How does a small town, Olympic hopeful swimmer find himself encompassed in one of the most widely controversial scandals of the year? How does he go from being just another drunken college kid who partakes in one night stands, and no-strings-attached relationships, to a certified sex offender? The crime was not premeditated. The defendant had no prior record of violence or assault, and yet once interrogated about his atrocious act the young man turned to the one answer he knew, "I was just trying to hook up.""I was just trying to hook up with a girl," confessed Turner to the police during his iconic rape case in March 2016. "My intentions were not to rape [her.]" Just trying to hook up; that line stuck out at me like a sore thumb. At first it seems like an excuse, a childish attempt to avoid owning one's actions and accepting their fate. However what struck me about the statement is how honest it was; how casual it is to just hookup and how this truly was his intent. It was a confession I had heard a million times before from friends at parties, and was no the statement released in a national rape case. While the defendant in court in Turner vs. The People was the 22 year old swimmer, I found myself accusing a convict far more complex than a college rapist. The hookup.

"A hookup culture is one that accepts and encourages casual sexual encounters, including one-night stands and other related activity, which focus on physical pleasure without necessarily including emotional bonding or long-term commitment." (Wikipedia) The hookup culture blurs the lines of consent. From bedrooms to bathrooms the casual, often meaningless, hookup has no boundaries. It leaves no room for feelings, conversations or questions, but rather encourages the sensational anonymity of two bodies pleasuring each other purely for pleasure's sake. Nevertheless because of this reckless game we find ourselves tangled in a web of confusion. Where is the verbal 'yes' when you are in a bathroom stall stripping off the clothes of a stranger? When do you feel comfortable or confident enough to say 'no' or 'stop' to someone who you can barely remember the name of?

Nevertheless these non binding exchanges are widely favored amongst younger generations. To us it feels so normal, so natural, to satisfy these human needs...to fulfill this desire. It feels so right to lose yourself in a game with no rules, no reasons and no questions. It feels simple.

Maybe it is the simplicity of hookups that entices audiences. We all know how messy relationships can be. It entails endless bickering, decision making and often compromise, whereas a random from the bar will come and go before the crack of dawn. We are surrounded in a society which accepts sexuality, experimentation and carefree behavior, and yet we find ourselves vulnerable to the contrary. What about love? Where did we all learn our definitions of what it is like to be in love? How do we know the difference of love and lust; or how to control our raging hormones when no one is here to guide us?

To Brock Turner the girl he raped was just another one of these nights. He too had grown up in a culture that refused to teach him how to respect women, or why a hookup is not ideal. You may blame it on his mother, his teachers or his friends, but Brock truly believed what he was doing was not wrong. And it is not 100% his fault.

Notice the picture I chose for this article. It's not his mug shot, or his Stanford class picture; It's not him being released from the Santa Clara prison or photographic evidence used in the trial. Here he is just a swimmer, an All-American teenage boy without a sentencing or a label. It's not the face of a juvenile delinquent or distorted rapist. He was just another college boy that spent his days in the pool and his nights at the bar, or fraternity house or house party. Never once was he criticized or questioned for his one night stands until the one that got out of hand. At this point he was not only criticized, he was ostracized. Viewers around the nation all claimed "he should know better," but in all honesty when were we ever taught how to behave in these situations. When did you parents ever pull you aside and talk about hooking up? When were we told what is too far, and how we know when to stop? Where is the education on verbal consent in colleges or the addressing in fraternity parties detailing at what point you're 'too drunk' to have sex? The contradicting beauty of the hookup culture is its "don't ask, don't tell" yet it leads us to dangerous situations which we do not address until it's too late.

We need to start educating our children at a young age why what happened was wrong. We need to pull our teenagers aside and start having the conversations that make us uncomfortable...beyond sex. You never hear a father sit down with his son and talk about the problems with hookups, or a mother sitting down with her daughter and explaining the significance of a blowjob. To us they seem like another weekend's gossip. "She got on her knees for who," and "he hooked up with how many girls" is often a badge of honor...at least for men. There's no feelings in these exchanges, no understanding of the repercussions of these favors. We rather remain blissfully ignorant to the future. No questions needed.

What Brock Turner did was obscene, I will not deny that. No matter how intoxicated, or misled, he was, no woman deserves to be put through the kind of torture that young woman has endured. Yes, he was rightfully found guilty; and yes, he deserves a longer sentence. But does he truly deserve to have his whole life thrown away? Is it justifiable to take down all of his high school records, and label him for the rest of his life as a criminal? There are a million Brock Turners in this world, and a million more who get away with these heinous acts each and everyday. If Brock's life must be forever tarnished by his deeds then let him serve as a lesson for not only the men of the world, but for us all. It's time to have a talk about the hookup culture, and it's time to have it now.