We live in a society where rape culture is normal. Rape culture is the ways in which society blames victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence. In the rape culture we live in, if a woman gets raped she is to blame. "You shouldn't have been drinking," or this one is my favorite, "What were you wearing?" Yes because whatever clothes I wear just screams, "RAPE ME!" The past few months, people have been tracking Brock Turner's case. You know the one where he should have gotten up to fourteen years in prison, but only ended up serving three months... yeah that one. Now here is my open letter about the case.
Women all over the country get raped, one in four women will get raped in their lives. That is normal to our society, and if the man is on a college sports team then he is never going to prison for more than a year. Turner was charged with three charges of felony assault which should have gotten him fourteen years in prison. This case and many others sicken me to my stomach on how someone could commit such horrible crimes against a person and yet nothing happens to him. After reading the victims letter, I was filled with rage. I was angry at Brock, angry at the people saying it was her fault and I AM angry at the injustice of this case. The victim had to much to drink and ended up getting dragged across the ground almost fully naked and raped behind a dumpster. She read her letter to Brock and yet he is pretty much walking away clean while the victim has to suffer for the rest of her life.
Brock Turner should have gotten the fourteen years in prison, but since he is wealthy, white and a man he only served three months. If this was a man of color and was poor he would have been in prison for longer than three months. The victim will most likely never get the justice she deserves and that is very common. In a lot of cases, especially involving a college sport player, they will never get their justice. Colleges tell students to not report the case such as at The University of North Carolina where two female students reported they were raped and the school did nothing about it. It is ridiculous that people can commit such heinous crimes and yet nothing happens to them. In the CNN documentary called, "The Hunting Ground," two young girls from UNC shared their expereinces and traveled around the country to talk about anti-rape. The documentary showed many interviews with rape victims and the in justice they had. Nobody asks to get raped and yet when it happens, we don't care.
While I could spend hours talking about rape culture and male favoritism in rape cases, I'm going to leave this here. If you are a victim of sexual violence, male or female then you my friend are brave. I pray you live the rest of your life in happiness and without nightmares of the violence that was bestowed on you. You are strong. You can beat all the odds. You may be a victim, but YOU ARE a hero.
