Brock-Turner Rape

Last week, the White House released a short, celebrity packed, 60-second public service announcement (PSA) on the topic of sexual assault. 1 is 2 Many addressed those who are in control of preventing sexual assault as its intended audience was those who can put a stop to sexual violence: the perpetrators or would-be offenders. Although this one minute announcement completed the task of bringing sexual assault to the forefront of discussion, it failed to encompass the central issues concerning the culture of sexual assault: societal misperceptions, the victims, and the justice system. Sexual assault is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries; the culture of sexual assault is rooted in both legal practices and societal perceptions.

In “ ‘A Steep Price…’” it analyzed the opinions of the public, media, victim, and aggressor in defending their particular take on the case. The article offers mild bias, so it does not completely report the events of the case, because it mostly focuses on the opinionated effects and not so much the facts. In “Feminist Put Judge...”, major bias is introduced by claiming to be in support of the feminist cause; however, the article uses a stronger ethical appeal to attract a broader, more unified audience. In “Here’s the Powerful Letter…”, the author recants the letter the victim wrote to her attacker, Brock Turner. She not only aims for the audience to feel the distress and havoc the case has relinquished on her life, but also a chance to spread a more positive message to thank her supporters while encouraging her audience to stand up for themselves and their self worth. The overall purpose of analyzing all these different media sources is to be able to recognize how the multiple points of view that a story can be told from will alter the objectivity of the event. A society’s culture will emphasis bias or certain point of views to get the public to believe one interpretation of the story based on the

Brock Turner's wealth, image, and color of skin have gifted him years back on a jail sentence likely to exceed 5 if perpetrated by a man not born into the privilege he had been born into. He is just one example of an unjust society that allows men to rape, he is just one man in a world of judges, reporters, and fathers that lead to these tragedies.

“I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else.” These were the words of a victim of sexual assault at Stanford University in January of 2015, often remembered as the Brock Turner case. Turner, a member of the Stanford swimming team, was found guilty by the jury after being accused of sexually assaulting another Stanford student (whose identity has remained confidential) and ended up with a short sentence of six months (Victor). The sexual assault victim in the turner case is not alone. 1 in every 5 women and 1 in every 12 men are sexually assaulted during their college careers (NSVRC). In other words, between 20 and 25 percent of college women and 4 percent of college men report having been sexually

On January 17th, 2015, Brock Turner, a 20-year-old Stanford freshman, sexually assaulted a 23-year-old unconscious women behind a dumpster located near a house party. The victim, who decided to not state her name and will therefore be referred to as Emily Doe, admitted in a letter she read aloud in court that that night she drank too much, too fast. However, this isn’t an excuse ‘nor a way to justify Brock’s actions. Someone who is drunk and unconscious should not be taken advantage of, they are still a person who should be respected no matter the circumstances.

Sexual assault policy in the United States as it stands is clearly inadequate for protecting the physical wellbeing of men and women from sexual assault. Layering of policy serves a s a Band-Aid on a social wound much too large to be contained and the rise of sexual assault as a public problem reiterates the need for greater legislation and policy to protect everyone from becoming prey to the crime of sexual assault. While eyes focus on the (disproven) rise of violence in the United States, and turn to gun control, other violent crimes are forgotten. Sexual Assault has seen several cases of policy failure that actors have tried to salvage through the act of policy layering and have not significantly resolved the problem.

So even if the court or a jury look at an attacker’s past and see’s he was a star athlete with many friends leading them to lessen the punishment. If they committed sexual assault and get away with it they most likely will attempt and probably succeed at doing it again. The problem Krakauer had with the court system isn’t just that they are not punishing an offender properly of a heinous crime. They are enabling them them to do it again, giving them the chance to ruin another person's life. If looked at, the effects of a sexual assault show why the rapist should serve a life sentence. The victims in this story revealed they were condemned to a life sentence the second they were taken advantage of in that way. While so many will say that rape should be punished the most severely as possible, Krakauer's book revealed the minute it came down to giving a sentence, jurors and judges, and even prosecutors had been and are lenient and soft in their convictions. While many government officials and police in Missoula have tried to change for the better after this scandal came to light, an even bigger one came to the surface from Krakauer's research. Missoula isn’t even near being the pronounced rape capital of the US. It’s even reported that it has a lower rate of reported sexual assaults than many towns it’s size and demographic. In the book Krakauer reported that between January 2008-May 20012 in a

