Very occasionally, an issue of abuse or criminality arises so powerfully that it acts as a lightning rod for change. A good example of this is in public response to what's becoming known as "the Stanford rape". In large part, this awareness is because of the extraordinary victim impact statement published by Buzzfeed following the handing down of Turner's paltry sentence.
The woman raped by Turner articulated in twelve pages of electric prose something we so rarely hear in public discussions of sexual assault - the voice of the survivor. Within a week, it had been shared almost 12 million times. US Vice President Joe Biden wrote a powerful response to it, and addressed the issue further at the recent White House State of Women summit. This week, around forty members of Congress took turns reading the woman's letter aloud on the floor of the House of Representatives. It's the first time a victim impact statement has been broadcast in such a way. As Congresswoman Jackie Speier stated, "People must understand that rape is one of the most violent crimes a person can commit; not, as Mr Turner's father said, '20 minutes of action.' Entering the victim's impact statement into the Congressional Record not only preserves this moment for history, it sends a clear message to the nation that sexual violence will not be tolerated."
!["Men working together to wrangle sex out of women is not consent," writes Clementine Ford.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170720003741im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/m/x/2/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gplh1k.png/1468990188418.jpg)
It would be all too easy to think public reaction to Brock Turner marked a complete turnaround on cultural attitudes toward rape, but the cynical side of me isn't so optimistic. While it's encouraging to see such overwhelming support for the woman raped by Turner, real cultural change will rely on that same support being directed to survivors across the board. There are still too many people - and let's be honest, statistics prove it's mainly men who perpetrate sexual violence, and mainly against women - whose crimes are not just downplayed but denied altogether.
In Australia, it took an entire decade for former St Kilda Football Club player Stephen Milne to be held accountable for indecently assaulting a woman in 2004. At the time, he described the woman - whom he knowingly assaulted by virtue of her thinking he was his teammate, Leigh Montagna - to police as "just some footy slut". After evidence went mysteriously "missing", charges against him were dropped. The survivor of his assault had to wait ten years to see justice, and even then it was downgraded when Milne elected to plead guilty to the lesser charge of indecent assault. During sentencing, the judge noted that the victim "did not consent to the act, she had been consistent on the night she didn't want penetrative sex." Despite this acknowledgment, Milne was sentenced only to a fine, with the presiding judge stating this would be a "substantial punishment" that would remind the community that "sexual offending against women would not be tolerated". It was also noted how difficult the last ten years had been for Milne and his family.
![Brock Turner and his father Dan Turner in court. Dan Turner offered supportive character testimony.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170720003741im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/e/3/s/1/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gplh1k.png/1498568370731.jpg)
Speaking of sportsball, members of the Australian fan community still come out in support of Matthew 'Matty' Johns and the Cronulla Sharks for a 2002 pack "sex" incident involving numerous players at a hotel in Christchurch. Four Corners documented the horrifying event in their 2009 report, 'Code of Silence'. A 19-year-old woman consented to sex with Johns, only to have up to twelve players and staff enter the hotel room without her permission and proceed to either "have sex" with her and/or stand around masturbating while watching. I have to be careful about how I phrase that, because charges against the players were dropped with police citing a "lack of evidence". The woman has always maintained she didn't want it and suffered PTSD (manifesting in numerous suicide attempts) following it. But despite the fact no one involved disputed Four Corners' version of events, players maintained the 19-year-old consented. Johns apologised to her in the carpark afterwards, and then apologised to his wife almost a decade later for "embarrassing her" - as if this was just a simple case of adultery.
Skipping forward a few years, there's Luke Lazarus. The son of a wealthy Sydney businessman, Lazarus was convicted of anally raping an 18-year-old girl outside of his father's nightclub in a trial that saw numerous prominent members of the community speak on his behalf, including the mayor of the Waverley Shire. At the time, his father Andrew said, "It was our intention and hope that the incident could remain quiet to protect Luke's good reputation." Lazarus claims that the rape - in which he directed the woman to "put your f***king hands on the wall, get on the floor and arch your back" was consensual - not because she said yes, but because she didn't scream or fight back.
Isn't it funny how many of these men determine consent based on whether or not THEY want it? Lazarus' conviction was overturned in April on appeal and a re-trial ordered.
These situations aren't new though, nor is the act of prominent people coming to the defence of rapists and abusers. Roman Polanski pled guilty to anally raping a 13-year-old girl in the 1970s but fled the country before he could serve his time. He still enjoys great support in Hollywood, with hundreds of members of the community advocating for his extradition order to be quashed so he can return to the country to work and collect his awards in person. Woody Allen is another man unlikely to ever be ostracised, despite repeated allegations from Dylan Farrow that he molested and digitally raped her when she was a child.
Steubenville, Maryville, Auckland, Texas - all places where significant sexual assaults have occurred from men or boys in packs against single female victims. And in all those cases, the girls were somehow held responsible for "ruining the promising futures" of these good boys.
Now I find myself wondering what the community response would be to Turner and this trial if he'd raped Jane Doe not in public and behind a dumpster, but in a private bedroom. I'm willing to bet that despite her injuries, despite her account and despite the evidence of her blood alcohol reading, we'd be hearing a lot more cries about how she consented from people who were not there and cannot possibly know. Additionally, I believe the public case against Turner is strengthened by the fact the two eyewitnesses were men and not women. Whether consciously or not, people swayed by the rape culture we live in are more likely to believe the testimony of men than they are women. Women lie. They scheme. They collude to ruin men's lives. If those two cyclists were women, how could we really know this wasn't an elaborate plan concocted by all three of the women to get back at Turner for some perceived slight? We just can't know.
But the witnesses were men, and that gives them some kind of additional authority. Because men, unlike women (apparently), have no reason to lie about rape. Further, having two men act as heroes gives other men looking on a different role to project themselves into when re-imagining the scenario in their head.
This is all part of rape culture, and if society is really invested in bringing an end to it then we need to be prepared to look at all these incidents as examples of how it's perpetuated. Rape and sexual assault isn't just about "saying no and fighting back". The absence of words doesn't imply consent. Men working together to wrangle sex out of women is not consent. The testimonies of male witnesses are not more valid than those of women.
We are at a point of real, possible change.
We are at a point of real, possible change. Let's do it properly, and let's do it willingly.