Rape and any form of sexual assault, as we all know, is a criminal offense. When one person rapes another person, they strip that person of their free will. As college students, we all know what consent is, and we know that there was no consent in the Brock Turner case. The woman was unconscious and woke up in the hospital, unsure of what happened after she blacked out. If you hear of the rape, you squirm in your skin, but it does not end here. When you hear of the trial, you become confused. How could this man not be sentenced for at least the minimum amount of years in an actual prison? County jail is daycare compared to an actual jail, which is why the judge sentenced him to a county jail.
Reading the case, you begin to realize that the judge favored the future of the rapist than the damage done to the victim. The judge knows what the rapist did and knew he was guilty but did not want to ruin his future. But what the judge does not know is that it will really be the victim's future that will be ruined, even if Brock went to a normal jail. Her trust in men is shattered, and it may take time for her to be able to even look at a man and see someone good. Not only that, but she knows her civil rights were infringed upon to protect this rapist. She knows she wasn't favored in court, no matter what the evidence said. She knows that the rapist's father referred to her attack as, "20 minutes of action."
This case is an event that affects not only just this woman but all women. It is a sign that women can be given the fault of their rape because of the use of alcohol. She was passed out due to the use of alcohol, yes, but no one should wake up from drinking and hear that they were raped. Alcohol is not a cause of rape; it is a man or woman who took control of another human being. People can be raped with or without the influence of alcohol, so that is not a factor in this case. This case also normalizes rape by making it possible to get off with a relaxed sentence if you are privileged enough. It proves that rape doesn't matter if you come from a privileged background. It shows that, if the rapist has a talent that can get him far in life, that he will get off. It allows people to think that they can commit rape and be able to get off and still get a job. People who commit rape learn that they can be favored in a situation like this and that people can forget about what the victim went through.
For those who have never heard of rape culture, it is the normalization of sexual assault and rape towards women, which is what this is. The judge made the crime seem like nothing because he did not want to ruin the life of the rapist, even though the rapist knew what he did was wrong and that he gave up his rights to commit a crime. But, the rapist was favored even though the evidence proved he shouldn't have been, and the woman was portrayed as a culprit for her consumption of alcohol.
