Dear Brock Turner,

I see you over there appealing your conviction as if the fact that you can swim somehow lessens the effects of what you did.

Your honesty, your "character", your history of being a good person mean nothing. They've meant nothing ever since that night you decided to make a decision that would forever alter the course of another human being's life.

You are a rapist. You became a rapist the minute you decided to rape someone. This isn't a complicated concept to understand. You're not a "former Stanford swimmer." You're a convicted criminal who can swim.

It is because of scumbags like you that we feel unsafe walking down the street or at parties or getting into an Uber. Imagine looking over your shoulder for your entire life because of the genitalia you were born with and the ingrained toxic dominance that benefits the opposite gender. Imagine what it'd be like if you were actually a victim of the system, rather than a glorified crybaby who can't grasp the meaning of the word "no".

I'm sorry that you feel like your reputation has been tarnished by your actions. That's called a "consequence". I know you're unfamiliar with the concept, which explains why it's so hard for you to understand.

One of the key parts of your appeal is the claim that the rape didn't take place "behind a dumpster", but, rather, next to the dumpster, still out in the open. Apparently the phrase "behind a dumpster" makes the crime you committed sound like well... a crime.

Your legal advisor is claiming that what happened that night wasn't a crime, which is simply unbelievable. If it wasn't a crime then what was it? It was a crime and you are a criminal.

Rape is rape is a crime, no matter the circumstances under which it was committed: behind a dumpster, in a frat house, or in the backseat of a car. To try to pass it off as anything but is deceptive and it is the utmost betrayal to every person who lives every day of their life with the consequence of a decision that someone else made for them.

To claim that you are the true victim here is pathetic and disgusting. You are a wretched human being and you deserve no pity or leniency. I hope you live every day of the rest of your life facing the consequences of what you did.

You made an awful decision, ruined that girl's life, and dug your own grave. Now it's time for you to lie in it.