“NO” SHOULD BE ENOUGH, RIGHT?
Earlier this month former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner was released from prison after spending just three months behind bars.
Turner, 20, was found guilty back in March of sexually assaulting an unconscious 23-year-old woman outside of Stanford’s Kappa Alpha fraternity house.
He could have gone to jail for ten years. Prosecutors argued he should have gone to jail for six years. California Superior court judge Aaron Persky disagreed, though, and sentenced Turner to just six months.
He wound up serving only half that …
Turner’s case has spawned mass indignation … and with good reason. Aside from murder, it’s hard to think of a more egregious incursion of liberty – and when justice is so blatantly miscarried in response to it, people are going to be pissed.
And trust is going to erode.
This website has written recently on two alleged rapes – one in Ware Shoals, S.C. and another Chapin, S.C. Investigations are ongoing in both cases, and we’re told civil complaints are also likely to be filed.
The purpose of this post is not to rehash the details of those two alleged incidents. We’re hopeful justice will be done in both cases, and we’ll continue to follow both narratives as they progress through the process.
No … the point of this post is to discuss one of the golden rules of individual liberty: No means no.
Frankly, we cannot fathom anyone deriving enjoyment from forced intercourse – or even forced flirtation. Seriously. What kind of person – having been informed that their amorous overtures are unwelcome – continues to press the issue?
Who gets off on that?
Isn’t the whole point of sexual gratification that it is something to be shared? Mutually enjoyed?
We understand the fetish thing – in fact we’ve written on it – but there’s a big difference between “rape fantasies” and actual rape. The former involves a women requesting the performance of specific sexual acts for the purpose of fulfilling her needs. The latter? It is an unwanted, fundamental violation that no woman should ever be subjected to under any circumstances.
Then there’s “rape culture.”
Obviously this website is adamantly opposed to Feminazism (including the ridiculous bitching and moaning about so-called sexist “micro-aggressions“). But rape isn’t “micro-aggression” – it is actual aggression. And in far too many cases, women wind up being demonized (and dehumanized) for decisions that – while careless or downright dumb – somehow get twisted into justifications for the men who raped them.
You know … the whole “she asked for it” angle.
Or the “she never said no” argument …
Sick …
Like other alleged crimes, rape cases should be judged on the facts and the evidence as best they can be determined. And if a determination is made criminally or civilly as to culpability (as it was in the Stanford case) – we need to judge that determination based on how well it conformed to those facts and evidence.
And yes … if an allegation was fabricated there must also be accountability for that.
But at no step of the process – especially not during the investigatory phase – should alleged rape victims find themselves on the receiving end of vile blaming/ shaming from individuals who are not even remotely familiar with the facts of the cases.
Such behavior is disgusting … and dehumanizing.
(Banner image via iStock)