if you intentionally kill someone, you’re a murderer. If you rob someone, you’re a thief. If you rape someone, you’re just a misunderstood college athlete who made a bad decision. Doesn’t sound right, does it? No, because if you rape someone you’re (yeah, you guessed it), a rapist.

For anyone who doesn’t know who Brock Turner is, I’ll give you a quick summary. Turner was a swimmer for Stanford University who was sentenced in June for the sexual assault and rape of an unconscious woman. Both Turner and the victim were intoxicated at the time. To some, that would still be looked at as a heinous crime. To others he simply made a drunken mistake because college kids make mistakes all the time,right?

Turner’s crimes could’ve bought him up to a 14-year prison sentence. Instead he was let off with six months of jail time, three years of probation, a sex offender rehabilitation program and a lifelong sex offender registration. Win-win, right? Wrong. This is a prime example of rape culture and the perks of having white privilege in America.

No, I do not believe all white Americans are privileged. Though if you happen to be a straight, rich, white man, it’s safe to say I will not feel any sympathy of any kind if you were to tell me you’ve been systematically oppressed.

If you think the outcome of his actions were unfair like I do, then here’s a big surprise for you. He was recently released after serving three months of his six month sentence for good behavior. The system really showed him, right? To see someone able to get off so easily after such sickening charges brought against them is just a disappointment altogether.

I wholeheartedly support the protests revolved around Turner’s release and I encourage people to speak out and voice their own opinions on this as well whether that be through protests or social media. Turner will be walking free while the victim will likely be living afraid and hurt for awhile. The victim shaming has to stop and we can absolutely not keep letting those like Turner off with these short warning sentences. The government has failed the victim involved in this and now it’s up to the people to let it be known that this is not acceptable.