America stands by traditional notions where rape culture is the norm and revolves around society. In particular, when a woman is raped, their actions prior to the incident are usually accounted for their fate of being sexually assaulted. Lately in America, there has been a controversy over women being victim blamed by legal authority in rape cases. These women are slut shammed for allegedly “asking for it” by being intoxicated and having the intention to “have fun”. Because of these accusations of allegedly seeking to engage sexually, rape victims are blamed for initiating the sexual act. An ongoing controversial rape case is the Stanford rape trial of Brock Turner, where the victim was sexually assaulted while unconscious near a dumpster. Turner was convicted for sexual assault, however was only incarcerated for three months. This has recently caused uproar due to justice and retribution not being equally served. The incident occurred near a university campus party; where alcohol was involved and memory loss was present. In addition, she was rushed to the hospital as a rape victim and was examined. Despite complying to use a rape kit and be evaluated, the victim’s accountability is undermined by the leniency of treatment in rape charges. When examining linguistic features of both parties’ written statements, several factors can be analyzed such as each participant’s stance and the credibility of their accounts. In addition, when dissecting a victim’s written account,

“Did you know that every 98 seconds, an American is being sexually assaulted?”(vaglanos) Sexual assault against every person has come to the concern of our human rights. It is despairing to say that people all over the world deal with these situations or at least know somebody that has. Sexual assault can happen to anyone at anytime,and for the longest time horrific events such as rape and nonconsensual sex have been part of a high crime rate.

Even in cases where pure fury is understandable, where does the outrage go? Once the outcry over Turner’s sentence fades, there’s little evidence to think anything of significance will change in our cultural and judicial responses to sexual assault.

This paper will explore 3 news articles that take a look at male rape myths and how we as society are indifferent towards male rape victims. The articles however will differ with different examples and with different explanations. Norton (2017) will take a look at how in today's society male rape victims are put to the side. Mainly dealing with recent allegations against Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein. One other article will define on what it means to be a man Muthengi (2011). Another article will be examining how men are treated when they report a rape incident and how it will go in depth with personal experience example.

One might often ask what importance is there to fight against rape. Statistics have shown that the pillage of a person’s personal space have been steadily increasing since before the 1950s. Every two minutes, there is at least one American being sexually assaulted. (www.rainn.org ‘Sexual Assault Statistics”) these are just two of the millions of statistics that have been taking away many people’s privacy, natural rights, and their trust in others. Instead , due to rape culture women are commonly taught that ‘boys will be boys” or [concerning being bothered or harassed by the opposite sex] “ that just means they like you!” rape culture not only teaches women that its normal to be sexually assaulted , but it teaches them not to bother to correct the rapists, just to take it. In news, press reporters mourn the athletic career of two highschoolers’ who raped and nearly killed a 15 year old girl rather than mourning the victim. The only way to stop these situations from ever happening again is to stop

Teaching women how to avoid being raped, rather than teaching men not to rape and respect women. The laws and educational ways that are present show lack of awareness amongst people. In Brock Turner’s case Allard(n.d.) shows in her article the disappointment she feels towards the penalty that was sentenced to Turner, the author saw injustice in the judging and no consideration for the victim’s feelings. Ruth Hall, from the support group against women’s rape, explains that the governments are fully responsible for forcing laws on justice authorities to punish violent with strict and harsh sentences. Hall continues her point by asking the governments to “worry about awareness of the police, judges and crown prosecution service”, by fixing the system public awareness about rape will automatically change (as cited in “Women ‘to blame for Being Raped”, para.16). There are various attempts of governments to fix the laws and spread awareness of rape. The system’s negligence to the existence of rape culture and working on changing the laws is a sufficient evidence of the reality of rape

The woman assaulted in the Brock Turner case the woman who was assaulted wrote in a letter to the judge that during the entire trial process she was forced to answer questions about her sexual history and what she was wearing, questions that have plagued countless victims of sexual assault and rape. Turner’s father only extended this narrative in his letter. One night in January 2015, two Stanford University graduate understudies biking crosswise over grounds detected a rookie pushing his body over an oblivious, half-stripped lady behind a dumpster. This March, a California jury found the previous understudy, 20-year-old Brock Allen Turner, blameworthy of three checks of rape. Turner confronted a most extreme of 14 years in state prison his is a first offence I can see where leniency would beckon. On the other hand, as a society, we cannot forgive everyone’s first sexual assault or digital rape. It doesn’t make sense. The seriousness of rape has to be communicated clearly, we should not create a culture that suggests we learn that rape is wrong through trial and error. The consequences of sexual assault needs to be severe enough that people feel enough fear to exercise good judgment even

Today, sexual assault has become a norm that women have to endure on a day to day basis. Men have been taught from an early age that mistreating women is ok because they are “just teasing them” or because they “like them”. Women have been dealing with the burden of feeling as though their voices will not be heard if they choose to speak up, and men feel as though they have free reign and control of women’s bodies. “We beat girls down until they become too afraid to report the sexual assault because of the shame that comes with being violated, meanwhile, we do not guilt boys for being sexual assaulters." (www.cnn.com) It is time to change that stigma for the betterment of the world. Many people may feel as though the accusations against the Hollywood executives are just