Let me start of by saying that I do not consider myself a feminist. I think it is great that there are people who embody women empowerment and openly take a stand for it, but I like to keep most opinions to myself. I believe that in certain cases, women are discriminated against, but not all. Sexual assault is one of those cases.

I am writing this article this week because I am sick of this issue not being taken seriously. Brock Turner from Stanford has been constantly in the news after he was accused of raping a woman behind a dumpster. This man only served 3 short months of a pathetic 6 month sentence. His own father was quoted saying that it was just, “20 minutes of action.” After hearing about this case, and specifically reading his father’s statement, I became enraged. Sure, this story blew up and was all over the news, but nothing has changed. Recently, a classmate of mine from high school has gone public about her sexual assault by a football player at UNC. She immediately reported the rape, went to the hospital, and got a rape kit assembled. Everything a rape victim is supposed to do, she did. She was brave enough to come forward, and instead of receiving help, she was treated like a suspect. What were you wearing? Did you say no? Were you intoxicated? How many men have you been with? These are all questions that should never ever be asked, nevertheless used as interrogation when someone has reported a sexual assault. Those questions should not be asked, because they do not matter. No one deserves to be raped. No one asks to be raped. Rape is not okay in any circumstance.

I am tired of hearing countless cases of sexual assault, especially on college campuses. I am 19 years old and on my second year of college, and I have heard the words sexual assault and rape come out of the mouths of way too many young girls. Friends, peers, and people I don’t even know have been sexually assaulted, but many do not come forward. Women are encouraged to report all cases, so why don’t they? Sometimes they are scared of their attacker, sometimes it’s just too painful to talk about, and sometimes there just isn’t any evidence. In my opinion, the main reason is that they believe that it’s a long and painful process with a negative outcome. The few women that do come forward, get swept under the rug and their attacker has no consequence. Everyone is held accountable for their actions-at least that’s how it should be. Women are most certainly held for theirs when they are sexually assaulted because of what they were wearing or if they were drunk. Men, however, have no accountability when it comes to rape. What they did is never spoken about, and there are no consequences unless there is a fight. If these rapists are not held accountable and given consequences, then the message is being sent that what they are doing is okay.

It’s time that we take a stand and fight for this system to be fixed. I am tired of hearing about sexual assault cases ending in negative outcomes. I am tired of people of authority disregarding the gravity of what rape is, and the effect it has on the victim. I am tired of the attacker getting more sympathy and compassion than the victim. Lastly, I am tired of having to constantly be aware of this issue every time I go out in college. I should not have to be scared about something being slipped in my drink, I should not have to have a buddy system, I should not have to make sure my clothes aren’t too revealing, and I definitely should not have to worry about a man assaulting me and thinking of it as “20 minutes of action.”

Again, I do not consider myself to be a feminist, but enough is enough. It is time to take a stand so that women are no longer scared to come forward, and so that men can finally be held accountable for their disgusting actions.