Open Letter To Dan Turner

An open letter to Dan Turner
 While you read this I would like for you to do something. Pour some rock salt on your kitchen floor, not a ton. Just a bit. In your bare legs please kneel on this. It’s not daggers. It’s not for hours, It’s not a big deal. It’s in your home, in your control. Just for the duration of reading this. If you don't have rock salt some raw, dried rice will do.

 I get this whole your precious snowflake of a son is facing some rough times, you of course side with him. You once changed his diapers, lovingly burped him, and brushed off his skinned knees. You could have responded “we are thankful for my son’s minimal sentence and this opportunity to rehabilitate rather than punish him. We want to reassure the public we as a family are deeply concerned about his choice of actions. We will begin focusing on intense treatment and therapy to deal with the issues that lead to Brock thinking this is acceptable behavior.” And yet, you didn’t.
 You spent more time in your blog post talking about snacks than accountability. You wrote about pretzels, not rape.
 At some point amidst feedings, bandaids and swim practice you taught your son how to treat women. The whole world knows that now. We get how this happened. 
You created this monster.
 Congratulations.

 Your son deprived himself of the right to be happy-go-lucky. Brock’s actions caused this, not a verdict or court of public opinion. His life was aligned to allow for his happy-go-luckyness. Pro athlete, amazing education, good looks. Except he chose above all that to put his penis and fingers inside someone against their will. His series of deliberate and decisive movements caused this. He did something horrendous. He didn’t trip over a crack in the pavement. He did something so outside the realm of ok it is beyond understanding to me.

 Let’s talk about that mere 20 minutes that is ruining his future. In that time he could have; assessed the situation that she was unconscious and gone for help, he could have stood by and assured she was safe from predators, he could have looked for campus security, he could have called 9-1-1 to assess her medical condition, he could have waited for someone else to pass and instruct them to get help, he could have just gone home. He did none of those things.
 Brock chose to remove her clothing and do horrible, painful things to her body for many, many minutes. That shouldn’t have even crossed his mind as an option. The majority of intoxicated men do not take advantage of women. Your son chose to. He interpreted some non signal that she wanted him or just didn’t care. Either way is shocking. He saw her inability to respond as an invitation to forcibly penetrate her. That makes your easy going kid a rapist.

What you referred to as “action” is rape. You say what he did wasn’t violent. What is more violent than someone forcibly jamming something into your body? All rape is violent. Violence is defined as a physical force intended to hurt, damage or kill. If his intent wasn’t to hurt her did he suppose she would enjoy having something pushed into her unaroused, unlubricated vagina? An offender who doesn’t beat his victim into submission is still violent. Ironically, your son’s victim, yes Brock’s VICTIM did have reported injuries outside of her pelvic region. So it was violent by every loose definition. What would you consider violent? If someone had forcibly inserted something into your son’s anus would that not be violent? I’m sure the burning pain from being penetrated without her permission felt violent at minimum.

 By the way, how are your knees? It hasn’t even been 20 minutes. It’s actually been 6 minutes so far, for the average reader. I’m guessing it doesn’t tickle. It’s been far less than 20 minutes, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. You probably already removed yourself from the irritant, something Brock’s victim could not do. She couldn’t stand up, brush herself off and walk away. 20 minutes he subjected her to degrading torture. From here she had a reported 14 more minutes of pain to go.

 He assaulted her for the equivalent time it would take to poach 7 eggs back to back, watch an entire sitcom on Netflix, read on average 10 pages in a novel, travel 20 miles while at 55mph. That is why he is being punished. Not because he got some action.

 And I agree with you, this incarceration is not appropriate for what has happened. There is no penalty appropriate for what he has done, incarceration only begins to dust the surface.

 I don’t believe for a second this is his first offense. Maybe he hasn’t been caught before so it may be his first confirmed criminal interaction. But it wasn’t his first offense. In his short time on this planet he has already committed one of the worst atrocities man can commit. That’s impressive.
If he is just starting I would hate to see what his encore performance is. In your plea you gave all the reasons he should have received a much harsher sentence, not been spared one. This isn’t going to be the first time he is in the media. I am sad for that and whoever he comes in contact with later.
 He’s only 20, we as a society have years more of dealing with his issues.

 with complete disgust,
 Sarah

 p.s. 10 minutes. That’s the length of time for an average adult reader to finish this. Not 20 minutes, 10 minutes.
 (this post is in response to the conviction of Brock Turner and his father Dan Turner's public post regarding his 6 month sentence)
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brock-turner-dad-action-stanford-sexual-assault_us_57548e2fe4b0c3752dcdf574