Sexual violence is sickeningly commonplace. In the United States, federal data suggests a new sexual assault occurs every two minutes. (http://www.wcsap.org/how-often-does-it-happen)

Despite the frequency of these crimes, rarely do they induce the level of outrage that’s emerged since last week’s sentencing of a former Stanford student who was convicted on three felony counts of sexual assault.

Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail and put on probation, an outcome that many have blasted as far too light. Others have advocated for the recall of Judge Aaron Persky, who sentenced Turner, and whose judicial position was elected.

Persky’s fate aside, there’s a larger question that the furor over Turner’s sentencing poses: If people’s anger doesn’t simply dissolve or subside, what sorts of social and cultural changes might be brought from the outcry over the Stanford rape case?

“National conversation” is typically the phrase used in similar subjects, positive and negative, that draw widespread public attention. But only in the internet age have national conversations—in which anyone with internet can participate—been possible. This is, technologically and culturally, something of a miracle. It can also derail quickly. On Facebook and Twitter, any attempts at civil discourse, especially about matters as charged as rape, tend to quickly unravel. The tenor of national conversations, even among those who agree with one another, usually reach a fever pitch—and not necessarily productively.

Even in cases where pure fury is understandable, where does the outrage go? Once the outcry over Turner’s sentence fades, there’s little evidence to think anything of significance will change in our cultural and judicial responses to sexual assault.

Stanford students are already skeptical that their institution takes sexual assaults seriously. In a university survey last year, fewer than half of undergraduate men at Stanford said they believed it was “very likely” the school would hold accountable someone found responsible for sexual assault. (Among female students, just over one-quarter of those surveyed thought an attacker would be “very likely” held accountable.) (https://provost.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/2...)

Stanford isn't alone. In 2015, the U.S. Education Department Office for Civil Rights concluded a study that found UVA had abdicated its legal responsibility to act on reports of sexual violence within the school’s Greek system and took a “hands off” approach, relying instead on fraternities to police their own membership in cases of alleged rape and other alleged sexual assaults. VCU is also under federal scrutiny for how it addresses sexual violence. They have been added to the investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (http://www.nbc12.com/story/29852662/vcu-sex-assual...//https://www2.ed.gov/documents/press-releases/university-virginia-letter.pdf)

In the recent debates over campus sexual assault, many people have pushed for reducing university involvement and automatically enlisting the help of law enforcement as soon as a crime is reported. But for those who are outraged with this case’s outcome, the situation reinforces concerns about how sexual violence is handled in the criminal-justice system, too.

Here we’ve got evidence and witnesses, but we’re being told, ‘You know what, it doesn’t matter.’ Certain people who participate in our system of justice don’t understand sexual violence. They don’t understand violence against women, and they aren’t able to appropriately interpret the law in a way that protects women. The reason this case has really resonated for people is the victim did everything right. She was supposed to get justice. And she didn’t.

This won't be solved easily. It won't be solved through "the system" or better police work. Something much deeper, something much more holistic has to take place. Society needs to change. We need to live in a society where a sexual assault victim isn't asked what she was wearing. A society where "boys will be boys" isn't an excuse. A society where "what did you think was going to happen?" isn't the response to female service members assault.

We shouldn't be teaching women to "be careful," or watch what they wear. They shouldn't have to "avoid certain streets." Instead we should be teaching men, from a young age, about consent, respect, and boundaries. They need to learn that women are not sexual prospects at the ready. Instead of teaching women to avoid sexual assault, we should be teaching men not to do it. Once we start understanding sexual assault, and once we stop seeing women as property, maybe we can create change.