If you haven't heard about the crazy incident with Brock Turner, here is a little recap:
Brock Turner raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. He was a swimmer and attended Stanford University. The reported rape was convicted as sexual assault in the state of California, and he is now out of jail.
Brock Turner is labeled as a former swimmer, not a rapist. He is registered as a sex offender. He was supposed to do six months of jail time, but ended with three months. Three months. Three months. The prosecutor leniently said that 6 years would be okay because any longer would "have a severe impact on him," but he got six months, and still got out of jail in three. And three years of probation, but he's still out.
Sure, he is going to be harassed all his life, but that isn't justice.
In the three months, he was sent out on good behavior, and it really is sad. Because rape survivors, we don't forget about it in three months. We don't forget about it in a span of a couple hours. It sticks with us. And Brock Turner, in the three months you were in jail, 75,000 woman have been raped. And less than 2% of people lie about being raped. Why? Because when you come out of the system, our story becomes an analytical piece. Whether the woman lied or made up their story. But why would we make up something so damaging to ourselves and to our communities? Shouldn't we want to make people aware of what people can do? But that means coming out with our stories and expressing our emotions.
During trials of rape or sexual assault none of the questions are turned toward the rapist or assaulter. Instead we, survivors, receive:
"Were you drunk? What were you wearing? Did you like it? Did you finish? Is there a way you could have stopped it? What were you wearing? Do you remember what happened? How could you tell if you liked it or didn't like it if you can't remember?"
As if it were our fault. As if it were our fault. As it if were our fucking fault. And even on the safest campuses there are about 40 reported sexual assaults per year. Because no survivor wants to go through the brutality of questioning from officers and judges.
And rape kits? People don't even understand the female body to correctly report them. A female body has a hymen that can be torn through sex, but it does not mean that it has to be torn or will be torn through the humping or jamming of fingers into a vagina. So in the end these survivors have nothing to go off of, because they are told there is not enough evidence that they were fully raped. In those words, we become vulnerable and liars. We become liars and begin to believe the people who say it is our fault.
Brock Turner's case was a step forward, in that someone was finally convicted, but it still has gotten nowhere for the thousands of survivors who have been told that it was their fault for drinking too much or wearing too revealing clothes. And it is crazy to think that in the end, the survivor is at fault instead of the rapist. Instead of the person that fucked up our lives through their actions.
And yes, to Brock Turner's dad, Brock Tuner's 20 minutes of action of raping a girl should determine the next 20 years of his life. Because he raped someone. Because he raped someone. Because he raped an unconscious girl. Because he is a rapist.
