A little more than a year ago, a woman was sexually assaulted by a boy named Brock Turner behind a dumpster while both were intoxicated. I call Brock a boy, and not a man because a real man would know not to commit such a crime to a woman. A real man would know that if a woman was in the same state as the girl, he should try to help her home and protect her instead of trying to take advantage of the fact that she was intoxicated. Throughout my week, I've been hearing so much about the Stanford rape victim and her story and I must say that it has changed the way I think about certain things in different ways. More than me, I have a friend who has a similar story to the Stanford rape victim and I would like to share with the world her letter to the victim. My friend would not like her identity to be revealed due to several reasons. Here it is.

"To the woman who had such misfortune,

I salute you. After going through something so horrific in your life I applaud you for staying strong and standing up for yourself, something I did not necessarily do for myself. I am glad that there is someone like you to stand up and say that drunk consent is not consent. I am glad that you're trying to give hope to several girls like me who have been in similar situations that it wasn't our fault that the assault occurred. Until I heard about what happened to you, I had brushed off what happened to me and tried to hide the pain behind it. But now I know I have no reason to be scared to admit what happened.

It was a fine Saturday that I was spending with my friends. For the weekend, we went to another city to watch a dance competition where a team from our school was participating in. It was so much fun to be in a nice college town and explore the downtown area. I loved dressing up, taking cute selfies, eating at classy places, and screaming my head off for my school's team when they danced. It was a perfect weekend and I didn't think anything could go wrong.

After dance competitions, there are usually after parties at clubs and they're really fun. I only started drinking a few weeks before the competition and I hadn't experienced being 'drunk' yet. As usual, my friends and the team pre-gamed the after party at the hotel we stayed in and I only had a couple shots to drink. Everyone was having a fun time and it was super casual.

The only awkward part about that night was one person being in the same room as me at all times. I'll refer to him as "the boy." The boy and I had a little bit of a past, where we were talking as more than friends for about a month, but we ended things on good terms and moved on. Even though we stayed friends, there was a bit of tension whenever we saw each other. I looked past it however and was socializing with everyone in the room.

After a while, we finally left for the after party on the party bus. We finally reached the club and everyone kinda scattered. Some of us were dancing, some of us were at the bar, some at the bathroom, and some in the back. My one friend and I wanted to drink a little bit more so we were waiting near the bar. A few minutes passed and the boy came up to me, completely wasted and asked if he could buy me a drink. At that point I figured he was just being friendly and I accepted his offer and got a couple of drinks, which were quite strong. I noticed that he started to hold my hand after I was finished with my drinks, but I pulled away and didn't think much of it as he was just too intoxicated to know what he was doing.

I went to go dance with my friends, while I felt my phone buzzing nonstop. It was the boy. He kept sending me texts asking where I was and called me nonstop. I was really drunk when this happened and I was very confused about what to do. Finally he sent me a text saying he was locked out and asked for my help to get him back in. My drunk mindset hadn't allowed me to think why he would ask me to help him instead of his closer friends who were also at the bar. I went outside to get him, but got myself locked out as well. Fuming with anger, I made the boy pay for a taxi home, while he kept trying to apologize.

We made it back to the hotel where he kept trying to sit me down and apologize for what he did, but I just tried to ignore it and go to sleep in my room. He stopped me and told me he wanted to talk to me about something quick before I left, so he took me to his room because he didn't want anyone to assume anything after seeing us together. We make it to his room after he sloppily stumbles through the hallway and he sits me on the bed. I tried to text my friends that I was okay, but next thing I know he grabs me forcefully and starts kissing me. Confused and much weaker than him, I try to push him off and tell him to stop. All he said was, "You're right," and I tried to go to my own hotel room. I didn't know that he would try to follow me back.

I go into my hotel room, and seconds later I hear knocking on the door. I open the door and the boy barges in and tries to grab me. He pinned me against a wall and started kissing my neck and groping my breasts as I tried to get him off of me. Next thing I know, he picks me up from my thighs with his fingernails digging into my skin and throws me on top of the hotel bed. After much struggling, I was finally able to get him off of me, and yell at him to go back to his own hotel room. I was absolutely horrified by what had happened. Without my proper consent, someone had tried to behave inappropriately with me. I had been violated. I had his scent all over me throughout the night to remind me of what happened.

So many questions were running through my head. Why would he think this was OK? Did I at some point in the night say it was okay to behave like that towards me? Even if I did, was it okay considering I was quite drunk? What should I tell the people who saw him with me? Would he remember what happened the next day? I quietly sat on my hotel bed crying in frustration about what to do. My friends came to my room an hour later and I explained what had happened. I was thankful that they were there to console me and support me that night. I would've lost my mind if they weren't there. A few of them had advised me to go to the police and report him for sexual assault, but that's where my biggest dilemma rose.

I couldn't possibly go to the police about this because I knew at some point my parents would become involved. My parents didn't know about my drinking. My parents didn't know about any of my romantic involvements. This is because these kinds of activities aren't allowed and are looked down upon in my culture. Before the fact that I was sexually assaulted rose, these would be questioned much more. Sadly, there are so many girls who go through similar situations and are forced to forgive our attacker and look past what happened. It is not what we wish to do, but are forced to do so because of cultural restraints. Even when I told a close friend about what had happened that night, she claimed that part of the incident was my fault as well because I was also drunk. I was heartbroken by the fact that she had said that, but what if she was right?

For the past year and a half, I have tried to look past what happened and forget and forgive. Some nights I couldn't sleep and for some time I was so scared that it would happen again if I encountered the boy drunk. Some nights when I was out drinking, I would text my friends and claim how I can't forgive the boy. I claimed how I was still so hurt by what he had done.

I have felt incredibly helpless in this situation because I thought the blame would always go to me for drinking. Or maybe because people would think it was completely normal since I had a past with the boy. What if people thought I had led him on that night? Or maybe blamed it on what I was wearing? I didn't want to deal with any of the judgement.

In my situation, I was a coward. In yours, you stood strong and fought. And for that I have the utmost respect for you. You stand as my idol in this situation. You taught me about the right thing to do in this situation even it is something I can't go through with. Even though I am unable to take my situation any further, you have taught me to stand up for others. You're right. Drunk consent is absolutely not consent. Thank you for giving me the self-esteem and courage that I lost after the incident. Thank you for making me learn that it wasn't my fault.

Forever admiring and indebted to you,
A victim.