Brock Turner, a name that most Americans say with a bitter taste in their mouth, is yet another example as to how our nation perpetuates rape culture and defends those with “affluenza.”
Affluenza, for those who don't know, is when a kid has grown up so privileged, they don't know right from wrong because everything was handed to them. Because, you know, we have to defend the privileged at any cost.
If you have had the pleasure of not hearing who Turner is, he is “just a kid who made a mistake,” or “a swimmer at Stanford, how could he be so bad?” Yeah, these are the defenses put on by some who believe he did no harm.
“His life will never be the one he dreamed of and worked so hard to achieve,” wrote Turner’s dad in a plea, “That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of 20 years of his life.”
Maybe I am lunatic for wanting to say this, but Mr. Turner, your son is a rapist. Your son deserves to be locked up.
Even though I share these feelings with many, the fact of the matter is that Turner was able to finagle his way into a six-month sentence for rape. The average sentence in America is 11 years, which, arguably, isn’t long enough.
While Turner was sentenced to a quick six months in March, he was actually just released. Released after three long, hard months because of “good behavior.”
OK. To make matters worse, Brock Turner is coming home, and if you are wondering where home for the rapist is, it’s in Ohio. That’s right, we as a state get the privilege of letting Turner rest his head in his cozy bed every night.
That shows that we as a nation defend the people with privilege. If Turner was able to have a short sentence because his father came to the rescue with a heartfelt letter, then our judicial system is a joke. The trend of “white affluenza” is real.
Should Turner have been of any other race or background, he possibly would have been locked up for far longer than three months. But remember, he is “just a troubled kid” in the eyes of some.
Brock Turner — not that you will ever read this, but I certainly hope you do — let this act as an open letter from me, a white kid who refuses to condone your actions.
Brock Turner, you are a rapist. You are a rapist, and that is all you will ever be to me. As you lie in bed every night, I hope you have trouble sleeping because of what you did. Whenever you are with another woman, which I hope you never are, I hope you learn what the conversation of consent is. The groundbreaking idea of consent is something that not nearly enough people have had.
It is as simple as "no" really does mean "no".
I am sure that topic has been drilled into many heads here at Ohio University, we still had the 10th highest number of on-campus rapes reported to campus police out of all U.S. four-year universities (public and private) with populations above 15,000 students. It is also said that for every attack, there are two to three that go unreported.
Should that be the case, that means there are numerous attacks on our campus every year that go unreported. Even though you are tired of the consent conversation, those statistics are why we are having it.
Until that number is at zero, more "Brock Turner cases" will happen and you will continue to be reminded of why consent is important.
So, Brock, can you tell me what consent is yet? Because in those "20 minutes of action," I can bet you didn't have the conversation of consent.
Anyway, no means no and Brock Turner is a rapist.
Chuck Greenlee is a sophomore studying adolescent-to-young-adult integrated language arts at Ohio University. How do you communicate consent to your partners? Let Chuck know by tweeting him @chuckingaround.
