Early last week, the country got a wake-up call when we saw the injustice of rapist Brock Turner's sentence. After raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster in January 2015, Turner was sentenced to just six months in county jail. People are outraged because of the injustice seen in the courtroom, but also because of how the media first handled the news.
One of the biggest issues surrounding the media is that people seem to be focusing on the fact that Turner is a swimmer. Many headlines say that Turner is a swimmer, rather than a rapist. Here's an example. And another. And in the letter from his victim, she explains how she first found out what actually happened -- how was she found, who raped her and what he said -- in a news article she found while browsing her phone. Below the article, his best swimming times were listed.
Not only did some media outlets react poorly to the news, but how other people reacted was poor. Normally, if a person is found guilty to three felony counts due to rape, such as Turner, they will earn him/herself 14 years of state prison. Yet, Turner earned six months? Part of this is because of Turner's father read to the court. His father wrote the letter, focusing on how Turner's life will be forever altered because of anxiety and depression, and how "20 minutes of action is a steep price to pay for 20 plus years of his life" Alexandra Ozeri tweeted a revised version of the original letter and wrote, "This isn't like the three-second rule for food, rape still counts no matter how many seconds it lasts. This is rape."
One of Brock Turner's childhood friends, Leslie Rasmussen, also wrote a letter to the judge. One of the issues that she mentions that it is okay because they were drunk. Turner blames it on the college's "party culture." So, if I was drunk and someone stole my wallet, it makes it okay, right? No. We can't blame the alcohol, we can only blame the rapist.
This, and six other myths that Rasmussen makes are pointed and debunked by Bustle.
We can see the reaction that people and media show is that how people did not treat the rape correctly. Most of the country is outraged by it and are voicing their opinions on why it's wrong.
I want to make it clear that rape is rape, it doesn't matter if you're drunk or not. It doesn't matter if it lasted seconds or half an hour. It doesn't matter if they are your spouse or a stranger. It doesn't matter if they are well liked or popular. It doesn't matter if they bought you a car and you think you 'owe' it to them. It doesn't matter how you're dressed. It doesn't matter where you are. It doesn't matter what gender the attacker is. It doesn't matter what gender you are.
The only person at fault here is the rapist.
No one else.
