Hey, you -- yes, you there, reader. Did you know that rape is bad? I mean with all the current events people seem to think that other people don't know that rape is bad and feel the need to tell all the other people who are also telling people that rape is bad. It's almost like we live in a culture that compels us to tell everyone that rape is bad at every chance we get, to remind ourselves what good people we are knowing that rape is bad, a "rape is bad" culture if you will. This is something we really need to be more outraged about. We need to dismantle "rape is bad" culture.

And we can start by not joining the lynch mob that pops up after every rape case. Because believe it or not, people in this country actually know that rape is bad, everything about the Brock Turner case kinda proves this. Do you honestly believe that if we lived in a rape culture we'd be bombarded with articles telling us how bad rape is? Do you honestly believe that we live in a rape culture even when everyone is rightfully pissed off about this? All of this mostly coming from people ignorant to the fact that there were over 470 pages worth of evidence that went into the decision of this trial? (See here for a fraction of that). Because I'll be honest what we're living in isn't a rape culture, It's a culture that doesn't shut the fuck up about how bad rape is.

But I'm curious as to why we always see these internet lynch mobs pop up after these kinds of stories, but not at the many cases of female perpetrated sex crimes. I mean a guy in college can get blackout drunk, receive oral sex from a coherent woman, and the guy will still get expelled on the grounds of sexual assault. Not doing it for ya yet? How about the woman who plead guilty to five counts of child sex crimes and got no prison time? It's interesting to see the outrage over him not being convicted of rape, but yet there's still very little outrage over the fact that forced envelopment is not even legally classified as rape. See how upsetting it is when we don't call things what they are? I've also heard/seen a few people who are complaining that he won't get beaten to a pulp in jail because he's been placed under guard protection or some such nonsense. Just cause he's safe in jail doesn't mean he's safe when he comes out. I'd like to think we've moved past arson and lynchings of anyone we didn't like, but I guess not. Because lynchings still seem to be pretty popular among sex offenders, proven or otherwise. I only hope the mob doesn't hurt themselves coming down from their moral high horses when that finally happens. And I certainly hope they don't string the father and judge up along with him.

Yes, the father was stupid for writing that letter, for reducing what this woman went through down to "twenty minutes of action," but could you say you would be any more rational? It's easy for us to put ourselves in the shoes of the victim when we read her 6000 word letter. Why is it so hard for us to do the same with the father? A guy who quite clearly is still struggling to come to grips with what his son did five months later, whose suddenly found himself to be a target of the internet mobs because of twenty words he wrote in a 1637 word letter to the judge. All I want is the same empathy for the dad that we give to the victim. And stop trying to go after Judge Persky for the lenient sentencing. Between the aforementioned mountain of paperwork and the contested fact that the victim may have pleaded for leniency for him but later changed her mind, only mucks the water further both in this case and the overarching conversation around rape culture. And while we're playing the identity games id like to point out it was a female probation officer who suggested a lenient sentence, that all parties seemed to agree too.

And before anyone thinks I'm defending this dude, I'm not. I'm also not gonna call him a scumbag in this article because to be honest I don't know the dude, and neither do any of you (most likely). I'm writing this because I know the rape-is-bad brigade will use this as a way to further erode the already crumbling rights of the accused on college campuses. And that truly is what has upset me so much over these past two years. I want to feel outraged when something like this happens, but i absolutely can't when the people who start this want to push such a hateful agenda.

As a closing note, its alright to feel outraged about this. But for the love of god lets stop acting political change on incomplete information, double standards and emotion. Especially when it comes to sex crimes. I hope it also goes without saying that I wish the victim finds peace after this, but that can't happen if the mob leaves a trail of destruction in her name.