To Brock Turner,
I was about to write "Dear", but no. You don't deserve any type of endearment.
America is a place where people capitalize on themselves and their goals. It's a place where people truly invest in themselves and make their dreams come true. That's what makes this country so great.
You had, and I suppose you still have, hopes and dreams, too. The high-life of being a white male who attends the prestigious Stanford, with the goal of being an Olympic swimmer.
In what way did you ever have the audacity to believe conscientiously raping a girl was written in your destiny to becoming an Olympic swimmer? Let alone, being a good person?
What ever told you it was okay to rape an unconscious woman? Was there even any satisfaction behind it? Did you actually get off on the fact that you were physically and emotionally shattering someone and they weren't even awake to comprehend everything you were doing to them?
Psychologically analyzing this, let's break down your three contributing factors of your intersectionality:
White-- I don't need to discuss white privilege. We all know how prevalent this is in America, and especially where you live, in California. The fact that you could lie to the probation officer about your victim being conscious and consenting to sex, and not having that held against you...
Male--The English language alone highlights the preference of masculinity in our everyday lives: "Mankind, foreman". Males have a higher dollar value than females even while engaging in the same work. "Boys will be boys" is a valid justification for hurtful and suffocating situations-- oh wait, look at the one you're in right now.
Stanford-- You attend one of the most prestigious schools in the country. In no way can the school you attend help defend the idea that you're dumb enough to rape a woman, that "just because you go to Stanford, you're smart enough to make the right decision." Rape. Happens. Everywhere. Within every school, social class, relationship type;it happens everywhere. Regardless of the school you go to, rapists sadly exist in all of them. Including yours.
On another note, you clearly do not understand that the term "consensual sex" does not exist. There is sex and there is rape. It is the presence or absence of consent that defines which is which.
I wish I could say that you are unaware of what consent means or how it works. But consent is practiced in your everyday life. "Do you wanna go to the movies?" "Yes." That means you agree to go to the movies, and no means you don't want to.
It's the same concept with sex.
And for some insane reason, people are defending you with fallacious justifications such as "political correctness".
Trust me. Everybody knows how hard it is to completely screw up in life, especially when we once held such high expectations for ourselves. And every step of the way, I get that you're human. And while I hate your guts for raping a woman, I hate you even more for not facing the consequences you inevitably deserve.
Now, I'm not going to be so civil.
Do you know how to count to three? Let me help you out. 1. 2. 3.
This is the amount of charges of sexual assault you were charged with. THREE. Not one. Two wasn't enough to subsidize for the brutality you forced yourself upon to an unconscious girl, but three.
The saying goes, three strikes and you're out. But yet here we are; three counts of sexual assault and you only have to spend three months in county jail, with protective custody. Not even real prison.
But I'm so much more curious about why you did it.
How were you able to dehumanize her and objectify her to the point where her human rights were valued less than a fetus in America? How was she not more than just a piece of meat and how was she not something more than the curves that beautifully shape her body?
What if she was your little sister, and someone did to her what you did? What if that was your mom? Your best friend?
Alcohol clouds judgment. I can agree to that, and so can many others. But alcohol will never make it okay for you to rape someone. You drank that night, and I recognize that, but you also claimed that you remembered everything that happened. She doesn't remember anything, and when someone is in that state, or I don't know, unconscious, I don't exactly think they can say they want to engage in sexual relations, especially with a guy like you.
I'm trying so hard to recognize the humanity behind your action. I'm trying to understand why you did what you did, and why you are not facing the consequences. I want to believe that you aren't this bad person and I want to believe that you are owning up to your actions, but you aren't a good person, and you're not owning up.
You are a coward. A privileged, white, male coward.
You are also a liar. You lied to the probation officer about your victim consenting to have sex with you. You're lucky you weren't on trial because perjury is an extremely serious allegation.
Oh wait! If you can get out of 14 years of prison and only go for three months, you can easily get out of perjury too. My bad, I forgot about the lack of melanin in your skin tone. I forgot how the absence of femininity and said melanin creates a completely new standard of living and safety from the dangers of consequential prison. That simply being white and male dismisses you from the unquestionable justice that won't be served to you.
Acknowledge that what you did was wrong. Acknowledge that you are inhumane and undeniably at fault for ruining your victim's life in the physical, emotional, mental and psychological states, and acknowledge that you will never be looked at as "Brock Tuner, the Stanford swimmer, future Olympian" ever again.
With your name comes eternal shame, eternal societal injustice, eternal white privilege and eternal disgust.
But most importantly, branded next to your name is the word "rapist" and no money, white supremacy or male privilege will ever be able to remove this new identity. It has tarred your name and your very existence, just as you emotionally and physically tarred your victim's.
