I’m fuming with rage like most of the world about Brock Turner’s release from jail at three months. I am outraged because this affects everyone, this is validating how much more a man’s identity and education is worth compared to a woman’s mental health and safety in society.

I wrote a braided essay about society’s view on rape including biblical texts, Greek mythology, and personal experiences that have been shared by friends with me. I titled it Androcentrism. Androcentrism is defined as “the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings or a masculine point of view at the centre of one’s world view and its culture and history.” The case dealing with Brock Turner is the perfect example in validating the point I made in my essay. Honestly, I think we should just put Turner’s picture as the definition for Androcentrism because he was freed from jail three months early of his six month sentence that could have been a fourteen year sentence only to not “hinder him.”

I’m choosing to use two examples from my essay because, not that I need to persuade people to know why his release is absolutely insane, but to show how women are always the ones that are held to their actions but there is always a loophole for men. One biblical reference and one Greek mythological story will prove this.

The Rape of Persephone

Persephone wandered away from her group one day in the fields when Hades, King of the Underworld, took action. He broke through the ground, grabbing Persephone as she fought and screamed and dragged her down to the Underworld. He kept her captive against her will, if it wasn’t obvious, for months until her father, Zeus, came to retrieve her. When Zeus arrived Hades told him that Persephone had eaten a few pomegranate seeds, food of the dead, so there must be some type of deal between them with her leaving.

Persephone had been dragged to the underworld because Hades was in love with her and trapped her there for months. Unaware that eating seeds from a pomegranate would hinder her return she ate a few seeds. Because she ate these seeds her father, the one she looks to who should protect her, decided that for every seed she ate she would return to the Underworld and Hades for one month out of every year till her debt was repaid.

So if you swap Hades name for Turner, Persephone for the victim, and Zeus as Aaron Persky (the judge) you will see how crazy this ruling is. Turner saw an opportunity to take advantage of a vulnerable woman who left a party alone not thinking that someone would target her. Turner raped her, he was caught in the act. After the witness’ statements, which even brought one to tears, and the victim’s statement of everything she went through during this trial Aaron Persky gave Turner a laughable sentence and still cut that short. Hardly a slap on the wrist for Turner.

Even in the Greek myth people read it as, “Persephone shouldn’t have wandered from the group,” or “Persephone shouldn’t have eaten those seeds,” instead of Hades shouldn’t have taken her. Even if someone wants something doesn’t mean they can always have it. That’s life.

To the people that questioned the wrong doing of Hades and Zeus and thought that Persephone was to blame the next story is for you. This story is for the people who find the male species superior to women, this is for the people that think women are only on Earth to tempt and seduce the men.

Adam & Eve

Religious or not most people know the story of Adam and Eve the first man and woman on Earth (which is untrue but I will discuss that in another post.) God had put Adam and Eve in a garden and gave them one rule to live by, they weren’t allowed to eat the fruit from a certain tree. Eve was seduced by a serpent to eat some of the fruit. She knew it was wrong though she still offered it to Adam.

Now how crazy this may sound to some of you but Adam took the fruit! Eve didn’t force it onto Adam but she offered it and then they both were expelled from the garden. Most of the people who I’ve had a conversation with only blame Eve but don’t take into consideration that Adam has a mind and can think for himself.

It’s odd to think that in The Rape of Persephone it was her fault because she put herself in that vulnerable position even though she was doing what she wanted, not hurting anyone. Persephone was literally gathering flowers when Hades, a male, couldn’t control himself from taking her. But because she ate a few seeds of pomegranate, since Hades put her in that situation in the first place, she was punished.

Then with Eve she offers the fruit to Adam and he eats it. Everyone, even today, is in total shock and disarray because Eve put sin into the world. However, Eve offered the fruit to Adam and, unless women were the only ones with a brain, Adam chose to eat the fruit. So in reality Eve and Adam are both to blame for the sin in the world if you really think about it. My conclusion to the Greek mythology and biblical reference (which some people of other religions or no religion don’t consider) line up well with Turner’s case.

I used two different references to show that there will never be a justifiable reason for a person to overtake and dominate another’s body. Persephone didn’t provoke Hades, he just took what he wanted because she was in a vulnerable position. Eve didn’t force the fruit down Adam’s throat, he chose to eat it knowing it came from the Tree of Life that him and Eve weren’t allowed to eat from.

It doesn’t matter if a woman is naked, in lingerie, fully clothed, sober, or highly intoxicated -- a male still has the option of right and wrong to choose from. Society can’t support the idea that a male is smarter and much more educated than a woman when they just see a woman’s exposed breasts and go crazy. A male has a mind full of what is right and what is wrong just as a woman does. We all know what is right and wrong, it all depends if we want to help or take advantage of the situation we’re in.