Justice

One Tweet Destroys Father's Defense of Brock Turner

June 6th 2016

Earlier this week, a letter by Dan Turner, the father of the former Stanford University swimmer Brock Allen Turner, surfaced. In the letter, Turner defends his son, who was found guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster, and he calls his brief sentence of six months in county jail with probation a "steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action."

dan-turner-brock-allen-turnerYouTube/wochit News - youtube.com

Ali Ozeri (@AlexandraOzeri) had some edits to make to Dan Turner's letter, and the revised letter is currently her only tweet. Her changes highlight the way Dan Turner's letter perpetuates rape culture.

Ozeri tweeted a screenshot of the letter with the accompanying caption: "Here, I fixed his letter (changes in bold)..."

Twitter

Of the five charges brought against him, Brock Turner was not convicted of the two counts of rape; he was found guilty on three felony counts including "sexual penetration of an intoxicated woman, sexual penetration of an unconscious woman and assault with intent to commit rape," according to the Stanford Daily. The internet has not been using this legal definition, which is noticeable in Ozeri's edit. (Ozeri repeatedly uses the word "rape.")

Ozeri's edit, however, does highlight certain ways rape culture is perpetuated: Her edit calls to attention how those found guilty of sexual assault are often portrayed as victims — the assailant's life will be ruined, and in this case he no longer enjoys steak — and the edit points out that sexual assault-related crimes are not often taken seriously.

After, Dan Turner's letter surfaced he came under fire for his description of the sexual assault as merely “20 minutes of action.” In the edit Ozeri added, “This isn’t like the three second rule for food, rape still counts no matter how many seconds it lasts.”

In response to Brock’s lack of criminal history described by his father, Ozeri highlights how sexual assault should be treated like all serious crimes: “Bringing up the fact that this was only his first rape is like bringing up that it’s somebody’s first murder or first terror attack, so it’s still a crime.”

Ozeri was not the only one to edit Dan Turner's letter:

Twitter user Jez Kemp (@jezkemp) also edited the letter, focusing the content on the impact of sexual assault can have on the victim.

[h/t Mic]

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