In January 2015, 20-year-old Brock Turner was found behind a dumpster, assaulting a woman who was unconscious. When that women awoke, disheveled and disoriented in a hospital, she was unaware of what had happened. She found pine needles in her hair and felt bruises and dried blood on her bandaged knees and elbows. The nurses documented her injuries and gave her a pelvic examination. As she left the hospital in someone else’s clothes (hers had been ripped and soiled), she realized she had been sexually assaulted by a man she did not know.
In March 2016, Turner was convicted of this sexual assault. The maximum sentence he could receive was 14 years in a state prison, but prosecutors asked for just six. According to Dan Turner (the defendant’s father), incarceration would be “a steep price to pay for twenty minutes of action.” Turner was a “good kid” – a talented swimmer – the defense contended, so the court should be lenient. Judge Aaron Persky agreed, sentencing Turner to just six months in jail. He was released after three for good behavior.
What exactly is “good behavior” in prison? Making your bed every morning? Clearing your tray after each meal? Remaining calm when you lose for the fifth time in a game of cards? Congratulations, Brock Turner, you acted like a civilized human being for 90 days! Since you only sexually assaulted someone for 20 minutes, you can return to your regular life now. You are no longer a threat to society.
Mistrials of justice like this perpetuate the rape culture in our society. The fact that Turner was punished so leniently after raping an unconscious woman is absurd, disgusting, and embarrassing. What’s even worse is that Turner is one of many rapists walking the streets today. In fact, it’s amazing he spent any time in jail. Ninety percent of rapists are never incarcerated. Seventy percent won’t even go to court. The reason? Rape culture.
Most rape cases go unreported because victims don’t feel safe or protected legally or socially. If a case is taken to court, the victim faces months of interrogations about irrelevant details like what they were wearing, who they were with, how much they drank, and their sexual history. In other words, the victims are being blamed for the rape.
Ignorance related to rape and rape culture is at an all-time high. Sex is not an instinct that is encoded into men’s DNA, requiring them to have it whenever they please. Sex is a mutual agreement, clear and simple. It doesn’t take much more than common sense to understand the concept of consent. Anything other than yes means no. Silence means no. Intoxication means no. Being unconscious or asleep means no. And when someone says no – even if they said yes before – it’s a no. You don’t try to convince them. If you don’t hear yes, you stop.
In order to attack rape culture, we must teach the next generation. We have to educate children about consent before they even know what rape is. Regardless of the situation, no means no. The future really is in our hands.