With the recent conviction- or rather, lack thereof- of David Becker, it brought back the awful memories of the Stanford rapist, Brock Turner. David Becker was charged with two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault and battery after the April 2 incident that occurred at a house party. Two girls at this house party were sleeping in a bed after the party and Becker is accused of sexually assaulting his two high school classmates during this night. He is only facing two years of probation and will not be placed on the sex offender registry even though the district attorney recommended two years in prison. Becker's lawyers and the judge also believed that “putting this kid in jail for two years would have destroyed this kid’s life.”
I'm sorry, but is the life of the victims not destroyed already or am I just imaging that? I still cannot believe Brock Turner got away with what he did and his sentence was lessened because the judge felt that his life was ruined enough already and a prison sentence would have a "severe impact" on him. Brock Turner was convicted of sexual assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman and sexually penetrating an intoxicated and unconscious person with a foreign object (Levin, The Guardian). Two men biking caught him thrusting himself on top of the victim behind a dumpster outside of a fraternity house back in January of 2015. In times like these, I am biased even though I try not to be. On college campuses, athletics continue to be favored over the well-being of our daughters. One of these athletes is Turner, a former Stanford swimmer. I don't, by any means, want to say all athletes are bad- because that is simply not true. Most athletes are incredible human beings who work their butts off every single day to be where they are right now. However, Ryan Lochte's story made me reminisce about the defense of the rape case because of the way Lochte himself was defended. Ryan Lochte and four Olympic swimmers came into a gas station bathroom and vandalized it and were then confronted by security guards. Lochte falsely filed a crime report with the Brazilian police and said that he and fellow swimmers Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen were robbed at gunpoint by men who posed as police officers while they were returning from a party on August 14, 2016.
News reporters from all outlets were defending the Olympic Swimmer, Lochte, and saying his vandalization of the gas station bathroom and his false report were a "drunken mistake" and it "wasn't his fault" because he was intoxicated when he trashed the gas station bathroom with three other swimmers. This may have been an acceptable defense if he had used this to apologize for his actions. However, Lochte did not apologize. Instead, he fabricated a story and lied to the police about being robbed and having a gun held to his head. He made the entire country of Brazil and especially the people of Rio de Janeiro look like awful citizens. Most of us, including myself, believed his allegations because he seemed like a credible man- a U.S. Olympic athlete, that would not lie about a robbery to the police; but he did. He committed horrible acts in a foreign country and then lied about them to the authorities. Many people would argue that Lochte's actions are 'okay' being he was just out and drunk with some friends.
I would like to consider some of the statements rape victims make when they are sexually assaulted. Most of them who were drunk or intoxicated when they were assaulted say that it was not their fault because they were drunk. It is the fault of the perpetrator because that person should have known better than to put himself inside an intoxicated girl. This argument that women make is usually bashed. They are asked why they got drunk and what they were wearing the night before because it was probably perceived as "asking for it." I have yet to see this many people on television publicly defend a sexually assaulted girl who says it was not her fault because she was drunk, except the police and those who work tirelessly for these girls to send their rapists away. I have yet to hear as many news reporters as a did forgive or defend a woman for saying she was drunk and being raped was not her fault.
Yet when Ryan Lochte is drunk and trashes a gas station bathroom and lies about it, it is not his fault because he was drunk. The only thing I can think of here is rape culture.
I've been thinking lately that perhaps this culture is promoted because of the taboo nature of sex. I don't remember anyone ever teaching me what consent was until college and only because to register we had to watch a video about sexual assault and consent. Perhaps because I went to Catholic school my whole life they never said anything to us because sex was something no one was allowed to even think about. However, I see this as being part of the problem because many men and women too do not know what consent is and they find themselves wondering how last night happened and why in the world the girl is calling this rape. Consent is a definite, absolute yes that is spoken aloud and with a clear mind.
Think of sexual assault as a type of theft. When a criminal breaks into your home and steals your valuables you call the police and they investigate until that person gets arrested, charged and possibly goes to jail. Theft is taken as a very serious crime because someone has invaded your life and taken your personal possessions.
Why don't we take sexual assault as seriously? A criminal is in essence breaking into my home and taking my valuables. He is taking my body and there is no way I can ever get that back. He is ruining a victim's life forever because there is no way she will ever be able to look past this. She will spend countless hours in therapy trying to remedy the damage and look toward the future.Yet, this person has taken a part of her that will always be broken. Many times, specifically recently, these "thefts" have not been taken seriously for reasons I can't even believe exist. We don't tell people who steal our wedding rings that we feel bad for them and think they have been punished enough. So why do we tell rapists we think they have been punished enough when they've taken a part of you?
Cases like Turner's and Becker's anger and sadden me to no end. These boys committed horrible acts on women and basically got away with it. Turner is about to be released from jail after only serving three months of his six month sentence. I know he will never be an athlete again nor a respected citizen most likely, but his sentence still sent the message that we don't take campus sexual assault seriously enough. It's time we make sure every boy and girl is educated from a younger age on what consent means and what it means to treat someone with respect and dignity. It is time to stand up and speak out.
