For Unit 8 I had many topics I wanted to cover as I am, and always have been very passionate about equal rights. Originally I planned on doing feminism, LGBT and mental health, however one topic I felt would be excellent to choose for this unit is sexual assault and domestic abuse-not only in women but men as well as I personally feel like the terms “sexual assault” and “domestic abuse” are usually perceived as an attack against a woman, without a second thought.
The one major thing about sexual assault that has always baffled me is the punishment people will receive for acting in such a way, for example I had previously seen stories about people being sentenced to jail for life whereas the name Brock Turner made headlines in 2016 as he had sexually assaulted a young woman near a bin after a fraternity party. However, the reason this story made headlines was the fact he was only sentenced to 6 months in jail and 3 years probation this was because Turner’s father said his son should not be punished for “20 minutes action” as well as his age, clean criminal history and the fact he was intoxicated.
What made things much worse is Brock was later released September 2016 serving half his sentence due to his “good behaviour”, of course this is not always the case and there are cases that are dealt with appropriately and fairly, however this case is beyond unfair and down right ridiculous. Nobody who has assaulted someone in such a horrific way deserve to be able to walk freely so easily. It was said that the judge who sentenced him, Judge Persky had apparently argued he had “a responsibility to consider rehabilitation and probation for first time offenders” as he had previously been rather lenient with other offenders.
Standford students used their graduation ceremony to protest.
Another thing I feel isn’t talked about is people making false accusations about sexual assault, there are sadly cases where people make false claims which could potentially ruin not just their career but their life and they can get away with it without punishment. I personally believe there should be some sort of punishment for making such harsh claims towards someone, however only if there is strong evidence to prove that those claims are in fact false, they should be punished because they could put that person’s life in jeopardy.
stevenson.snaps 