You don't know me, but I know you.

You might think that my saying so is unfair, that I am merely judging you based on external perceptions, media reporting, accusations of sexual assault. But you're wrong. I know you. Your victim knows you. John Pavlovitz knows you. Vice President Joe Biden knows you. The world knows you. And I know with every fiber in my being that there is no scenario here in which you are innocent. Judge Aaron Persky, fellow Stanford athlete, may believe in your blamelessness. You may have your father deceived as well. But Brock Turner, as a young woman entering her sophomore year in university, you do not have me fooled. Not in the slightest.

Before I begin, I would like to address the fact that this article is not about the side effects of alcoholism. There is no doubt in my mind that drinking excessively can reduce one's judgement, and make it harder to speak, let alone consent. Alcohol is very dangerous, a drug, and can produce very serious consequences. That is certainly a fact. But in my statement, I am addressing your illegal activity, and how you cannot entirely blame alcohol for your poor decisions. Again, alcohol is certainly a factor in this ordeal, but blaming the victim's state of mind is equivalent to victim blaming, period. Additionally, using alcoholism as an excuse for your actions is hypocritical, and unacceptable. So yes, alcohol is a factor, but that is not the issue here.

You raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster, and you're failing to take responsibility for it, hiding behind every excuse that you can possibly fathom. That is the issue here, and that is what I have a very real problem with. I sit here contemplating the 12-page letter that your victim wrote, a letter that Judge Persky encountered before sentencing you to a mere six months in jail, and I'm at a loss. I just don't know where to begin. How does one summon the courage to convey emotions about a tragic ordeal in which justice has not been served? How is an 18-year-old woman in college supposed to feel knowing that she may very well be taken advantage of––25 percent of women are––and have her attack be written off as "20 minutes of action"? In what way does the digital rape of an unconscious woman have a "severe impact" on the rapist, the freshman who in three months will be walking away from his unspeakable crimes? I'm confused, I'm angry, and most of all, I'm concerned.

Before we start talking about you, I want to tell you a little bit about me. Throughout the course of my past year at UC Davis, like most others, many Saturday nights were spent at fraternity parties. I pre-gamed with my friends, took numerous pictures, and went out at around 10:00 p.m. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We are in college. This is our time to be young, to try new things, to make memories that we may regret with people we love, and we shouldn't be worried for our safety whilst doing so.

College is the place where its OK to make mistakes, get a little wild, and live in an alternative planet for four years in which your only obligations are to have fun and to learn. This of course is not mandatory, but it does happen, and it shouldn't be shamed, or labeled as an appropriate trigger for assault. So again I stress, it is 100 percent OK to let loose on the weekends. It is not a crime to get drunk, even though you, Brock Turner, blamed your 23-year-old victim for doing just that. Your victim drank excessively, something you were surely aware of when you found her unconscious behind a dumpster. She went out and partied with her sister and consumed more alcohol than her liver was prepared to take in.

So... yes! She went out! She drank! She is 23! It is legal! She was looking for a fun time with her younger sister, to let go and have fun, which is why it angered me beyond compare when you blamed your own reckless and illegal actions on "the college campus drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that."

That isn't a thing.

Partying under the influence of alcohol in no way is associated with your version of sexual promiscuity -- rape. In no way can an unconscious woman blacked out drunk consent to your disgusting and lecherous behavior. For you to coin drinking alcohol and partying as "the college campus drinking culture," as if its just something you're expected to take part in is one thing, but linking that terminology with "sexual promiscuity," utilizing excessive drinking as a means to justify unwarranted sexual activity––FYI there is a grave contrast between sexual promiscuity and rape––is reckless, and is a testament to your lack of remorse and responsibility. You have demonstrated your immense juvenility by equating "sexual promiscuity" to, well, rape. In my opinion, what your statement suggests is that basically, should my friends and I decide to go out for a night and drink alcohol, we may encounter a situation involving "sexual promiscuity," which you claim just happens to "go along" with drinking. Your words are telling me that something bad might happen to us, because that just so happens to be a side effect of "the college campus drinking culture." You're telling young women everywhere that it's a part of the package. You say that the two go hand in hand. They're peas in a pod, peanut butter and jelly, coffee and cream. But you're wrong. You are so very wrong. They are black and white, and you, Brock Turner, are the grey area. You are the one that bridged that gap all on your own. Excessive drinking may cloud your judgement, but you alone decided to get on top of an unconscious woman and start touching her sexually.

Perhaps what concerns me even more than your blatant disregard for your actions, your labeling rape as something that it is not, is that you still continue to avoid coming to terms with what you did. You still continue to blame anyone, anything other than yourself. In a completely narcissistic letter you wrote to Judge Persky, the only human alive who seems to find some redeeming qualities in a man who raped an unconscious woman, you write a series of preposterously idiotic statements. Let's break this down. Here's what you wrote:

"During the day, I shake uncontrollably from the amount I torment myself by thinking about what has happened."

