Brock Turner is a rapist. Not a Ted Talk inspiration. Not a credible speaker.
Alcohol is not an excuse for sexual assault. Flirting is not an excuse for sexual assault.
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Then why, pray tell, are rapist Brock Turner and his family attempting to mobilize a cross- country tour for this criminal to speak on college campuses about “Party Culture” and the dangers of drinking and promiscuous behavior?
(I refuse to call him anything other than rapist or a criminal because hey, that’s what someone is when they sexually assault someone! Not ex-swimmer, not ex- Stanford student. R A P I S T)
Just to clarify, in case there was any confusion, the girl he sexually assaulted was unconscious behind a dumpster, not being ‘promiscuous’.
As if ANY behavior is a reason to sexually assault someone.
But now the criminal and his pretentious behavior and lack of taking responsibility has reached disgustingly epic proportions.
Continuing as living proof of socioeconomic privileges (read: white male privilege) after his embarrassingly short jail sentence, his intentions to speak are only promoting rape culture and the idea that sexual assault is somehow the fault of the victim. His talks, if they happen, will literally push victim blaming across the country.
Telling people not to rape, that’s just too harsh to tell men isn’t it? Way easier to tell women to not drink so much and keep their legs shut.
So his ‘twenty minutes of action’ (what his father called the assault) has seemingly no bigger repercussions than his stay in jail for a shorter time than it took to change my nail polish. Instead he has the possibility of speaking like some actual scholar/ inspiring person. Like someone who has a right to tell anyone anything.
The only thing rapist Brock Turner has the right to say is an apology. The only thing he has inspired is the uproar against rape culture and against Judge Aaron Persky, the Judge that didn’t want to impede the young rapist’s future. Because it just looks so damn bright.
After thinking about the impact his speaking might have I reconsidered my stance on whether or not he should; maybe if he was looked in the face and told how much of a piece of sh*t he is thousands of times, he might believe it. Maybe if he was forced to listen to the stories of sexual assault survivors and how the ‘XX minutes of action” they endured changed their lives forever. Maybe, just maybe, if the Turner Family talked to real people outside of the media and social media, something would get through to them that their son is not above the law.
Because rapist Brock Turner is not above the law. He does not deserve to speak anywhere, but maybe if he does, schools can also have victims speak at the same time. Perhaps it’ll make him as uncomfortable and make him feel as unsafe as he made that poor girl, who understandably wished to remain unnamed.
But let’s be real. If by now that sorry excuse for a boy and his enabling family haven’t felt remorse, after letters from the victim’s family and a trial, they likely never will.
