“Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity; the female sex.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
If you think Sexism doesn’t still play a part in our today world, you’re wrong. March 30, 2016 Brock Turner was sentenced to just three months in county jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci asked for six years; instead he received a significantly lesser sentence of 3 months. “The sexual assault victim suffered ‘physical and devastating emotional injury’ but a prison sentence for the offender is not appropriate,” said Judge Persky during Brock Turners sentencing. Why is he worried about what’s appropriate for a rapist? Judge Persky obviously doesn’t understand how much more this will affect the victim, Brock dragged her behind a dumpster. What more do you need to understand that it this was nowhere near consensual? I believe if a person is visibly intoxicated, pass the safe level, they are impaired to making any conscious decisions, but rape isn’t one.
Dan Turner, father of the defendant, wrote a letter to judge Persky which I believe had more effect on the ruling than the victim’s letter to the defendant did. Throughout the letter it never showed any signs of responsibility being taken, it was more so about how Brock raping her is going to ruin his life. “It’s clear that Brock was desperately trying to fit in at stanford and fell into the culture of alcohol consumption and partying,” Dan said in his letter to judge Persky begging for leniency on his son. It seems to me the men in this case saw nothing more than a star athlete and a college babe who got too drunk, and blacked out like a typical college party girl. I wonder how Brock’s mother, as a woman, felt about the bias during her son’s trial? Yes, that is her son, but that doesn’t mean what he did should be acceptable, what about her life? “Is state prison for this defendant an antidote or a poison? Is incarceration in state prison the right answer for the poisoning of [Jane’s] life?” said judge Persky. What is the right answer for the poisoning in her life then? He took her unconscious body behind a dumpster like she was trash. If they were at a party, i’m sure if she was in her right mind she wouldn’t have went behind a dumpster even if she had consented to sex with him! Dan Turner’s letter to Persky is telling him how much of a great kid Brock was before this incident, but nobody is talking about who the victim was before her assault. His father referred to the crime as “20 minutes of action”, as though dragging a woman behind dumpsters and sexually assaulting them is normal. Why does alcohol have such a severe impact on rape cases? The fact that incapacitated people can’t legally consent to sex is poorly understood. Persky stated during sentencing, “whether the defendant took advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the crime, I don’t believe that was present.” Excuse me? She was drunk to the point she became unconscious. If he didn’t take advantage of that then I don’t know what to call it. Prosecutors tend to focus on and blame the victim just because alcohol was a factor when all that energy should be focused on the defendant and their actions. Alcohol impacts rape cases so much because women who drink are still deemed “promiscuous” or “easy.” Rape is a crime; drinking alcohol isn’t.
Which brings me to the question of, how does rape culture affect men? First male victims won’t report a sexaul assualt because many know how unlikely anything will come of it. There’s at least 350,000 rape kits sitting untested in police stations all around the nation. Rape culture is us-versus-them, society see’s it as men-versus-women which is implicating that all men are a walking atrocity. Rape is aggressor against victim, anyone can be raped and anyone can rape. According to the U.S. Department of justice in 2012, there were 346,830 rapes and sexual assaults, and 72% of them were not reported. I believe rape culture affects women and men just the same, we should look at all victims as victims regardless of gender, race, or age.
I don’t believe Brock Turners sentence was fair to the victim, when the court worries about what will affect the rapist more, it shows how crippled our justice system really is. Brock should’ve been sentenced to the recommended time of 6 years in a State prison, this whole case was focused on what will happen to Brock’s life when he already ruined anothers.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/us/brock-turner-release-jail/
http://www.hercampus.com/news/judge-brock-turners-rape-case-will-not-face-penalties-light-sentence
