With all this outrage surrounding the Brock Turner case, it got me thinking. Now I don't consider myself a feminist. When I think feminist, I think of women who protest and take action. Women who are active, vocal and loud. Women who can not be ignored and are brave enough to go without shaving or wearing tampons to make a difference or prove a point. That's not me. With that being said, do I think women are capable of doing everything men are capable of? Absolutely, maybe more. I don't think women always get the credit they are often deserved and I think they are belittled quite often. So does this actually make me a feminist? I don't know.
I also would consider myself to be "unpolitical." Is that a word? I hate politics. I don't really follow it because there are hundreds of other things I'm more interested in. I vote, I have my beliefs and my views but I keep them to myself. I don't care what you think of my opinion, and you don't care what I think of yours so why even bother? I'd rather talk about other things with someone, literally anything else. And by me expressing my point of view, it's not going to change who becomes the next president. Nothing good ever comes from a conversation about politics. It's nonsense.
I confess I'm also not always on top of the "real world." I'm not an avid news watcher. I'll watch it when it's on or with my parents, but I'm guilty of turning the News off to watch reality TV more often than I should be willing to admit. When it comes to current events, truthfully I don't dig too deep. But I'm not stupid. I know what's going on, I just don't care to talk about it.
I'm content living in my little bubble where I filter out anything and everything that I don't want to hear or discuss. It's happier in my bubble than it is in the real world. Sometimes, though, my bubble gets contaminated with the ugliness of our realities. Sometimes my bubble pops and I can't help but speak up. Congrats, Brock Turner, you popped my bubble. I don't know you, but I hate you.
Rape has become such a common word that it has lost its power of the meaning. People don't fear this word as much as they should because they hear it basically every day. Stories about rape on college campuses never end. So many of us are guilty of hearing these stories, thinking "that's sick," and moving on with our daily lives. I learned from Joe Biden's letter to Brock Turner's victim that the rape rates haven't decreased in the past decade. Why? Did you notice how I said Brock Turner's victim there? Just in case you missed it, she is the victim. The issue today is that women are often blamed in these situations and I just want to give you a little general rundown here.
It's common to hear excuses like "she didn't fight it," or "she didn't push me off," etc. Now, this may come off as a surprise to you, but physically, boys are typically stronger than girls. So it's kind of difficult for a girl to get (on average) a six-foot-long human body who might weigh 60 pounds more than she does off of her. Just saying.
Next, we hear excuses like "it was consensual," or "she never told me to stop." But did anyone ever think maybe the poor victims aren't in any state to speak? That maybe they're drunk? Maybe they are paralyzed with fear? Or in shock maybe? Maybe, just maybe she's scared. If someone is sick enough to rape her what else are they capable of doing? Let me speak for the ones who can't, she doesn't want this. And she definitely doesn't want you.
Now before I get carried away, to wrap things up, my favorite excuse is "the way she was dressed, she was asking for it," or "she was dressed like a slut." NEWSFLASH: did anyone ever think that perhaps she was dressed a certain way because maybe it makes her feel good about herself? Maybe she's confident. Maybe her dress is short because she's worked her ass off at the gym and her legs look good so she wants to show them off. Her stomach might be showing because she's proud of the abs she's worked months for. Or maybe her shirt is low cut because she knows in twenty years she won't be as hot as she is now. Maybe, she's dressing for herself. Because oddly enough, girls feelings are important too.
Brock Turner's sentence is just an example of why rape is so common. These sexual predators aren't adequately punished for the crimes they commit. Turner's consequences are so minor in comparison to the lifetime of pain his "20 minutes of action" caused. And even still he had the nerve to put the blame on the innocent.
But hey, we should take it easy on him because he's a good athlete. As his dad informed us, he doesn't eat his favorite snacks anymore because he's sad that he ruined his life. We should send him to jail for only a few months so that he doesn't get even sadder. In my opinion, this is basically saying what Brock Turner did is okay.
What about his victim? What about how she feels? What if she's sad? What if she was a good athlete? We wouldn't know. Why don't we start talking about her? We hear about her only because of the bad things Turner did to her. Why aren't we talking more about her as a person? Why are we highlighting the "good" things about an animal like Turner? It's all over the media that he was a good swimmer and he has a high GPA. But guess what? He's scum. I don't think he deserves to be acknowledged for his success when he just destroyed this girl. She is the one who deserves to be getting praised for her accomplishments. She's human too, more human than him.
This shouldn't define her, yet it does. Brock Turner is no longer an elite swimmer or a good person. He's a sex offender, that's it. That's how he'll forever be remembered. Whatever he did before this doesn't matter anymore. But the girl he attacked is so much more than how she's portrayed.
Her life has been changed. For her, living life in the real world after what he did to her is more difficult than the life he'll live in jail (for the short time he's there).
She may be physically free, but in no other sense is she liberated. Brock Turner took that from her. He is a selfish, disgusting, life-ruining, inhumane, sex offender. But don't make him pay for his crime because he's sad and he doesn't eat his Cheez-Itz anymore!!!
It's not until the worth is taken out of a worthy girl that people start talking. She's the one suffering the consequences of Turner's crime. She's the one with the lifetime sentence. It's people like Brock Turner that encourage me to stay in my bubble for as long as I can.
