Meet Chanel Miller, the woman who was Emily Doe in the trial of rapist Brock Turner, a man treated with absurd leniency by the courts.
The New York Times:
For four years, the woman whose Stanford University sexual assault case caused a public outcry, has been known only as "Emily Doe." In her new memoir, "Know My Name," which charts her life since then, she reveals her real name: Chanel Miller.
In 2016, Ms. Miller's case made headlines after BuzzFeed published the statement she read at the sentencing hearing for Brock Turner, the Stanford student convicted of the assault.
Mr. Turner, then 20, was found guilty of three counts of felony sexual assault, for which the maximum sentence was 14 years. But the presiding judge, Aaron Persky, sentenced Mr. Turner to six months in county jail, of which he served three.
Here's an excerpt from the book's introduction:
Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways–there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.
Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.
CBS News has Miller reading her victim statement, but they insist on indentifying Turner as "Stanford swimmer" in the headline and their story. Some media are in the habit of identifying sex offenders from well-off families by their status or achievements instead of their crimes, even after conviction. The privileged treatment Brock Turner received from the courts is a big part of Miller's story. That CBS News would do this now, in the context of telling her story, beggars belief–and shows just how pervasive and perverse that privilege remains, even today.
The book will be out Sept. 24, but you can order it now from Amazon.
