By now, you have mostly likely heard about the Stanford rape case in which Brock Turner, the 20-year-old swimmer for Stanford University, was sentenced for only six months for his crime of raping a female who was unconscious after a party they had both attended. After sharing her chilling and honest response to her rapist on BuzzFeed, readers have been empathetic for her situation and angry at the sentencing, and have been taking their opinions to social media. Mostly everyone agrees that “rape is rape” and there is never an excuse to violate a woman or a man, no matter if they are sober, intoxicated, or unconscious. There are the exact same cries of outrage of the rapist’s father for making light of the crimes his son had committed, which posted all over Twitter. There are the exact same angry words being thrown at the judge for giving Turner a sentence that isn’t equal to his crime. If all of us agree that this guy isn’t being punished correctly for his actions, then why do we all still talk about it?
Viral topics are being presented on an almost weekly basis. First it was the bathrooms in Target, then there was the gorilla, now there’s the Stanford rape case, and I’m sure by the time this article is published, we will be on to the next topic to debate over Facebook statuses and comments. But why do we keep on sharing these articles and our views on them? What are we really trying to accomplish here?
I haven’t actually stated my views on any of these issues on social media. I am not one to debate over social media unless there’s an issue that absolutely bothers me and I have a new view on it. It was pretty much a general consensus that bathrooms and transgender people aren’t the issue being addressed, safety is; the decision to kill the gorilla wasn’t the issue addressed, the zoos are; and the rape isn’t the issue being addressed, the court system is. These blanket issues are ones that we all know are happening and, yes, they are bad. We all agree on that. But, the underlying issues are ones that take some time to fully develop an opinion on. So, we avoid them.
Bringing this information back to the Stanford case, I too agree that the sentence was too light, the father is in denial of what really happened, and the rapist is guilty of every action he committed towards the victim. That’s the easy part of explaining my views, and also mostly likely your views. But, I also would like to present the topics of mental development and rape prevention. This case isn’t just viral because it’s widely shared. This case is going to be one that our children will learn about in there schools because it brings up so many issues that we have to discuss, but often are overlooking.
The statement by the judge by saying incarceration would have a “severe impact on him” seems like a statement that is indirectly saying jail will make this boy sad, and we don’t want to do that to him. Through all of the statements taken out of context in this case (and, boy, there are a lot of them), I believe that this is the most important one. Though I do not agree with the judge’s light sentence, I have thought of what 14 years in prison would actually accomplish. What is being in jail for? Is it only punishment? No matter whether Turner spent the average eight to nine years in prison, like most offenders do, or the maximum 14 years that he possibly could have been sentenced for, there is a reason why he is sent to jail: he needs to be rehabilitated.
In no way can a person fully learn from their life-changing mistakes in six months. If you have read the letter from the victim to her rapist, Turner only speaks of being guilty of drinking, not the actions because of it. Whether he was guilty, and his lawyer told him not to speak of it, or if he honestly thinks that drinking was the mistake, we will never know. There, obviously, needs to be some amount of enlightenment in Turner’s thinking. Will 14 years in prison give that to him? Not necessarily. Will six months? Not necessarily. What we need to focus on, when it comes to the prison system, is rehabilitation and change.
There is, obviously, something wrong with Turner mentally. If he doesn’t receive the correct form of help while imprisoned, the amount of time in prison will not do anything to help him -- or, after he gets out, he’ll feel guilty for his actions, which is a big whoop when you have already ruined the victim’s life, her family’s life, his family’s life, the reputation of other athletes at his school, and the reputation of Stanford. There is actually hope for everyone to actually fix themselves actively. We should give prisoners accessibility to mental health services so that they can learn not only to just“feel badly about what they did, but how to overcome the reasons why they did it which will allow them to be able to be less apt to be violent after they discharge from jail. Obviously, this will not work on everyone -- and if you put Turner in any counseling, now, it definitely wouldn’t be affective if only for his six month sentence. But, people can learn.
Rape prevention is actually a backhanded subject. There’s the old way of thought, which focuses on making sure a female doesn’t wear revealing clothing and doesn’t drink in order to avoid an attack. The new wave of thinking is that girls should be able to wear whatever they want and do whatever they want on the weekends, if they so choose. A majority of us reading will agree with the second statement and not the first. The thing is, rape doesn’t have anything to do with a woman’s (or a male’s) choices. A person can be raped in sweatpants or in fishnets. A person can be raped while absolutely sober or just borderline tipsy or unconscious. In the victim’s letter, one point really stood out to me:
“He admitted to wanting to hook up with someone. I was the wounded antelope of the herd, completely alone and vulnerable, physically unable to fend for myself, and he chose me. Sometimes I think, if I hadn’t gone, then this never would’ve happened. But then I realized, it would have happened, just to somebody else.”
It would have happened, just to somebody else. This is the sad reality of how attackers work. Does it matter who? No. Does it matter how easily they can be attacked? Not always. No matter what, if we tell a possible victim to behave or not behave a certain way, that doesn’t affect the outcome at all. It’s about what the rapist is thinking and doing. It would be unfair for me to say that all rapists go out and think of attacking someone. It would also be unfair for me to say that all rapists are innocent and just do it because the opportunity was given to them. Sure, it’s easy to say, “Well, let’s tell guys to not rape people.” That’s also something that is on social media everywhere, just the simple notion of reforming sexual assault awareness by saying, “Tell your sons not to assault people.” If the world was that easy, rape wouldn’t exist. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember ever hearing about parents telling their children to actively go out and attack someone to use them for their body.
In the UK, there is a petition about trying to reform sex education to also include topics of rape and sexual consent. Though education cannot help everybody, there is sometimes a gray area (at least, in most of the rapist’s testimonies) of what is and is not consent, etc. Though this is a sensitive subject, it’s one that has to be covered at some point to people. Learning about statistics and also what to do if a rape happens is something that isn’t just your average Google search away. In no way do I know an extremely effective way to prevent rape. There will be victims. How can we reform society’s views on rape, how can we attempt to defend ourselves in an attack, how can we prevent someone else from being attacked, and how can we respond after an attack?
With so many new issues being brought to the front of our online news feeds, we are forced to think, only for a short amount of time, about our views on what has happened. Save yourself from a future of carpel tunnel and don’t feel obligated to tell the world what they already know and agree on. The blanket statements have no value to anyone, yourself included. Instead, think about why our nation is so worked up about these stories. How can you contribute your voice among millions? What does this case really mean for the victim, the attacker, you, and our society?
