With Brock Turner's unfairly early release after only three months in prison, people are understandable angry. However, some people have taken it a step further.
Armed protesters have gathered around his house, some even suggesting "Shoot your local rapist".
Another response has been to suggest Turner's justice should come from he himself being raped, whether it was as a prison joke or as someone outside. Most of these suggestions are limited to anonymous or Facebook comments, but some have gone more public with it.
None of these are the right response.
1. Don't let Brock Turner become the victim.
By shooting him or raping him, he then becomes the victim, which is literally the last thing we want. He becomes a sympathetic character rather than a criminal. Worse even, it could lead to people almost turning him into some sort of twisted martyr.
2. Don't do anything that leads to another court case.
He's already shown that when he's the aggressor, he comes off with just a slap on the wrist. So if he was shot, raped, etc, what do you think would happen? If it's a fair judge, they would know it's unfair to use his past against him, and he would win the trial. If it's an unfair judge, they would probably rule in his favor again and give him a nice sum of money.
3. Rape is never, never okay.
Yes, even when the person you are suggestion should be raped is himself a rapist. Remember this infamous Mean Girls quote?
Same goes true for rape. If we suggest that raping someone is an appropriate reaction, it just makes it okay for for rapists like Brock Turner to think that raping someone is an okay thing. Obviously, that was not the intended message, but again, reference the meme. When girls call each other bitches, they usually mean it playfully and never intend for others to use it as an insult. You have to think what message people will subconsciously take away from your words. Therefore, we must make the message on rape very, very clear, and that message must be that it is never, ever appropriate to rape someone.
So what can we do?
1. Enforce the idea that rape is never okay.
Already, we have another well publicized case where a guy nicknamed "David the Rapist" raped two unconscious women, but was given a light sentence since prison would have messed up his college plans.
His excuse? "He stated that once she did not stop him he thought she was okay with it and he began to ‘finger her’ unaware she was asleep" was in the police statement.
If we promote the idea that consent - given verbally, constantly, and willingly- is necessary for sex, then it becomes clearer that no, not protesting is not being "okay with it".
We also need to stop with the rape jokes. For one, how have they ever been even remotely funny? Take this "joke" from comedian Daniel Tosh: "Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now? Like right now?"
So...where exactly is the joke? It's not even one of those non-PC jokes like the dead baby jokes or Holocaust jokes where they are awful, but sometimes difficult to keep from laughing anyways. This literally has no joke to it. Most rape jokes are about equivalent. So comedians, do yourselves a favor and stop it with the completely humorless rape "jokes". You look inept at your job since you can't craft a half-way decent joke and are showing support for those like Brock Turner, David the Rapist, and all the others.
Overall, make it clear, no matter who the victim is, no matter the situation, rape is never okay.
2. Keep our judges accountable.
Thankfully, the judge in Turner's case, Aaron Persky, has asked to be moved to civil court. People also petitioned to have him removed and noticed he was up for reelection. However, he would have no problem getting reelected as he was running unopposed. If we payed more attention to local elections, perhaps we can evade further problematic rulings.
3. Keep their names in the news.
For those of you still itching for some vigilante justice, this is the way to do it. Make sure that when these criminals names are Googled by future employers, colleges, etc, it's flooded with articles about what they did. Women they might interact with in the future will hopefully recognize the names and know to keep away. Potential friends will recognize the names and know that this is not someone you want inviting to parties.
