In the wake of the very public case against Brock Turner, a rapist who happens to swim, Stanford has chosen to change its policy regarding alcohol at undergraduate campus parties. I would like to start this article with a very import definition. “Rape Culture: a term that was coined by feminists in the United States in the 1970’s. It was designed to show the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence.”- WAVAW
If you haven’t been following this case, let me catch you up. On January 18th of last year, Brock Turner was found behind a dumpster penetrating an unconscious woman with “a foreign object.” Two International students (aka Saints) chased the fleeing Turner and detained him until police could arrive. After being found guilty, he was sentenced to six months of jail with three years of probation. Following his sentence, Turner wrote a letter blaming his actions on alcohol. “I want to show that people’s lives can be destroyed by drinking and making poor decisions while doing so.”- Brock Turner
Let’s get back to where Stanford is involved in this. A year and a half later, on August 22, Stanford updated its student alcohol policy. This new policy “prohibits high-volume distilled liquor containers for all undergraduate and coterminal students living in undergraduate housing.” This policy came after Stanford’s President and provost sent an email to students concerning “alcohol misuse.” The email discusses the issues surrounding alcohol such as alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, and relationship violence. Hold the phone, alcohol sexually assaults people? Well, according to the Stanford President it does!
This is the problem with today’s society. Victims are blamed, alcohol is blamed and circumstance is blamed.In fact, anything and everything except for the offenders are blamed. Stanford is just one of the many examples of this. Instead of enforcing harsher punishments on those found guilty of sexual assault or requiring students to take classes on the effects of sexual assaults on victims, the university blames alcohol and moves on. I’ve included a quote from Turner’s victim in case you were still wondering if alcohol raped her behind a dumpster.
“Alcohol is not an excuse. Is it a factor? Yes. But alcohol was not the one who stripped me, fingered me, had my head dragging against the ground, with me almost fully naked. Having too much to drink was an amateur mistake that I admit to, but it is not criminal. Everyone in this room has had a night where they have regretted drinking too much, or knows someone close to them who has had a night where they have regretted drinking too much. Regretting drinking is not the same as regretting sexual assault. We were both drunk, the difference is I did not take off your pants and underwear, touch you inappropriately, and run away. That’s the difference.”-Emily Doe via Buzzfeed
