“I do not know your name—but I know that a lot of people failed you that terrible January night and in the months that followed,” Vice President Biden wrote. “It must have been wrenching—to relive what he did to you all over again. But you did it anyway, in the hope that your strength might prevent this crime from happening to someone else. Your bravery is breathtaking.”
Joe Biden wrote these beautifully poignant words in an open letter to show support for the Stanford survivor. The woman—who has chosen not to reveal her identity, thereby allowing herself to be representative of every woman—was brutally raped by Stanford undergraduate student, Brock Turner, behind a dumpster. He has been sentenced to six months of prison for this terrible atrocity, a punishment that seems far too lenient and subsequently has the entire nation reeling with rage and disgust.
This minimal sentence was administered by Judge Aaron Perskey. He believed that Turner was deserving of a short sentence because he had no previous record and even more unbelievably because Turner was a prolific swimmer. This clearly shows that the safety and respect of women and women's bodies are not valued nearly as much as protecting the life of a convicted rapist. Immense scrutiny and revilement has been aimed at Turner's parents as well who have been attempting to justify Turner's despicable actions with incredibly insensitive and ridiculous statements. Turner's father stated that his son did not deserve any jail time for merely "20 minutes of action," while Turner's mother has complained that due to the trial and its outcome, she has been too distraught to even redecorate her home. Turner has assumed no responsibility for the cruelty and callousness he has inflicted upon the victim. Instead of admitting to the rape, Turner has chosen alcohol to be his scapegoat and blames the college party scene as the real offender. He has irreversibly affected her life and then dares to ask the judge and the public to pity him. These news stories sadly remind us all of how often our justice system fails rape survivors and for whatever reason shows mercy and compassion for their heinous rapists.
Although this story has a number of villains, it has heroes, too. Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson came to the woman’s aide by tackling Turner while he was running away from the scene. Soon the survivor was sent to the hospital and received appropriate medical care. It scares me to think what would have happened if these two men had not seen her, how long would she have been lying behind that dumpster, naked and unconscious?
The survivor has released the heart-wrenching letter that she recited to her rapist in the courtroom and has encouraged rife conversation about on-campus rape across the country. It is vitally important for every man and woman to read it. Many celebrities have publicly shared this letter and have voiced their words of support to the survivor. The cast of the HBO show “Girls,” Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, and Jemima Kirke, have released a powerful PSA on sexual assault. Dunham released the video with the statement: “I dedicate this to the brave survivor in the Stanford case who has given so much to change the conversation.”
The cast of "Girls" has a powerful message about sexual assault.
Campus sexual assault is an epidemic. It is absolutely terrible that one in five women will be sexually assaulted at some point in their college careers. While this statistic is shocking and unfathomable, it is important to realize that one in five men are not rapists. There are countless rape victims, but only a limited amount of rapists. In fact, it is about 10 percent of men that are rapists, thereby signifying that these men are repeat offenders. These serial rapists are raping numerous women roughly every month. We should not stand for this, no young woman should live her college years in fear that she or someone she knows is going to be raped. College is supposed to be a safe environment that fosters learning and growth, not a terror zone where girls have to be armed with pepper sprays and whistles just to feel safe. The conversation must continue, and I highly recommend watching the brilliant documentary “The Hunting Ground," it sheds light on the rampant plague that is college rape and how universities and society at large shies away from this issue and sadly in most cases tries to brush it under the carpet.
Here is the powerful letter the Stanford victim read aloud to her attacker.
