Some Thoughts About the Nature of “Consent”

by Jenny Hansen

Stanford University: Site of former student, Brock Allen Turner’s, sexual assault of an unconcious woman.

Apparently I’ve been living under a rock, because I just heard about the whole Stanford sexual assault trial this week. [This was the travesty of justice headlined by Brock Turner, in case you have also been hiding under a rock.]

I found out about it when I read this article, We With the Pitchforks (which is excellent). Go read that – there are wonderful links to everything pertinent inside that post.

In my defense, I’m a writer and I tend to live inside my happy little bubble of motherhood and fictional characters. Also, the Hubs acts as a news filter for me and often keeps mum about the child abusers and rapists.

As for Brock Turner…well, there is no defense. He violated a young woman and has not taken any appreciable responsibility for his actions or shown any public remorse.

As a parent of a daughter, I’m outraged by him, but I’m more angry at his father, Dan Turner. He is a bigger asshat than Brock. Not only did he form the crooked psyche that sexually assaulted an unconscious woman, he then sent a letter to the judge referring to his son’s crime as “20 minutes of action.”

My head almost exploded when I read that. [Action? ACTION??! You putrid piece of humanity.]

Yes, I know he was arguing for his son. I know he then made this statement to CNN:

“What I meant with that comment is a 20-minute period of time. I was not referring to sexual activity by the word ‘action.’ It was an unfortunate choice of words, and I did not mean to be disrespectful or offensive to anyone,” Dan Turner said.

And he’s asking for donations to offset his legal costs.

It all makes my blood boil. This letter from a pastor in North Carolina, father to father, made me feel a teensy bit better. The smallest, most miniscule, teensy bit. The smallest, most miniscule, teensy bit. The letter from Joe Biden to the victim helped a bit too.

I tend to push for kindness in all things. I think our world runs low on kindness. But I can’t be kind about this one. I can’t find any kindness toward a young man who perpetrated this crime against an unconsious young woman, and then dragged her through a lengthy court battle when he got caught.

And what was up with this judge? As one Facebook commenter put it:

People like Judge Persky are a big part of the reason why so many rape victims don’t report sexual assault. The justice system failed that woman. It breaks my heart.

So, to Brock and all the other asshats who think consent is a murky issue, you need to watch this video. The Brits always know how to cut to the chase in brilliant style.

If you’re feeling a bit more militant on the Stanford Rapist issue (like the rest of us), this video by Philip DeFranco might be more your style.

I know this isn’t what you usually read about from me, but this outrage has been churning in my gut for a few days and I had to let it out. This victim deserved a hell of a lot more justice than she received.

Did you follow this trial through it’s entirety or absorb it in one sordid gulp at verdict time, like I did? Do you have any thoughts you’d like to share? Continue the discussion at the #SocialIn hashtag on Twitter or SocialInDC on Facebook!

~ Jenny @JennyHansenCA

About Jenny Hansen

By day, Jenny provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction and short stories. After 18 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter at JennyHansenCA or at Writers In The Storm.

© 2016 Jenny Hansen. All content on this page is protected by copyright. If you would like to use any part of this, please contact me at the above links to request permission.

Stanford University Photo Credit: King of Hearts (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), via Wikimedia Commons