While Brock Turner is required to check in with authorities every 90 days as a life-long sex offender, the woman who was his victim, Chanel Miller, is reclaiming her identity and publishing a book, “Know My Name.”
Miller was known for nearly five years only as “Emily Doe.” She said in a letter to Brock Turner she fought to reclaim her identity. In newspapers, she was described as “an unconscious, intoxicated woman” while he was described as “an All American swimmer” for Stanford University. You can read court documents filed in his case here.
Miller chose to keep her identity secret, as she faced ridicule and victim blaming in the case, she said in a 60 Minutes interview with Correspondent Bill Whitaker.
Now, Chanel Miller has decided to come forward, revealing her identity earlier this month. Her memoir will be published Tuesday, September 24, 2019.
Here’s what you need to know:
Miller’s Book Cover Is Inspired by a Japanese Artistic Process, Kintsugi or ‘Golden Repair,’ Making Something Beautiful Out of Something Broken
It’s an absolute failure of our justice system that Brock Turner was released after three months in prison.
Sexual assault robs people of their dignity and leaves emotional scars that can last a lifetime.
Chanel Miller is so brave for coming forward.
Chanel Miller’s book cover is inspired by a Japanese artistic process called kintsugi or “golden repair.” The process takes broken pieces of pottery and mends them back together using lacquer and powdered gold. The process creates something new out of something that was once broken, and emphasizes the pieces where it was cracked. The process is meant to reflect Miller’s healing from sexual assault trauma, Andrea Schulz, the editor in chief of Viking, told the New York Times. Viking is the book’s publisher.
Schulz told the newspaper she read Miller’s victim impact statement when it was published, describing it as an “incredible, riveting piece of work.” When she learned Miller was interested in publishing a book, Schulz jumped at the opportunity.
“I jumped out of my chair to acquire it,” she told the newspaper, “because it was just obvious to me from the beginning what she had to say and how different it was and how extraordinarily well she was going to say it. She had the brain and the voice of a writer from the very beginning, even in that situation.”
‘Know My Name’ ‘Shines With the Courage Required to Move Through Suffering & Live a Full & Beautiful Life
“There are young men, particularly young men of color, serving longer sentences for non-violent crimes… How can you explain that to me?” Chanel Miller shares her reaction to Brock Turner’s sentence. See the full “60 Minutes” interview with Miller, Sunday t.co/So6EiXujJn
It was Chanel Miller’s words that turned a public eye to her case, far before we knew her name. Her victim impact statement was published in full by Buzzfeed, and the six-month sentence imposed on Brock turner sparked a national outrage.
Now, Miller is writing again, and this time, she is signing her name to her words. Her memoir, “Know My Name,” is set for publication Tuesday September 24, 2019 by Viking.
Her publisher wrote:
Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral–viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time. 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.
Miller is a writer and artist who received a bachelor’s degree in literature from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, according to her publisher. She lives in San Francisco, California.
Miller Took a Stand Against Victim Blaming in 60 Minutes Interview
The young woman who was sexually assaulted in 2015 by Brock Turner is reclaiming her story. Chanel Miller gives her first television interview, tonight on @60Minutes t.co/qQuaal3bUi
Miller said she was criticized online by people who were blaming her for being attacked.
“Rape is not a punishment for getting drunk. And we have this really sick mindset in our culture, as if you deserve rape if you drink to excess,” she told 60 Minutes Correspondent Bill Whitaker. “You deserve a hangover, a really bad hangover, but you don’t deserve to have somebody insert their body parts inside of you.”
She chose to keep her identity secret for five years in part to protect herself, and in part to rid herself of any labels, she said in a statement to KTVU in 2016.
“I remain anonymous, yes to protect my identity,” she said in the statement.
“But it is also a statement, that all of these people are fighting for someone they don’t know.
That’s the beauty of it. I don’t need labels, categories, to prove I am worthy of respect, to prove that I should be listened to.
I am coming out to you as simply a woman wanting to be heard.
Yes there is plenty more I’d like to tell you about me.