You may have heard about the rape case in Palo Alto in which a young man was sentenced to nly six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster outside a party. The judge felt it would be wrong to sentence him for a longer time because it would have a negative impact on his life.
CNN's Ashleigh Banfield read aloud the victim's statement about the negative effect on her life from the assault a factor in this which didn't seem to be of much concern to the judge. It's devastating:
“I fully respected his right to a trial, but even after twelve jurors unanimously convicted him guilty of three felonies, all he has admitted to doing is ingesting alcohol,” Banfield said, reciting the survivor’s words.
“The night the news came out I sat my parents down and told them that I had been assaulted, to not look at the news because it’s upsetting, just know that I’m okay, I’m right here, and I’m okay. But halfway through telling them, my mom had to hold me because I could no longer stand up,” Banfield read, choking up.
Over the course of 23 minutes, Banfield got emotional at multiple times while reading the letter.
“Lastly you said, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin a life,” Turner’s victim recalled of his defense.
“A life, one life, yours, you forgot about mine,” Banfield read.
“Let me rephrase for you, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives. You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect”
This is what people are talking about when they talk about rape culture.