Brock Tuner was released this past Friday after serving half of his six-month sentence (which was supposed to be 14 years) after raping a girl behind a dumpster. He was released just in time to live his college life like nothing ever happened.
His both laughable sentence and early release have created outrage on social media and generate a substantial critique of news media itself. Many outlets still call Turner a swimmer instead of a rapist – he is legally not a rapist because he was convicted of sexual assault, not rape.
Can we just talk about the fact that the judge assigned to Brock Turner’s case ignored the legal definition of rape and charged him with sexual assault? Rape and Sexual Assault are different in the sense that rape is unwanted penetration, sexual assault is unwanted sexual contact. Seeing that there was unwanted penetration, the crime committed was rape.
Sexual Assault has an average sentence of nine months. So in an already easier conviction, Turner was given a below-average sentence.
Turner’s case is the perfect example of how white privilege trumps the judicial and legislative system of the United States. How white privilege is more valuable than respecting the body of a woman, the body of anyone for that matter. It shows how white privilege is above ethics, morality, and respect for human life. You may think I’m going overboard with the tone here but look at it this way: so many women do not report rape or sexual abuse because they know that the man who did it will get away with it thanks to the color of their skin.
According to rainn.org, out of 1,000 rapes, 944 rapists will walk free. Out of 1,000 rapes, only six will be incarcerated. Brock Turner was one of the six, and his sentence does not even abide by the law.
It is an ever-present fear that has become a reality thanks to the fact that a white man who raped a when behind a dumpster and left her there unconsciously like a piece of trash could get away with it in a three-month sentence.
In a country that already perpetuates rape culture, the early release of Brock Tuner will only make it easier for rape to happen, it will only normalize rape and make it seem like its not a big deal. More Significant sentences have been dealt out for possessing marijuana, making the label “stoner” seem taboo.
Not only will this cause silence, but it will also create an excuse for white men to be able to treat women (or men) like sexual objects, more than they already do. It dehumanizes rape; it normalizes it; it gives it a place in the judicial system exclusively for white males. Brock Turner’s release back-tracked us to a time in where rape was socially acceptable, and the use of the human body as a sexual toy for white men is expected.
Brock Turner will be forever talked about as that All-American swimmer who spent three months in jail while still being able to pursue a career that was already created for him while paving the way for entitled white men to regain that right to rape that they lost so long ago.