Hello general public and beyond. I am Kristal Colt, and welcome to my blog Age of Queens. It is a feminist blog that will talk about, well, feminism.
To start myself off, I want to address a rather pressing issue that really gets under my skin the more I hear about it. Today I'm talking about the Brock Turner situation. Sure I may be beating a dead horse here, but something new has developed that really makes everything a whole lot worse.
A story got out recently about another college athlete named Cory Batey who was just sentenced to 15 years in jail for the rape of an unconscious woman. Now his sentencing is well deserved, and we consider this a victory. But there's one thing about this situation that I can't get past: Cory Batey is black.
Now how is it Cory Batey, a black male college athlete, gets a proper jail sentence for raping an unconscious woman, yet Brock Turner, a white male college athlete, only gets 3 months for doing the same exact thing? You guessed it: white privilege.
Let me take a quick moment to break down what white privilege is before the mongrels of the Men's Rights Movement jump down my throat. White privilege doesn't mean that all whites will live perfect lives, that's a foolish thought. What white privilege means is whatever adversity a white individual, usually a male, encounters, that adversity won't be attributed to his skin colour. Brock is a shining example of this. He's got plenty of money (his dunce parents do anyway), is a white kid who goes to a rather prestigious university, and has athletic abilities. Brock is almost never referred to as a rapist or sexual predator, he is always called "Stanford swimmer", and that bothers me. It shows me that the media is so grossly biased in this current era that it will whitewash any immoral actions of anyone who fits the proverbial American Dream. I don't give a single fuck about Brock's future or life. He's a deplorable, vile, idiotic, and undeserving sludge ball who committed a heinous act that he doesn't regret in the least bit. No amount of high school photos is gonna phase me on that. He's a criminal, not a star athlete.
I think it's time I get personal for a second. In 2009, I met a guy who was a bit like Brock Turner, at least when it comes to be innocent looking. We became a couple that year and dated until 2011. The breakup was a little tragic, so to say. One year later in 2012, I encountered him again on one summer night in Rothwell (I'm from Leeds, UK for the record) and he claimed I didn't know what I was missing. When I told him to get over the fact that we'd broken up, he said it wasn't up to me. Then it happened. He grabbed me and pulled me to him. I tried breaking free but he threw me to the ground with such force that I almost got knocked out. Then he picked me up by my throat and threw me into a wall. I screamed for help, no one heard me. Then he unzipped his jeans, then he went for mine. That's when I changed the game. I went for my taser and used it on him until he went lights out, foaming out the mouth even. The moment was so intense for me that I completely burst into tears, reassuring myself the whole walk home that I had to do it.
I thought it was over, then a lawsuit came my way-the bastard was suing for me for assault. We counter-sued on the count that I was saving my own life. Instead going to prison, he only received 2 years probation and community service. My parents and I felt so cheated. To this day I still feel incredibly disappointed in the justice system for failing me. And it's even more frustrating that it still happens in 2016. Have we not evolved? Why do we still treat rape like it's just another form of sex?
Both mine and Emily Doe's rapists are white men. White men who didn't care for what they'd done to innocent women and acted as if they weren't that bad of people. White men who never received the proper consequences for their actions. We as women need to rise up and take to ourselves to make sure rapists get theirs. 93% of rapists in America alone are white males, and only 3% of rapists ever see jail time. We cannot afford to have more Brock Turners. It doesn't matter if he is white or black, rich or poor. You do the crime, you do the time.
Realest. Thing. Ever.
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