I woke up this morning outraged to find that a court of law has explicitly made me susceptible to danger.
The case I am speaking of is the one involving “former Stanford swimmer” Brock Allen Turner. Turner was found raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. As a reward, he was offered six months in the county jail.
I say “as a reward” because the prosecutors involved in the case suggested that he face a six year sentence. However, the judge, Aaron Persky, felt that this sentence was “too harsh.” Apparently, because the rapist was so young, a measly 20-year-old, and with no criminal history, the judge believed he would “no longer be of danger to anyone.” A six month stay in the county jail will apparently teach him a lesson; maybe cure him of his horrendous aptitude to take someone else’s worth without their knowledge or their consent.
Well, I would like this judge to know that it is no longer only Turner who will be a danger to others, but the judge himself is now a danger to every woman in the nation.
To read that a man has been granted the kindness of serving only six months in a county jail while a woman will face a lifetime of shame, trauma and continual triggers that will be present almost every day of her life outrages me and tells me again that I am not safe.
Rather than reassuring a nation that this young man will no longer be a danger to anyone, you have instead reassured a young man that he can commit horrendous actions with minimal consequence.
Not only have you reassured Turner, but you have reassured a whole nation of young men who may be so brave as to do something similar. And I am not ashamed to say that there are many of them out there. Turner may have been one of those dangers before; perhaps this is just the first time he has been caught.
It is not man-hating to say things like this. This is fact-stating to express that instances like this happen far too often and their dismissal is a tragic disservice to humankind and social justice.
As a woman who has been sexually harassed for more than half of her life, who has been viewed as an object by men on a near-daily basis, who has been honked at and sneered at and called a bitch when I stand up for myself - to see my own culture and court of law permit acts that only excuse all of these things I have experienced is gut-wrenching. It is heartbreaking.
Do you know that I teach young girls dance every week? And do you know what horror it brings me to think that these young girls will one day grow up and realize that our society deems these acts of violence against them as completely acceptable? That is, if they have not already become victims themselves.
Judge Aaron Persky, your Honor, you clearly do not believe that this man will be of no danger to anyone (in the future), and you cannot believe that, because you do not even see that you are an act of danger yourself.
