Recently the name Brock Turner has become infamous throughout the media. Turner has become known as the Stanford rapist. For those who may not know the story, let’s back it up. Turner was caught raping an unconscious and defenseless woman behind a dumpster back in January of 2015. With such a repulsive crime, witnesses, and forensic evidence, one would think that Turner would have been sentenced accordingly, right? Well those who thought that justice would be served were sadly mistaken. Turner was sentenced to a mere six months in county jail with probation due to the fact that the judge feared that a longer sentence would have a “severe impact” on him. So basically the judge completely dismissed the severe impact the rape had on Turner’s victim and instead worried about the impact the punishment would have on Turner’s future.

I, myself, am a college female. I go to parties. I drink. I meet people. I do the same things every other night that the victim in this case did the night of her assault. I couldn’t help but have a strong connection with this case and the victim simply because other than the rape, her night is an ordinary one for me. The reason I bring up this similarity is to show how ridiculous Turner’s statements are regarding the rape. Turner, instead of taking accountability for his twisted actions, decided to blame the college party scene and drinking. In one statement he said, “I stupidly thought it was okay for me to do what everyone around me was doing, which was drinking. I was wrong.” This statement is one which particularly infuriates me. While everyone around Turner was drinking, no one else was raping innocent women. Alcohol is not the cause for you raping someone, it is not an excuse. If all these other men at the party, men who were just as drunk as Turner, and all the men at parties that myself and my friends go to are capable of controlling themselves and not raping anyone, then alcohol was blatantly not a factor in this. No, this was a brutal premeditated crime. It was even announced in the victim’s statement that Turner had “admitted to wanting to hook up with someone.” Turner is scapegoating the college party scene rather than taking responsibility for his utterly inhumane actions.

I don’t want the fact that I am a woman cause people to think that I am bias in anyway. If the roles were reversed and a male had been raped I would feel the same sympathy for him as I do for this female victim. The one person I lack sympathy for, however, is Turner. For some reason, whether it be his social class, race, or athletic future, some people are defending Turner. This does nothing but enrages me. There have been Facebook pages made in support of Turner and his family stating things like “No one is perfect. It is time to forgive and forget.” Upon discovering this, I immediately thought two things; the first being who would ever be so ignorant as to say something like this regarding a very serious felony. It is rape, not an accident. The second thing that came to my mind was that it is impossible to “forgive and forget” Turner especially when he never even apologized to his victim or recognized his actions as sexual assault! A direct quote from the victim depicts just how remorseless this monster was. The victim stated:

“Unfortunately, after reading the defendant’s report, I am severely disappointed and feel that he has failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct. I fully respected his right to a trial, but even after twelve jurors unanimously convicted him guilty of three felonies, all he has admitted to doing is ingesting alcohol. Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence. It is deeply offensive that he would try and dilute rape with a suggestion of “promiscuity.” By definition rape is the absence of promiscuity, rape is the absence of consent, and it perturbs me deeply that he can’t even see that distinction.”

Turner never even had the courage to own up to what he did and issue his victim an actual heartfelt apology. I think it is very easy to see the reason behind that; it was because he was not sorry for what he had done, he was just happy to be free from a harsh punishment, not caring about his victim whatsoever.

It is distressing to know that after six months Turner will be free. He will move on with his life. He will eventually find a job, have a family, and never think twice about the actions he took on January 2015. It is even more heartbreaking to realize that his victim won’t be able to do the same. Just as she stated in her statement towards Turner, her life will forever be altered by the events. Everywhere she goes, she will be reminded of her rape. I, as a woman, cannot even imagine the pure trauma that would follow the unwanted violation of one’s body in rape. It was heart wrenching to read the victim’s statement that she no longer wanted her body. She “wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else.” Can you imagine going through life in a body that is no longer just yours? I hold the highest respect and admiration at the strength of the victim of this Stanford case. This woman is a survivor and that is something Turner can never take away from her. Her story is empowering and I have nothing but the deepest respect for her being able to share it. Rape culture is something that needs to be put to an end immediately, hopefully the attention that this case gets will be enough to.