A father repeatedly raped his 12-year-old daughter. A judge recently responded with a 60-day sentence.

The girl’s mother and grandmother applaud. They think that’s the right punishment because the perp’s sons “will be devastated if their dad is no longer part of their lives.”

This story doesn’t come from some far-off country with a sketchy legal system and Third-World attitudes toward women. It happened this month in the northeastern Montana town of Glasgow.

Once again, a judge in America, this time John McKeon, has codified the idea that loathsome violence against a female is not the most important factor in making a decision on a guilty man’s punishment.

No doubt this so-called dad is guilty — he pleaded thus. Of course, he had little deniability given that the similarly so-called mother walked in on dad sexually assaulting the girl.

It’s beyond sickening that at the sentencing hearing no one spoke on behalf of the 12-year-old; family members instead focused on wanting the children to have an opportunity to heal the relationship with their father. Their words centered, especially, on concerns about the victim’s two brothers. What an insane message that sends to the young girl and the boys.

McKeon leaned heavily on the pleas of the mother and grandmother to justify the sentence, which he made despite prosecutors recommending a mandatory 25-year sentence.

Oh, and McKeon wants to remind us all that the perp must register as a sex offender and is prohibited from accessing pornography.

Does that make any of you feel more confident about the sentence?

This year has brought retching reminders of how, too often, things really haven’t changed when it comes to the treatment of women and girls in America. How again and again, society hands down decisions that tell us we just need to go sit in the corner and shut up.

I know how this Montana court decision will imprint all the wrong messages on the 12-year-old girl. And how that programming will affect her attitudes and behaviors going forward.

As a child in the 1960s, I was repeatedly molested by an extended-family member. In my first real job, as a teen in the 1970s, a radio-station sales exec occasionally corralled me into a corner of his office and groped me. In 1978, a newspaper colleague suggested we have a drink at his house before heading out for dinner — I passed out during that first drink and groggily came to in the midst of rape.

I hesitate to publish those words because I don’t want to make this about me. The fact is that I’ve met far more women of my generation who suffered similar violence than women who didn’t. Our mothers too often responded with hideous messages like, “sorry that happened, but don’t rock the boat about it. that’s just how men can be.” It was our job to figure out how to steer clear of sexual violence; the perpetrators were off the hook.

What’s even more sickening is that countless examples in 2016 remind me that things haven’t changed at all when it comes to violence against women. While societal pressure has led to the exorcism of many blatant discriminatory behaviors and words, this year has exposed too many instances of the same violent behavior that we excused a generation ago. Too often, women are still the playthings of men.

You see it in the judicial system, most recently in this Montana case. You see it in colleges, most recently Baylor University, that care more about protecting their brand than their students. You see it in the workplace, as headlines about fast food giant McDonald’s reveal. You see it in professional sports, most recently the blaming of the alleged victim that punctuated NBA star Derrick Rose’s exoneration this week. And you see it ooze out of a man who could be this country’s next president, Donald Trump, whose abusive actions and words seem to not matter to 40 percent or more of American voters.

So many women my age survived the predatory behavior that prevailed in our youth and early careers. Yet we kidded ourselves that America would be cleaned up for women of the next generation. This country can’t wipe out perpetrators of sexual violence — whether violence of action or words. But it can make sure stiff consequences follow, whether that’s in a courtroom or at the voting booth.

I wish I could feel more hopeful, but my heart is heavy beyond measure after a presidential debate in which a narcissistic man labeled his opponent “a nasty woman” and, worse, tossed aside multiple accusers like ragdolls, claiming they just want a few minutes of fame. I grieve not so much that he unsurprisingly said those things but because a huge percentage of Americans will nonetheless vote for him.

Whether we are among those who have fought for a better day or those who have simply looked the other way, we’ve all failed. The 12-year-old girl in Montana is the latest example of our negligence to change anything. This morning, I’m wondering just how many of us really care.

Sharon Grigsby is a columnist for the Dallas Morning News.