By the end of this blog post, you’ll know her name.
In January 2015, I was in seventh grade and my dream school was Stanford. This news article caught my eye:
Stanford Rape Case, Brock Turner, Olympic Hopeful and Freshman at Stanford
unconscious woman
At first, I thought of the perpetrator and how his future had been ruined because of this mistake. All of the news articles ran a similar narrative, Brock Turner, a successful swimmer at Stanford, sexually assaulted an unconscious woman outside of a frat party. For that, he was banned from Stanford’s campus and US Swimming membership which prevents him from swimming in any competitive event. I didn’t think about how the victim’s life path was ripped from her. Without a story, she simply wasn’t heard or understood.
Fast forward to today and I can’t believe that I subconsciously discarded the woman and sympathized with the rapist! To this day, I still hate myself for falling prey to the preexisting victim-blaming culture pervasive to all sexual assault cases. There is no excuse to give voice to the criminal and silence the victim.
This year, the anonymous survivor revealed her identity to be Chanel Miller through her book, Know My Name: A Memoir. She was a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend, a writer, a standup comedian, a person who didn’t deserve to have her life ripped away from her. With her identity known to the world, she’s finally able to speak her mind and share her story; the story that should’ve been covered instead of Brock Turner’s. Although I haven’t read it, I revisited the first time her narrative disturbed the world when her victim impact statement, as Emily Doe, was published on Buzzfeed. In four days, it was viewed 10 million times — and for good reason too. I suggest all of you to check out her painful narrative which captures what it means to be a sexual assault so well.
Chanel Miller’s Impact Statement
Here are some of my favorite quotes from her statement.
“I was pummeled with narrowed, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, past life, family life, inane questions, accumulating trivial details to try and find an excuse for this guy who had me half naked before even bothering to ask for my name.”
Similarly to how the media silenced Miller’s narrative because she kept her identity anonymous, Turner decided that he could use Miller’s body without even learning her name. This obviously indicates that Turner didn’t care about her as a person, let alone whether or not she’d given consent.
“And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times.”
I just have to get this out of the way because it’s what I, along with many others, needlessly fell for; the lost potential of Turner’s future. Yet, the fact that he’s on a swimming scholarship at Stanford or that he’s an Olympic hopeful DOES NOT, I repeat, DOES NOT change the fact that he sexually violated someone.
It’s almost like a reverse ad hominem fallacy at play here; instead of denouncing the opposition, they are praising the defense, both of which have nothing to do with his gross crime.
Even so, this shoddy defense didn’t work for the jury which convicted Brock Turner of three charges of felony sexual assault.
“I was not only told that I was assaulted, I was told that because I couldn’t remember, I technically could not prove it was unwanted. And that distorted me, damaged me, almost broke me. It is the saddest type of confusion to be told I was assaulted and nearly raped, blatantly out in the open, but we don’t know if it counts as assault yet”
Having any sexual activity with an unconscious person, by definition, is rape. Turner also ran from the scene when two Stanford graduate students asked what he was doing. Like Miller, I thought that there would be no questions regarding the determination of whether Turner raped her. Instead, once Turner realized that Miller couldn’t remember the events of that night, he changed his testimony to include that Miller consented to his actions.
In the end, the rapist Brock Turner was sentenced to a meager 6 months and ended up only serving 3. The judge, Aaron Persky, gave three reasons for this lenient sentence, Turner’s age, the drunken state of both the victim and perpetrator and the “severe” impact that prison time would have on him.
Where the hell is the impact of Brock Turner’s actions on Chanel Miller?
Nearly all of these reasons describe empathy towards the rapist. Persky frames it in a way that makes it seem like Turner was the victim of this trial instead of the actual victim, Miller. It doesn’t make sense that in bringing justice for the harm Miller suffered, empathy for Turner is emphasized.
The short prison sentence signified something more sinister, that women were not valued compared to men. It implied that violence against women was just a little mistake that shouldn’t derail a man’s future. It showed how a male perpetrator still had enough credibility to define the narrative when the female survivor couldn’t remember.
Then, a key point that everyone forgot about except for Miller was that to this day, Turner has never apologized for what he did. His inability to recognize the truth of his own actions clearly demonstrates that he hasn’t learned from his mistakes.
Some will point out that the fact the rapist got convicted means that the case already defied enormous odds. That’s true. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, out of 1000 perpetrators of sexual assault, 995 will walk free. However, that, in no way, means that we should settle for this case’s outcome because it’s the best result that comes from sexual assault cases.
Thank goodness so many women thought this way. Without them, we wouldn’t have had the #MeToo movement, creation of TimesUp, or the brave, brave testimony from individual women who found their voice against Supreme Court justices, CEOs, and other powerful men who’ve abused their power for far too long.
That’s why I invite you, men and women, to rethink how you view sexual assault cases, to value the stories behind each woman and not discard them like I once did.
Further readings on Chanel Miller’s impact:
This was such a powerful story and piece of writing. Recently, with the help of so many voices including the MeToo movement, I have heard so many stories just like this one, where the man wasn’t convicted to the degree that he should have for his actions. I am so glad you chose to speak on this topic because though it is coming into the media more, it still isn’t talked about enough. Women are still afraid to speak out because they fear the severe repercussions: losing loved ones, jobs, and even respect. Clearly, this is not ok, as none of the blame in a case like this should be placed on a woman.
That being said, I’m curious about your thoughts. What more do you think we need to do in order to make it so these cases are given correct sentences? What can we do to make sure these cases don’t continue to place blame on the victim? Personally, I think we need to normalize topics that are typically considered “uncomfortable”, talking about them and making victims feel empowered to share rather than afraid.
Hey! Thank you for appreciating this topic for what it is. Responding to your questions, I believe that the law needs to be changed in r.a.p.e cases. Chanel Miller’s case gained enough traction to change California’s r.a.p.e law. Now, any form of penetration is considered (wordpress blocked the usage of this word, just goes to show how this topic has been censored) and future perpetrators won’t be able to use the “outercourse” argument that Brock Turner did. In addition to changing the law, more research needs to be done about sexual assault in general so college campuses and workplaces will be structured in a way that is safer for women. Then, the core of the issue is that some men don’t fully value women and their wellbeing. So, our society needs to start early and educate younger kids on the importance of treating both women and men well.