Boogeymen and Guardian Angels

Guardian Angel – Kevin

Guardian Angels Miles and TAB

Back when The Green Miles, The Amazing Bob’s son, my stepson, was in college, he’d go to parties where folks were drinking. That’s just part of the college scene. Hells bells, it’s part of life. As we get older though, most of us smarten up and drink a whole fuck-ton less, if at all.

Miles would have a beer or two certainly but wouldn’t get shitfaced. While he did have fun, he also watched out for his female friends and acquaintances, walking more than a few banjaxed coeds safely back to their dorms or apartments.

And then he went back to his own dorm room.

Way back when I was in college, Kevin did this too. Often, for yurs truly.

And then there are the Brock Turner types.

Turner was sentenced to six months in a county jail and three years probation — a ruling local officials say is woefully lenient — for sexually assaulting an unconscious, intoxicated woman outside a campus frat party last January. (source)

His friends and family wrote to the judge to plead for a lighter, slap-on-the-wrist type sentence because, despite being caught in the act, he’s not really a rapist.

The letter comes from Leslie Rasmussen, a friend of 20-year-old Turner, who blames both the victim and the university system for Turner’s penalty. She says the case is a result of “worrying about being politically correct every second of the day.” (source)

Obvs the woman who said this was raised by entitled idiots for whom ‘politically correct’ means I can’t treat everyone who’s not white, male, “Christian” and rich as disposable, inferior objects anymore – NO FAIRS!.

Rasmussen write (sic) that this instance, in which Turner was found “thrusting” himself atop a unconscious woman in an alleyway, is “completely different from a woman getting kidnapped and raped as she is walking to her car in a parking lot.” (source)

Rasmussen needs to know – rapists aren’t all boogeymen who jump you in the mall parking lot after Forever 21 and Cheesecake Factory have closed. They’re not all scary monsters who leap out from dark alleys or snatch you off the street from dark speeding cargo vans. No.They’re also the nice, intelligent seeming, regular guy types who we meet in class or at parties or down the pub. They’re the boys who won’t take no for an answer. They’re the shit-stains who aren’t overly concerned with whether we’re even awake. They can even be star athletes like like Brock Turner. *GASP*

The judge gave Turner six months in county AND he’s eligible for half that if he’s a good boy in lock up.

Persky also leaned heavily on the letters submitted in support of Turner, which explained how the 20-year-old was "caring" and "talented" -- not the kind of person that would be a rapist. (source)

And yet Brock Turner raped an unconscious woman in an alley behind a dumpster.

But Turner never admitted to committing a crime, instead insisting that his sexual interaction with the victim was consensual. And his attorneys have said they plan on appealing the conviction. (source)

Meme courtesy of Dismantle Misogyny

Rape: to force someone to have sex when he or she is unwilling.

Here’s a helpful hint: When the person you’re looking to bonk is out cold, ya know  unconscious, they’re actually incapable of giving consent. Therefore, you can assume you’ve been turned down. Better luck next time boyos!

If Turner’s friend Rasmussen is extraordinarily lucky she’ll never know what it’s like to be raped by a boogeymen OR by a nice white, star athlete who’s, ya know, not a REAL rapist (by her own definition).

I’ve related my college molestation tale before. Why didn’t I report the crime? //snort// Baby dolls, the year was 1977. Not only was the term date rape not yet in existence, the odds of convincing anyone that I hadn’t asked for it (by accompanying that bastard back to his digs) were, pretty much, nil. You see, (MONDO sarcasm alert!) when a woman makes a choice and that choice results in her being her assaulted it’s always all her own fault – she asked for it. You can look it up.

I honestly believed the young man was going to show me his photography and that we’d have tea and more cool, fun chat. I was 19 – I didn’t have the life experience to know that DANGER, DANGER Will Robinson was written all over this scenario. Did I deserve to be raped? Of course NOT!

palate cleanser

Did Brock Turner’s victim bear any responsibility for what was done to her? No. Yes, she was star spinningly drunk. What she deserved was a Miles or a Kevin to walk her home and put her safely to bed AND, after that, a big, fat hangover. Assault? HELL NO!

No one deserves to be raped! And, outside of some really sick porn, no one’s asking for it!

Turner’s father’s incredibly shortsighted, empathy devoid statements led another father of a son  to chime in with a brill response:

Dear Mr. Turner,

I’ve read your letter to the judge on behalf of your son Brock, asking for leniency in his rape conviction.

I need you to understand something, and I say this as a father who dearly loves my son as much as you must love yours:

Brock is not the victim here.

His victim is the victim.

She is the wounded one.

He is the damager.

If his life has been “deeply altered” it is because he has horribly altered another human being; because he made a reprehensible choice to take advantage of someone for his own pleasure.
~~snip~~
The idea that your son has never violated another woman next to a dumpster before isn’t a credit to his character. We don’t get kudos for only raping one person in our lifetime.  I don’t believe your son is a monster but he acted like one and that needs to be accounted for. To be sure, this decision is not the sum total of Brock’s life, but it is an important part of the equation and it matters deeply.

Go read the whole letter – it’s perfect.