A rape case involving Brock Turner, a Stanford student, and an unidentified 23-year old female has spread around social media and the news this past week. Turner, a swimmer at Stanford, was arrested and tried for sexually assaulting a 23-year old woman after both had been drinking at a fraternity party in California. While the victim did not remember the events of the attack, she was told, "she had been found behind a Dumpster, and learned from news reports that witnesses had discovered her attacker lying on top of her unconscious, partly clothed, body. The witnesses intervened and held the attacker for the police."
This case reignited a very important (and often ignored), conversation on the relationship between sexual assault and alcohol on college campuses. This is not a new issue, and has plagued colleges across the country for decades. Another spotlight case is Emma Sulkowicz, who carried her mattress around with her at Columbia until her rapist was expelled (spoiler alert: he never was). According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 16 men will be sexually assaulted while they attend college. Rape is the most underreported crime, and it is believed that more than 90 percent of assaults on campuses are not reported.
The maximum jail sentence for someone convicted of rape is 14 years imprisonment, but Turner received a much lighter sentence of six months in jail. According to Judge Aaron Persky, a known Stanford alumni, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others." Judge Persky's ruling received much criticism from the public for its evasiveness in holding Turner accountable for his actions.
Supporters concerned with Turner's reputation post-trial argue he should not be jailed at all. Turner's father complained that, "his son's life had been ruined for '20 minutes of action' fueled by alcohol and promiscuity." One of Turner's childhood friends, Leslie Rasmussen, wrote the following letter to the judge,
"I don’t think it’s fair to base the fate of the next ten + years of his life on the decision of a girl who doesn’t remember anything but the amount she drank to press charges against him. I am not blaming her directly for this, because that isn’t right. But where do we draw the line and stop worrying about being politically correct every second of the day and see that rape on campuses isn’t always because people are rapists."
What Judge Persky, Mr. Turner, and Rasmussen have conveniently forgotten is that Brock is not the victim. His sobriety (or lack thereof) is not a valid excuse against his actions. Turner's case shows us how deeply ingrained assault assumptions are in our culture, and how misinformed many Americans are on the relationship between alcohol and assault.
While the extent of the relationship between alcohol and assault is still unknown, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that alcohol consumption is one of the most highly used excuses to justify an assault. Alcohol provides a cover for the predatory behaviors of perpetrators, who can blame their intoxication for their inappropriate behavior. When rape sympathizers use intoxication to justify the actions of a rapist, they are perpetuating a cycle of violence and harmful stereotypes. The verdict from Judge Persky, the complaints from Mr. Turner, and the letter from Rasmussen shift the blame from Turner to his victim. It enforces the idea that the victim is responsible for the actions of their attacker, and it is their responsibility to protect themselves from assault.
Rape is not the result of alcohol, intoxication, or the victim; it is the result of a rapist.
