10 Thoughts about 20 Minutes: A Response to Brock Turner's Father

To the father of Brock Turner, the Standford student who raped an unconscious young woman behind a dumpster:

Your comment that your son should not have to go to prison for "20 minutes of action" is the definition of trash.

1. What If It Happened to Brock

If your son goes to jail and a male prisoner penetrates his precious 20-year old body for 20 minutes. Will it be any less gruesome to him because it was ONLY 20 minutes?

2. What If It Happened to Your Mother

If you found out your mother had been brutally raped 20 years ago, would that 20 minutes be any less painful to her? Would you say, "Mom, it was only 20 minutes."

3. It's Not "Action." It's Rape.

Your use of the word "action" makes me sick, as it is usually used for consent. It was not "action" he got. He destroyed a young woman's life. Her potential 80+ years of life affected by those 20 minutes.

4. It's Hard Knowing You Failed

Perhaps now it's hard for you to get ready in the morning. Brush your teeth, comb your hair, look in the mirror for 20 minutes, and see the face of a father of a rapist must not be easy.

5. His Worst Days Don't Compare to Hers

But it's easier than what your son's victim will have to go through. Reliving the worst 20 minutes now on days she doesn't want to. Maybe on her birthday, on her wedding day, on every January 17, and knowing her rapist will only serve 180 days of his life for it.

6. There's No Time Table for Being Raped.

For his victim, every millisecond was one too long. Each millisecond in the 20 minutes will forever haunt her like a lingering ghost.

7.  You Said He has No Violent Past. Who Cares?

I could name 20 rapists who didn't have a violent history when they committed their first rape, and give me 20 minutes, and I'll look up the names of their 20 next victims.

8. What is "Appropriate Punishment?"

You said incarceration is not the "appropriate punishment" for your son. Perhaps you're right. If we imprison thieves who still property, I wonder what the "appropriate punishment" should be for someone who steals another human being's body, who crushes another human being's soul, who hurts another human being's family. What's the fair punishment for that? I wonder if a female judge would take more than 20 minutes to appropriately sentence such a crime.

9. No Sympathy, Sir.

You'll see no sympathy for your son's sadness. He is a sex offender. Say the words. Let it sink in.  He will have his 20 minutes of infamy and this will be forgotten by the public and the media, but this will never be forgotten by his victim.

10. His Contribution to Society

His true contribution to society will be that he showed us that women are still are not valued enough. That a drug dealer can be caught with 20 pounds of drugs and get 20 years, but the sexual assault of a woman for 20 minutes is not worth more than 6 months. I'd thought America's fathers had come farther than this, but still no justice for your daughters.

Sign the petition to recall Judge Aaron Persky from the bench and send a message to the Turner family that "20 minutes of action" is enough.

Related Links

Related Links:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/06/father-stanford-university-student-brock-turner-sexual-assault-statement

https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/heres-the-powerful-letter-the-stanford-victim-read-to-her-ra?utm_term=.nbjVDZQLq3#.mq1P9OV2d0

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/06/us/sexual-assault-brock-turner-stanford/