Imagine what your victim must experience every waking moment of every day, frightened by her own body, and you're the one "who is tormented"? By the way, "what has happened" is that you raped an unconscious woman.

"I go to sleep every night having been crippled by these thoughts to the point of exhaustion."

Try thinking about someone other than yourself, like maybe your victim, who can't even speak about what you have done to her, who needs to feel protected and safe in the arms of her boyfriend when she tries to drift off into slumber.

"At this point in my life, I never want to have a drop of alcohol again. I never want to attend a social gathering that involved alcohol or any situation where people make decisions based on the substances they have consumed."

Brock. There will always be alcohol around you. If you have a problem with that, as your victim suggested, try going to an AA meeting. At parties, restaurants, events, literally anywhere you will go, alcohol will be present. People drink, it's just a part of life. You don't have to drink; it's not mandatory. But stop blaming your decision to rape an unconscious woman on your drinking alcohol.

"I've lost two jobs solely based on the reporting of my case."

There really isn't any way for you to be positively portrayed in the media when you raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Sorry.

"I wish I never was good at swimming or had the opportunity to attend Stanford, so maybe the newspapers wouldn't want to write stories about me."

This isn't about you. Stop turning this into a sob story about you. Many other people in this world are Stanford athletes, and you don't see them raping women. This isn't a matter of your privilege. Sure, you may be highlighted because of the elite school you attend, but the bottom line is that you are a rapist, Brock. And if anyone else did what you did, they should be called out for their crimes as well. It shouldn't matter what one's background is. All people, no matter race or upbringing, should be held responsible for their actions, and that includes you.

"I wish I had the ability to go back in time and never pick up a drink that night, let alone interact with [the victim]."

"Interact with the victim." You mean raping her, right?

"I never want to experience being in a position where it will have a negative impact on my life or someone else's ever again."

Again I repeat, this is not about you. People don't just find themselves in a position such as this one. This isn't a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You sexually assaulted an unconscious human being. That is the position you got yourself in.

"All I can do from these events moving forward is by proving to everyone who I really am as a person."

That may be all you "can do," but what you should do is be held responsible for your crimes.

"Before this happened, I never had any trouble with law enforcement and I plan on maintaining that."

Oh, so you don't remember when you excessively used LSD, ecstasy, hash oil, and marijuana prior to this incident?

"I've lost employment opportunity, my reputation and most of all, my life."

Your victim struggles to go to work, face every single day, and live her life regularly because of what you did. This is about her. Not you!

"I've been shattered by the party culture and risk-taking behavior that I briefly experienced in my four months at school."

1. You need to stop using alcohol as a scapegoat. 2. Risk-taking behavior often alludes to doing something out of your comfort zone, like sky diving. Not raping an unconscious woman. That is not "risk-taking behavior."

Brock, my friends and I often joke that chivalry is dead. Saying so speaks to our awareness that fewer and fewer men hold doors open for women, or pay for her valet on a date. But you took this saying to a whole other level. When finding your victim on the ground, you removed her undergarments instead of removing your jacket to lay over her unconscious body. You inserted your fingers inside of her rather than calling for help, and checking for a pulse. You abused this woman instead of helping her. You were immoral and gross instead of being an honest and upstanding human being. You gave women like me reason to be afraid when going out for what is inherently meant to be a fun night. You brought a graduate student to tears when he attempted to find the words to tell the police officer on duty what he had seen you do, because that is how normal people react in situations like the one that you placed yourself in. Your actions are unspeakable, and any rational person can feel that. When caught like a deer in headlights, you ran. When questioned on the stand if your victim had consented to your actions, you lied. When sentenced to a bare minimum of six months in jail, you rejoiced. When called out by hundreds demanding justice, you hid in cowardice behind the offensive words of your father. When given the opportunity to apologize for your actions, to be a man, to own up to your faults, you dastardly defended your false and rewritten statements. When given a chance to utilize your own voice to apologize and show remorse, you wrote the most pathetic and narcissistic letter that you possibly could have produced, turning this tragedy into something about you, and creating misconstrued statements about alcoholism. You, Brock Turner, are a coward.

