Jun 16, 2016
Consider the source, it came from the tabloids, but is there any reason to doubt it? According to InTouch magazine, and picked up today by the New York Post, the women’s team at Stanford was well aware that there was something off about Brock Turner.
So much so that they sought to write a letter to the judge about Turner’s previous sketchy behavior.
That request was shut down, as school officials reportedly “pressured” the swimmers not to speak out. The New York Post, never one to pull punches, summed it up thusly with this headline: This looks really bad for Stanford
The InTouch story appears to be based on the comments of a “Stanford swim team insider”. Unclear if that means it’s a member of the team, a coach, a trainer, or just a non-swimming friend. Tabloids have been known to stretch the definition of ‘insider’, after all, but their reporting is often sound.
The quotes are pretty damning. Said the insider: “Brock’s arrest wasn’t surprising to anyone on the team. From the beginning, the women swimmers had found him to be very, very odd. Brock would make comments to women such as ‘I can see your t–s in that swimsuit.”
Evidently, Turner was warned by upperclassmen to tone down his partying; a request that fell on deaf ears for the freshman. The story also notes that one member of the women’s team “vowed never to be alone with Brock after witnessing him get drunk at a party.”
Of course, it’s that ‘culture of partying and promiscuity’ that Turner notoriously claimed to be the reason for his sexual assault. Missing the point so badly and failing to take responsibility that his slap-on-the-wrist sentence has provoked international outrage.
Yet, like most scandals, there comes that uncomfortable moment when you realize that the crime wasn’t much of a surprise at all, not for those who were paying attention.