Emily Doe: The Survivor of the Brock Turner Attack Reveals Her Name
I remember the day I read the Brock Turner victim statement very well. It was a warm June day in 2016, the summer before seventh grade. I was browsing the Buzzfeed app on my iPhone per usual when I came upon an article titled “Here's The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read To Her Attacker.” I hesitated. I had heard a little about the Brock Turner case, but not a lot, and I wasn’t sure if I should read it. The topic was such a taboo in my mind, and perhaps ignorance was bliss. Ultimately, I could not hold back my curiosity and tore through the 6,000-word testament. I was overwhelmed by the horrific and graphic details of the story and was left with so many unanswered questions. However, reading this gave me the tools to figure out my role in this fight.
Three years later, that woman has a name. She’s not Emily Doe, she’s not the Stanford rape case victim, and she’s not just a victim either. Her name is Chanel Miller.
Four and a half years after she was raped behind a dumpster at a frat party, Miller is sharing her name with the world for the first time. Her rapist, Brock Turner, was convicted of sexual assault of an intoxicated and unconscious woman and ended up serving three out of the six months sentenced. In the media, Turner was often referred to as the “Stanford swimmer” instead of what his true character is: a rapist. The lack of severe punishment and Turner’s reputation was met with national criticism and cited as a primary example of white privilege in the criminal justice system.
As she should’ve been, Miller, then named Emily Doe, was praised nationally for her courage and bravery to share her story with the world. Within four days of Buzzfeed’s publication of the statement, it had been viewed over 11 million times. The statement was read live on CNN as well as read by 18 members of Congress on the House floor. Glamour named “Emily Doe” woman of the year for “changing the conversation about sexual assault forever”.
Personally, it had never crossed my mind that Emily Doe would reveal her face. Her statement was so deeply personal that it almost felt too intimate to see the face of the writer. In the picture used by the news outlets to break the story, Miller proudly smiles and almost smirks. It’s clear how much she’s grown from the doomful evening behind the Stanford fraternity house to now.
It’s almost redundant to acknowledge, but the bravery Miller possesses through the act of revealing herself is uncanny. Miller put herself and her story out to the world in June of 2016 and inspired millions. That would have been enough. However, coming out to the world to continue to tell her story and help so many others in similar circumstances makes her a true hero.
Too many women go through similar situations as Miller, and too many go unnoticed and irrelevant. Miller’s story is the perfect catalyst for productive discussion in the world around us. We can look at statistics all day long and analyze why these traumatic experiences occur, or we can listen to these transformative testimonies and learn where we went wrong as a society. Chanel Miller revealing her name to the world is more than just a headline. It is triumphant.
Miller’s new memoir about her journey of growth and reconciliation titled Know My Name releases September 24.