If you've interacted with the outside world in the last couple months at all, you've heard about the controversy surrounding the Brock Turner case. The former Stanford swimmer raped an unconscious young woman and on March 30th, 2016, was sentenced to a meager six months in prison. Six months.

The average sentence for rape cases is 8 to 10 years yet Judge Aaron Persky found it "appropriate" to let Turner off with basically a warning. Not only as a woman, but as a person and a US citizen, this terrifies and enrages me. This man should not be let off the hook for rape simply because he had a "promising future" and is a privileged, caucasian, young man. Excuse my French but that is bullshit. It should not matter who he was before he committed this atrocious act. It should not matter what he did with his life before that night. What matters it that he raped a young woman. A woman who was

If you've only heard bits and pieces about this case, I encourage you to read the statement the victim read to Turner in court. She told the judge that for most of her statement she would be directly addressing Turner.

"You don't know me, but you've been inside me, and that's why we're here today"

That was the first line of the letter the victim read to the courtroom. If that doesn't send a knot of disgust, discomfort and sorrow to your stomach I don't know what will. She then went into the events of the night Turner raped her and the hours, days and weeks of emotional turmoil that followed. Because she was unconscious during the assault, the victim learned of the gruesome and vivid details of her assault from others, including a news source that listed Turner's swim times after divulging the details of the assault. This is another example of how this case has been treated differently than a typical rape case. There is a short list of things that have disappointed and disgusted me to the same extent that this case has.

On Friday, September 3, 2016, Brock Turner was released from prison halfway into his six month sentence for good behavior. Because of Judge Persky's light sentence, Turner spent only three months mulling over the awful things he did and being punished for those actions. Some have tried to say that the trial, media attention and destruction of Turner's professional and personal reputation in of itself were enough punishment. To that I simply shake my head in dismay. I hope we can all take this unfortunate case's spark to promote and enact change in the current rape culture we live in and to help make the necessary changes to the law so this doesn't happen again.

No one--not women, not men, not children--should have to worry about the possibility of being sexually or physically assaulted when they wake up in the morning.

We can be where the change starts if we only make the effort.