We’ve talked about this before. Sex should always be consensual, if it’s not, it is known as rape. This year, 2016, gathered big attention to rape culture because of Brock Turner’s case. If you don’t recall this event, let me try to give you a brief summary: the Stanford swimmer who sexually assaulted a girl who was unconscious behind a dumpster, during a party. An event that only led to the consequence of Brock only having a 6 month sentence, later reduced to 3 months because of “good behavior”. This case gathered a lot of media attention, not only because of the outrageous ending, but also because, to a lot of people, it set rape culture back 30 years. It badgered the witness because of her past, and that the defendant was getting punished for “20 minutes of action”, words spoken by Turner’s father, also stating that his child did not deserve a punishment because he was a great swimmer. Newsflash, athletes can be rapists.
On June, the case had a turn of events when it was discovered that Brock had lied about his partying and drug use, even going back to when he was in high school, even mentioning to his friends, in an explicit way, that he was doing acid or looking for someone to buy some. Another thing that happened these past few months, was that the judge who handled the case was put into question, even getting many people to sign a form for him to be removed off the case, because of the ties he had to Stanford, this being his alma mater.
But, what makes this case so important? What does it have to do to white privilege? Well, the mugshot was released 18 months after it was taken. He was often mentioned because of his swimming merits, rather than what he did to the girl. The only reason this case gathered media attention was because of the letter the victim wrote to her rapist. It was a long, powerful letter, describing the horrible events, even mentioning the disapproval of blaming one’s actions because of the amount of alcohol that was taken.
Apart from many other reasons why I can explain why this case is full of white privilege, what makes me cringe the most (not like I haven’t cringed while writing this) was the fact that there was a similar case with a black athlete, and the final verdict for this accused was what Brock should’ve actually gotten in the end. Corey Batey was given a 15 to 25 year sentence. This shows how race suddenly becomes a factor when it comes to sentencing. Another case worth mentioning was another black person, Brian Banks, who was wrongfully accused of raping a girl when he was 16 but served 5 years in prison. Then the alleged rape victim recanted, stating that she lied under oath.
How do we assure our kids that the justice system works? How do we explain to future generations that this world was a frustrating place to live in? How do we tell them that, apparently, as long as you’re white, a male, and of good social status, you’re going to be okay and even get away with things that you really shouldn’t? How do we tell women that they are prone to being raped everytime they walk alone or just because they are girls, and that when they try to tell what happened, they will often massacred by a prosecutor by judging their personal lives?
How do we go on? How do we stop this? The answer to these questions is still uncertain, and that’s what is terrifying. As long as white privilege and rape culture rule our society, there is no way we can ever be safe in the skin we live in. But for now, we can only pray that one day things will change.