I'm not a judge. I'm not a mother or a father. I'm not a college athlete. I'm not a victim of sexual assault.
I'm just another faceless 20-year-old student that gets most of her news off the internet. In light of recent events, I've been a pretty upset 20-year-old.
By now we've all heard about Brock Turner and the awful things he did where he thought no one would find him. Mercifully, he was found and apprehended. You would think that would have been the end of things.
But nothing in this country can seem to run smoothly lately, so of course that wasn't the end of things. Turner was given a pathetically short sentence of 6 months in jail after prosecutors suggested 6 years. The judge involved in this case, Aaron Persky, has given Turner 6 months. But what he perhaps doesn't realize is this case also ends in a life sentence for Turner's victim, and by extension, all other girls in this country.
A life sentence of constantly looking over your shoulder. Of shaking hands, walking to your car at night, key held like a ready weapon. Of going to the bathroom in groups, because you're less likely to be attacked when you're with someone else. Of being told we shouldn't wear shorts, or tank tops, or whatever piece of clothing would make our bodies obviously feminine. A lifetime of degradation.
This is what we're telling our girls. That if you're not careful, someone will hurt you. Break you open and tear you apart. And what are we telling our boys?
Turner's sentence tells boys across the country that it's okay hurt someone this way. That if you're a college athlete, it's okay. That if you've been drinking, it's okay. That if you have aspirations, it's okay. That if you're white, it's okay. That if your mommy and daddy don't want you to go to jail, you won't. We're telling our boys that if you rape or sexually assault someone, and the prosecutors suggest 6 years of jail time, we'll just knock it down to 6 months, because jail is severely impacting. We couldn't allow someone so young to be so negatively impacted, could we?
We cannot keep telling our children these things. We cannot keep telling each other these things. We cannot keep telling the world that America accepts these kinds of things. Maybe this is just one article in a group of thousands written on Turner's case, or rape culture. Maybe you're tired of hearing about all this. I know I am. I'm sure tired of hearing about it. Watching it in the news, reading about it online. Thinking about it whenever I step outside the house alone. Seeing it in my friend's eyes when they recount their own horror stories. And I'm sure that if we think long and hard about a way to fix this, we'll come to an acceptable solution.
We have to start doing right by our children. We need to start punishing our offenders the way they deserve to be punished. We need to start teaching our boys and girls about consent. About morality. About when it is right to touch another human being, and when it is not. About respect; for others and ourselves.
I think it's time we learned how to respect ourselves. Don't you?
Sources:
