Recently, as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed I came across an article. It was a Washington Post article titled "All-American swimmer found guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on Stanford campus," followed by this: "All-American swimmer's" smiling face, not his mugshot. I stared at this article. Read it over and over again. And still, I could not understand why someone would glorify someone who had just been found guilty of three felony sexual assault charges. The maximum sentence for the charges Turner was faced with is 14 years. He was given 6 months.

Allow me to explain, Washington Post, that rapists are not All-American. Being American does not make you free from punishment after you assault someone. America is not proud of rapists. Rapists are not part of the "American Dream." Just like being a swimmer, does not make Brock Allen Turner any less of a rapist. Going to Stanford, a prestigious university with a great swim team does not make Brock Turner any less guilty.

When you came across the article from the Washington Post, you see a lovely photo of Brock Turner smiling for the camera. In most criminal cases that the media decides to write about, the article is usually accompanied by one picture - the mugshot. Brock Turner was arrested January 18th, 2015. The mugshot was just released. Over a year later.

So, let me get this straight. He's a talented swimmer and because of that we shouldn't hold him accountable for his actions? As if attending a prestigious university and being all "All-American swimmer" will somehow change the fact that he committed a crime? I must have missed it in the fine print of the law where it says because of his lifestyle choices, upbringing, sports he played in high school, where he goes to college, etc. will excuse him from the consequences of raping a woman.

Further along in the Washington Post article, it states, "It was a stunning fall from grace for Turner. Once a record-setting swimming prodigy, he is now a convicted sex offender at age 20."

A fall from grace. He went from a "prodigy" to a sex offender overnight. But how did he go from a "prodigy" to a sex offender? Choices. Just like he made a choice to be a swimming "prodigy", he made a choice to sexually assault a woman which makes him a sex offender. This statement in the article makes it sound like it just happened. He just woke up one morning and was a sex offender. No, Brock Turner made a choice and choices have consequences.

No, Washington Post, there is nothing graceful about sex offenders. Nor sex offenders who are swimmers. Or who attend Stanford University. Or who play any sport, attend any university, or do absolutely anything. And there was no "fall from grace." He sexually assaulted a woman and in order to do that, he must not have been very graceful to begin with.

Remember, that these were all Brock Turner's choices. He chose to be on the swim team. He chose to attend Stanford. He chose to attend that party that night and he chose to sexually assault a woman who could not and did not give consent.

If you read the letter written by Brock Turner by the victim, she addresses a few of Turner's statements including his statement that he wants to create a program that will "speak out against the college campus drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that."

All this tells us, is that Brock Turner is in complete and utter denial about what he has done. He is using alcohol as a scapegoat to prevent him from actually owning his decisions.

Alcohol did not shove his hands in places they didn't belong. Alcohol did not sexually assault that girl behind a dumpster. Alcohol did not leave her on the ground exposed when two bystanders caught him in the act. Brock Turner did that. Brock Turner sexually assaulted that girl. Not alcohol.

Brock Turner's father Dan Turner recently wrote a letter to the judge. Here is what stood out to me.

"His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.”

"Action."

If he thinks that what transpired between his son and that woman was "20 minutes of action" I am afraid he and his son are quite alike. As a human, on what level do you have to be on that you would think a sexual assault in any way shape or form constitutes "action?" Maybe he and his son ought to be taught that healthy and appropriate "action"constitutes sexual behavior that has transpired after both parties have given consent.

Overall, I am completely disappointed and disgusted with the article from the Washington Post and the statement from Brock Turner's father. If you are unfamiliar with rape culture, I encourage you to read that Washington Post article or Brock Turner's father's statement to familiarize yourself with the concept because both are perfect examples.

To Brock Turner, I don't have much to say. I simply hope that one day he will come to understand the effect of his action's on this woman's life instead of living in denial and that he will receive help. In the words of the strong and powerful survivor that Turner assaulted:

"Lastly you said, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin a life. A life, one life, yours, you forgot about mine. Let me rephrase for you, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives. You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect. You have dragged me through this hell with you, dipped me back into that night again and again. You knocked down both our towers, I collapsed at the same time you did. If you think I was spared, came out unscathed, that today I ride off into sunset, while you suffer the greatest blow, you are mistaken. Nobody wins. We have all been devastated, we have all been trying to find some meaning in all of this suffering. Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today."

You can find the full letter that the victim wrote to her attacker here and the petition to recall Judge Aaron Persky here.