Photo credit to Buzzfeed
HOLLYWOOD, MD – Yet again, we get to watch the aftermath of a well-documented rape court case where the man’s opinion has more worth than his victim’s.
All of her choices were questioned, and the judge said that while he understood the trauma Emily Doe had been through, the boy shouldn’t be punished so severely because of his athletic accomplishments.
Is he more important then Emily because he’s a former college athletic star?
I tried to ignore the national news as the Stanford swimmer rapist was charged with a slap on the wrist. His father wrote a letter’s worth of excuses for his son’s crimes, and Emily wrote something that chilled me to the bone. I can’t fathom the lack of logic it would take to assume that the swimmer rapist is entitled to a lesser punishment for his grave crime.
No matter the gender, the economic status, the race, an individual is responsible for their actions and should be held accountable if they harm someone else. Why should women be taught to ‘not get raped’? Why are men not responsible for rape, held accountable like thieves and murderers?
It shouldn’t take the comparison of “Imagine your mother/sister/daughter getting raped” to get the message across that taking advantage of someone is wrong. Some people describe rape as a power trip. How can raping someone who can’t fight back give someone power? Did that boy feel so entitled that he just couldn’t handle himself when the opportunity came up?
The boy decided that his academic and scholastic accolades were worthless when he got his ’20 minutes of action.’ Would people react the same if he was found committing necrophilia? Dead bodies and unconscious people can’t fight off their offenders.
Thieves do not go unpunished. That boy stole Emily’s dignity. That boy made the wrong choice, and he is being roasted for his decision, as well as the aftermath of the trial.
Registered as a sex offender, and painted as a demon in social media, he made the conscious decision to be a monster. Not only does this boy have minimum jail time and probation to face, he will live with his decisions for the rest of his life. True men don’t take advantage of people who can’t fight back. True men don’t run away like cowards.
His father should be ashamed of raising such a foolish boy. I don’t remember seeing anything about what his mother said, or what any female relative said about this boy’s actions. I would be appalled and disgusted if any future children of mine made the choice to harm other people because they thought they could get away from it.
Emily has a long recovery ahead of her, mentally, physically and emotionally.
She’ll put up a wall for anyone in her life, unable to initially trust their motives. She won’t be able to enjoy a drink without worrying, how much is too much. She’s warn her children of the evil people carry in their hearts, how they will abuse any and every opportunity they perceive their personal weaknesses.
That ’20 minutes of action’ the boy got will cost both of them.
Despite everything that has happened, Emily will stand strong as a reminder that there is more to her life than that incident in March. Read her letter, and take what she says to heart.