It’s made national and international news. Brock Turner, also known as “The Stanford Rapist,” sentenced to six months in jail. There’s so many articles and blog posts about the situation that I would rather not talk about the situation. There’s so many people giving the victim their support, which I’m sure is appreciated. Regardless of how any of us feel about the situation, this case is going to bring a turn of events to college campuses all around. Not even just college campuses, but daily life.
There’s an estimated statistic from the World Health Organization that more than a third of women throughout the world will face some form of assault in their lifetime, whether it be physical or sexual. That statistic is sickening, thinking about the women all over the globe who have to suffer through assault and abuse because they’re looked at as less than a man. There is nothing in this world that gives someone the right to abuse or assault another person.
There has been protests, even one staged at the Stanford graduation ceremony to bring more light and attention to the actions of Turner and Judge Persky. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and that alone should be an issue that there were multiple cases like this one that went unnoticed by the press or the media. We can’t change that, but we can try to change what happens as a result of this.
Brock Turner and Judge Persky didn’t realize this, but they both are giving activists and advocacy groups exactly what they need to get their message across in a time of turmoil. Brock Turner started a revolution of individuals from all different walks of life coming together to fight injustice, injustice against women. And guess what? There’s men involved in this fight. Abuse and assault isn’t just a women’s problem, it’s a problem for every human being no matter what gender you are. It’s about time we stop just teaching little girls to be safe, and start teaching little boys to not rape or abuse.
Almost every woman attending college will now not feel as safe as they should when they’re on a college campus. When they’re at a party, now they have a reason to be looking over their shoulder all the time and constantly dumping their drinks out in fear of being drugged. Walking around campus at night is something anyone should be able to, but now, women will fear being taken and being taken advantaged of, mistreated, abused, assaulted. It’s about time people stop blaming the victim, and start looking at ways to stop rape and abuse before it happens. Men do not rape or abuse, those are actions performed by people who don’t even deserve to be called human beings.
