Let’s Talk About Sex(ual Violence)
This post was published on February 2, 2017 on my old blog, samplesizedwriting.wordpress.com
I’m going to preface this post in three ways: 1) This post is going to probably be a little triggering if you are at all a victim of sexual harassment/violence, so please proceed with caution. 2) Sexual violence is a terrible, horrible thing. I don’t care who you are, what experience you’ve had, what you believe, or what gender you are. Sexual violence is traumatizing and can cause people to have lifelong issues. People of all genders may face sexual harassment/violence at some point in their life, and in no way is anybody’s experience less valid than another’s. Sexual harassment/violence is not something to be joked about, mocked, or in any way taken lightly. 3) This post is going to be kind of long, so bear with me. I’ve discussed this topic before in one of my poems, and if you’re at all interested you can find it here, but this is going to be a little more in-depth than the poem. With all that said, let’s delve in.
News surfaced in October 2014 that musical artist Kesha filed a lawsuit in California against her music producer, Dr. Luke (whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald), for sexual assault and battery, sexual harassment, gender violence, unfair business practices, and infliction of emotional distress. In this lawsuit she requested that she be released from her musical contract with the producer. Almost immediately, Dr. Luke filed a lawsuit against Kesha in New York for breach of contract and defamation. Kesha’s sexual assault case against Dr. Luke has been on hold since June 2015, when it was decided by the court system that Dr. Luke’s New York case took precedent.
In Dr. Luke’s case, he claims Kesha, her mother, and her manager planned to “ruin Gottwald’s business and reputation,” according to the complaint. As of January 31, Dr. Luke filed papers to add another defamation claim to his lawsuit after learning of a text message Kesha sent to Lady Gaga. In the text, Kesha stated that another female artist had been raped by Dr. Luke (without directly stating his name in the text) and repeated that she had also been raped by him. Dr. Luke’s legal team claims this is evidence of Kesha’s plan to ruin Dr. Luke’s reputation. On the same day, Kesha’s legal team filed a new complaint that Dr. Luke is the one who’s been pushing to ruin Kesha’s career, and that despite Kesha giving 20 new songs to her record label last summer, none have been approved and there have been no dates set for an album release or promotional plans made. Kesha and Dr. Luke’s next court hearing is set for February 14.
Now, we live in a country that presumes innocence until proven guilty. Fine, I’m fine with that, and I cannot state that either party is lying. But, Kesha filed a lawsuit against her producer first, a lawsuit that I would argue is much more pressing and troubling than the lawsuit Dr. Luke filed after her. Why, then, is our judicial system more concerned with a breach of contract than with a woman potentially having been sexually and emotionally abused by her boss? What does that say about our country? To me, it says we prioritize business practices over a woman’s health, safety, and well-being.
Alright, so let’s take a step away from a rape case that isn’t even being heard in court right now. Instead, let’s look at one that has already happened: The Stanford Rapist.
We should all know the story, but if you don’t, here’s a quick summary: On January 18, 2015, two graduate students found Brock Turner raping a half-naked woman outside a fraternity house. These two grad students chased down and held Turner until police arrived (bless them). In February 2015, Turner pleaded not guilty to five felony charges, including rape of an intoxicated and unconscious person and sexual penetration of an intoxicated and unconscious person. Eventually, the rape charges were dropped, but the two sexual penetration charges still stood along with a third charge. Turner was found guilty on March 30, 2016, where he faced a maximum of 10 years in prison. On June 2, 2016, Turner was only sentenced to six months in jail because the judge thought more time in prison would leave a “severe impact” on the man literally found guilty of being a sex offender. The next day, a sickening and heartbreaking letter from the victim of the assault to Turner was published online, and within a few days a letter from Turner’s father and words defending the assailant were published. Turner didn’t even serve his full six months. He was released from prison on September 2, 2016, only three months into his sentence. Here is a link to a US Magazine article giving more details about the whole event, if you care to read it.
Now, I followed this case. I read the victim’s letter. I read the assailant’s father’s letter. The way this case turned out sickened me. This guy was caught in the act. This guy took advantage of a drunk, unconscious girl who only went out that night because her sister begged her to. And I don’t want to hear any of the, “Well, she shouldn’t have drank that much” or “She shouldn’t have dressed the way she did” bullsh*t, because that is exactly what those statements and statements like them are. Bullsh*t. Women are allowed to drink and get drunk, and women are allowed to dress however they want. That never, ever, ever makes it okay for them to be assaulted or harassed in any way.
I also don’t want to hear any of the “Oh, but he was such a good kid and such a good swimmer” bullsh*t. I don’t care how “good” an assailant appears to be, if he (or she) assaulted someone, they aren’t good. And I don’t want to hear “It was just a mistake, he’s just a kid” either. Yeah, everyone makes mistakes. But the mistakes I make consist of answering questions wrong, tripping over my own two feet, or singing the wrong notes in a song. You know what mistakes I don’t make? Assaulting somebody. You know what mistakes most people don’t make? Assaulting somebody. And you know why? Because assault isn’t a mistake, it’s an act of violence.
Cases like Brock Turner’s and lawsuits like Kesha’s is why people are so terrified to come forward with their experiences of sexual violence. 1 in 5 American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape. Women ages 18-24 enrolled in college are three times more likely to experience sexual violence. While females are the prevalent victims of sexual violence (91% of victims), males are also affected. 1 in 71 men will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives, and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college. These numbers are so incredibly high, but only 37% of sexual assaults are reported to police. (Statistics given can be found here, hopefully they are up-to-date.)
If so many people are victims of sexual violence, why are so few reporting it? Probably because of cases like the ones I talked about here. The court system doesn’t seem to be on assault victims’ sides, and even when some justice is served, the sentences given are so weak, there’s almost no time for the victims to feel safe and attempt to move on. On top of that, so many people give bullsh*t excuses as to why a victim was raped or why the assailant shouldn’t get in trouble. No wonder victims aren’t reporting their assaults to police! They don’t feel safe or comfortable doing so!
The bottom line of this blog post, I think, is this: sexual violence is such a huge problem in our country and the world but is so vastly unreported. My one little voice just wanted to say that this fact is gross and unfair. Stop blaming sexual assault victims, stop disregarding victims’ claims, and stop giving lenient sentences to convicted assailants. If my one little voice joins the other little voices already out in the world and if some of your little voices join mine, maybe, just maybe, some of these things can be stopped. At least, I hope so.