Initially, reading your case provoked my hyperawareness at parties, and made me feel that I am constantly surrounded by predators. But then I took a step back and reflected on the men in my own life, and I immediately realized that not all men are evil. Not all men are, to put it bluntly, rapists. I will never forget being in high school at a party with a girl I barely knew, super uncomfortable with alcohol in my system. I called one of my closest guy friends and he picked me up and drove me home, seeing to it that I was safe. A few months back, I went out to a frat party with a few girls I wasn't friends with and who I didn't want to be around. I was in a weird mood. I started drinking, and it made me even more upset. I sat on a couch at the frat house keeping to myself, slightly under the influence. One of my guy friends came up to me and asked me what was wrong. I immediately started to cry. He hugged me close and brought me outside, and we talked for what felt like hours until I was OK. When you assaulted an unconscious woman, two heroic and brave men saw you, stood up to you, and prevented you from engaging any further in your gross behavior. These are the guys who remind me that all men aren't like you, Brock Turner. These men have shown me that chivalry may not be dead after all, you just happen to be a concupiscent pervert.

So against all odds, I have hope. This crime should never have happened in the first place, but it did, and it has drawn in so much attention that campus rape culture needs and deserves. "The Hunting Ground" documentary brought this topic to light, and you singlehandedly sparked global discussion. America's own vice president spoke out against you. Families are talking about what happened in explicit detail to warn their children, to teach their sons, and to foster strong future generations. It's all over the news. Parents are holding their children a little tighter, and friends are staying closer together when out at parties. People are learning, paying closer attention, and that's great; the sad part is that you aren't. You're not growing from this. You're not seeing the bigger picture. You're not acknowledging the consequences of your actions. You're not being encouraged by those you respect to take responsibility. Your father further degraded women in his open statement rather than promising the victim and her family to teach you the error in your ways, get you the help that you so desperately need, and strive to do everything in his paternal power to guide you in your future endeavors. Rather, he reflected on the depression you have obtained after "20 minutes of action." Your loss of appetite after "20 minutes of action." Your registry as a sex offender after just a minimal amount of "20 minutes of action." It makes sense now why you can't own up to your actions when you are being raised by a man who deems rape to be a joke. In truth, Brock, your father should have stated in his letter that you have acquired depression after raping an unconscious woman. You registered as a sex offender after raping an unconscious woman. Your life is changed forever after you sexually assaulted an unconscious woman. Wow. I'm so sorry, Brock. That must be really hard for you.

In all seriousness, am I supposed to feel bad for you? Am I supposed to pity you? As an 18-year-old college woman who likely can approach a guy like you at any party I attend, how am I to feel knowing that a judge (with clear bias) sentenced you to six months in jail, a sentence so insignificant. The legal system, those meant to protect the innocent from perpetrators of sex crimes, is failing to comply with their job descriptions! Judge Persky is a complete disgrace. For America, your sentence was too short, but for you, who somehow managed to reduce that time to three months, it was far too long. During my weekend orientation prior to beginning freshman year, my classmates and I watched a video on consent... and everybody laughed. People thought it was funny, but I thought that them laughing was scary. And what I find to be absolutely terrifying is the fact that after your 12 weeks locked away, "you are in the process of," as your victim so eloquently stated, "establishing a program for high school and college students in which you speak about your experience to 'speak out against the college campus drinking culture and sexual promiscuity that goes along with that.'" I cringe at the thought of you showing up in one of my lectures discussing your "experiences." I get goosebumps contemplating the possibility of you speaking in my younger cousin's classroom -- who doesn't read the news -- to warn her and her friends about the horrors of college drinking and sexual promiscuity, when all they really need to be afraid of is you.

Brock Turner, I am angry. I'm angry that you raped a young woman, and a judge is scared about the "severe impact" that it will have on you. I'm angry that you will not serve your due time behind bars thinking about what you have done, learning from your mistakes, and understanding the influence that your actions have had on the victim, her immediate family, and the world as a whole. And most of all, I'm angry that you don't have a father committed to instilling morals within you, who has failed to teach you right from wrong and the importance of treating others with respect and human dignity, at the very least. Especially how to handle yourself when coming face-to-face with unconscious women... That one should be a no-brainer.

This letter may seem too harsh. Too unfair, too unreasonable and very upfront. But in my opinion, it is necessary, and I am being completely candid in order to address the problem head on. Young women should not be scared to live their lives and to drink alcohol. One in four women should not be sexually assaulted by a man in her lifetime. I shouldn't be afraid to live my life and enjoy my college experience. Your actions need to be accounted for so that society can heal, and so that your victim can begin working toward undoing the damage that you have inflicted. Young men and women alike must see that rape will not be tolerated or treated lightly. I'd like to encourage parents reading this, that when its time to have the birds and the bees talk with your children, bring the notion of rape into the picture. Address it head on, early on, and let generations to come learn from this tragic ordeal so we can reduce and even eliminate the statistic that 25 percent of women will be sexually assaulted, and we can work toward creating a better future. I pray that the victim finds the strength to continue advocating, healing, and carrying on, and I pray that you, Brock Turner, find it in your heart to apologize, address your actions, and focus all of your energy into becoming a better man. Do this for your victim, do this for America, do this for college students regardless of gender, but most importantly, Brock, do this for yourself.