Why Justice Fails Young Women — And How Science Proves It

 🧠 When Is a Brain “Old Enough” to Consent or Harm?

Why Justice Fails Young Women — And How Science Proves It

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
#BoycottHockey #EndRapeCulture #JusticeForSurvivors

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Most people can’t even remember what they had for dinner last week — but somehow, our justice system expects a young woman to remember, with perfect clarity, the night she was sexually assaulted seven years ago.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t just a legal issue. It’s a human one, and science backs it up.

💔 The 2018 Hockey Assault Case

In June 2018, a young woman (known as E.M.) went out for what should have been a fun evening. Instead, she ended up in a hotel room with five elite junior hockey players, all members of Canada’s beloved 2018 World Junior team.

She was 20. They were 19–21.
She says she was drunk, surrounded, filmed, and pressured to consent on video.

In July 2025, all five players were acquitted.
Why? Because the judge found her story had inconsistencies, and because the players showed a video where she says she consented.

But let’s stop and ask:

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🧠 What Do We Know About Brain Development?

Science now confirms:

• The human brain isn’t fully developed until age 25–30 — especially the prefrontal cortex, which controls:
  • Impulse control
  • Risk evaluation
  • Emotional regulation
  • Long-term planning
  • Moral reasoning

That means:

• E.M. was not neurologically equipped to handle high-stress trauma, especially under the influence of alcohol and surrounded by power and fear.
• The five young men, whose brains were also still developing, were likely heavily influenced by porn culture, group dynamics, and entitlement — but unlike E.M., they had the numbers, protection, and institutional backing.

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🎥 That Video Wasn’t Consent

Forcing a drunk, overwhelmed young woman to say she consents — on video — after being surrounded by five men is not evidence of safety.

It’s proof of how far rape culture has evolved.
Now it records itself — and calls it protection.

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💊 Alcohol, Porn Culture & Pack Mentality

E.M. testified she had about eight drinks that night. There’s no evidence she took any drugs. But toxic masculinity doesn’t need drugs to thrive — it thrives in locker rooms, on screens, and in silence.

We now live in a world where young men grow up on porn that often shows:

• Violence
• Group sex
• Dehumanization

If that’s the “normal” they consume, then no wonder they think forcing someone to perform on camera is acceptable.

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⚖️ Where Is the Logic?

There is none.

The justice system:

• Demands impossible clarity from trauma survivors
• Ignores the effects of alcohol, fear, shame, and shock
• Protects powerful young men at all costs — especially when a beloved sport is involved

This isn’t justice. This is a script.
And we’re sick of watching it play out.

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🔥 Call to Action

It's time to ask:

• Why do courts still treat 18 as the magical “adult” age — when science says our brains aren’t ready until 25 or even 30?
• Why do we treat trauma victims like unreliable narrators — but trust a video taken under duress as evidence of consent?
• Why does hockey, a sport loved by millions, keep getting a pass on rape culture?

✋ Enough.

• #BoycottHockey until there is accountability.
• Share the science — about brain development, trauma, and coercion.
• Stand with survivors, not systems built to protect their abusers.

We deserve a justice system that understands memory, maturity, and morality.
Not one that punishes survivors for being human.

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🧠💔✊
Written with grief, rage, and clarity,
Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
zipolita.com | #JusticeForE.M | #EndRapeCulture

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