. This will eventually lead them to become sexually licentious. Whereas Beruriah’s sister, who does not seem to be learned, cannot be seduced, Beruriah, the learned one, is seduced. Whereas Beruriah’s sister escapes both shame and death, Beruriah is shamed and as a result takes her own life. Note that this is not a case of martyrdom—the martyr does not take his own life.
The tale has strong misogynist tones and probably was composed by a man who wanted to offer women a cautionary tale—do not become learned like Beruriah.