An important message.

Brock Turner, who sexually assaulted an unconscious young woman at Stanford University was released this week. The rapist was given in ridiculously lenient sentence of just six months, and what's worse is that he was released after 3 months, serving just half of his already worryingly short sentence. Turner is often referred to as the poster boy for rape culture and white privilege and while the story of Turner is upsetting, he actually served more time than 97% of rapists according to Rainn. Only 3 of every 100 rapists will actually go to jail. Turner's case and the statistic above are just two causes of rape culture. For anyone who still doesn't understand all that rape culture involves, equality campaigners Ultraviolet have put together a simple infographic. It sadly highlights what rape culture is, and the different ways it can appear. The first box on the infographic highlights fear. Many people who are sexually assaulted are too afraid to report the incident. The statistic shows that less than half of rapes are reported. The second picture shows injustice. So many people are getting away with assault without spending even one day in jail. Lack of support is the third example the image shows. Most colleges are not showing support, and not taking measures to educate people about consent. Lack of trust. When a victim tells someone they trust about the rape, it can be incredibly hard, so trust is extremely important. And not believing someone who reports rape can be extremely damaging and contribute to the fact that such a minute percentage of rapists face prison time. The fifth image shows that the safety of people can be dismissed even if a rapist has been convicted. The infographic shows that rapists can still appeal for custody of children. Lack of information/stupidity can be a large factor when it comes to rape culture, making assumptions and gathering opinions of rape victims and sexual assault can be highly damaging. These are just six simple, tragic examples of how existent rape culture is, and that understanding it better could be an effective way to reduce it.