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How Women Are Planning to Unseat the Judge in the Brock Turner Case

From Cosmopolitan

"How many of us here tonight have survived?" shouted singer, director, activist, and former actress Rose McGowan to a captive crowd at Baby's All Right bar in Brooklyn on Monday night. More than two dozen hands rose, some shooting upward, and some held low and timidly (like mine) - an indication they had survived sexual assault. "I honor you," McGowan said. "And you are going to be surviving forever."

The event, organized by the underground intersectional feminist collective GRLCVLT and Stanford law professor Michele Dauber, aimed to call out rape culture and raise money for the campaign to recall Aaron Perksy, the judge who stoked national outrage for issuing a remarkably light six-month sentence for convicted sex offender Brock Turner in June. (Dauber is leading the campaign to recall Persky.)

Turner did not take responsibility for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a Dumpster, and many were horrified when Persky expressed empathy for the criminal. "A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him," he said, adding, "I think he will not be a danger to others." The victim wrote a powerful letter lambasting Turner, Persky, and rape culture, which immediately went viral and has been read on the floor of Congress, on CNN, and has elicited responses from politicians like Vice President Joe Biden. Her letter, and the outcome of the case, elevated a national conversation about sexual violence and the justice system in America.

"This is such a clear-cut case that it has the potential to change peoples' minds, and it has the potential to serve as a template to show we as women won't stand - when one judge goes bad, we do have the power to take them down. When another goes bad, we can take that one down too," said Remy Holwick, GRLCVLT's New York chapter head. "They can fall in line and become part of a new thinking that says women are equal to men, women of no privilege are equal to men, men of no privilege should be judged the same as men of privilege."

Dauber says Persky has demonstrated clear bias in how he handles cases involving sexual violence against women. "It's our belief, after reviewing this case and other cases, that he doesn't understand the severe harm of sexual violence. He doesn't treat it seriously enough," she said. "He clearly abused his discretion in the Turner case, and unfortunately, that was not an isolated incident." The media has reported on three other cases of sexual or domestic violence bringing Persky's judgment into question, and Dauber says there are more.

According to RAINN, two-thirds of sexual assaults go unreported and over 99 percent of rapists go unpunished. Few cases make it to trial, and when they do, Dauber says, decisions like Persky's discourage victims from reporting sexual assault "because even if you have DNA evidence, even if you have eyewitnesses, even if he's apprehended, even if you got a rape kit five minutes later, even if you're completely, stone-cold unconscious, you're not getting justice. He's getting probation."

According to an analysis of a recent survey about campus sexual violence, over 40 percent of undergraduate female students at Stanford have experienced some form of what the university defines as "prohibited sexual contact" during college. If their case makes it to trial, it is likely to go in front of Persky.

This is why Dauber is hoping to initiate a special recall election, held next year. "A recall is simply a petition by the voters of the county, Santa Clara County, California, to have an early election. This judge will not be up for election again until 2022," she said. Persky announced the Turner sentence days before the primary election; his name never appeared on the ballot because he ran uncontested. He will run uncontested in the general election in November unless another candidate registers for a write-in. But Dauber explains Persky is not likely to be unseated even if he faces other write-in candidates. "His name on a ballot versus a blank line," she said. "You can't win an election like this during a write-in."

Her campaign has two phases: Collect an estimated 80,000 signatures from registered voters in Santa Clara County. If enough signatures are collected, the county will place the recall on the ballot for a new election to be held in November 2017. In the months leading up to the election, Dauber and her team will focus on campaigning against Persky. In total, she is aiming to raise $1.1 million for the recall campaign.

Though they condemn Persky's lenient sentencing, the Los Angeles Times editorial board and Santa Clara County public defenders argue the recall campaign is a threat to judicial independence. But Holwick refutes the idea, saying, "I think the argument that he's a good judge otherwise is the same argument he's applying to [the accused], which is that they're good people otherwise and that's a dangerous argument. We should never, ever, ever bow down to that argument."

The Monday night event was the first official fundraising effort for the campaign, which has received money from GRLCVLT and the Feminist Majority. It was liberating and cathartic for victims and allies of victims of sexual assault, who used their voices to sing, yell, and dance to unapologetic messages of female empowerment. Actress, writer, and director Amber Tamblyn held a moment of silence in solidarity with victims of sexual violence and read an original poem, "N For Night: A Healing Spell For Survivors," inspired by the open letter the victim wrote to Turner. McGowan opened up about her own sexual assault and read an original poem about being a survivor. Kiran Gandhi (whose stage name is Madame Gandhi), who made news last year for free bleeding through the London Marathon, performed a series of songs like "The Future Is Female," and "I Own My Own Body" interspersed with readings by Gloria Steinem, the Feminist Utopia Project, and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist. In the nook of the room outside the concert hall, socially conscious fashion label DAMNsel sold a collection of "pussy pouches" - bags with imprints of vaginas - whose proceeds go to the White House's campaign to fight sexual violence, ItsOnUs.org. Several men and women at the event wore shirts that read "Fuck Rape Culture."

The recall campaign will feature a series of similarly empowering events that aim to keep the focus on Persky, Turner, and rape culture. "We live in a viral media age where one case circulating can become the new thinking," Holwick said. "This could be a tipping point for us."

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