We all know who Brock Turner is. He is the Stanford swimmer who raped a
woman behind a dumpster at a frat party in 2015. After being convicted of 3
counts of felony sexual assault, he was sentences to only 6 months in jail. Of
those 6 months, he served 3 in county jail, sparking public outrage. For
perspective, the maximum sentence for rape is 14 years in federal prison! The
judge who sentenced him, Judge Persky, reasoned Turner was young and didn’t
have a history of violence. Sending him to jail would do more harm than good
(basically admitting our prison system is problematic, but that’s a topic for
another post). This judge was recalled in 2018, which is the first time California
voters had done this in 80 years. Governor Jerry Brown also signed a bill for
minimum sentences in sexual assault cases so this never happens again.
With all of the outrage surrounding his case, Brock Turner’s name has been in
the headlines many times. Yet, we don’t know his victim.
Chanel Miller is trying to reclaim her identity by revealing her name and
publishing her story in a memoir, Know My Name. She started writing
in 2017 as a way to organize what had happened to her. Now, she’s publishing
to show people who she is. The cover art is modeled after kintsugi, the
Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold, creating something new and
beautiful after destruction. Miller uses this to symbolize her recovery from the
event and the trial.
Miller hopes some good will come from her sharing her story. I think there will
be.
From what I have seen, people typically only care about the aftermath of a sexual
assault case in terms of perpetrator. They ask, “What’s the verdict? Is the
person going to jail? For how long?” They never seem to ask about the victim.
They don’t want to hear about the invasive evidence collection in a sexual
assault case, which further violates the victim’s privacy and leaves them
humiliated. They don’t want to think about the trauma of the trial. Lawyers often
blame the victim for how they’re dressed or how much they had to drink or how
little they can remember. They don’t try to understand how the media can
degrade the victim. In the articles written about Miller’s case, she was reduced to
“victim of Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner” or “unconscious,
intoxicated woman,” causing her to feel even more shame. This book will help
change that, putting a name, a face, and a story to the victim’s experience.
This book will also demonstrate to judges the impact of sentencing. Sadly,
Turner’s short sentence is common. Young college athletes with clean records
often serve little to no time behind bars for sexual offenses, if they are even
charged. I believe this book will demonstrate how the victim’s suffering doesn’t
end with the assault, it continues for the rest of their life. The judge has the
power to help make reparations by sending the rapist to prison or deepen the
pain by letting the rapist walk.
Lastly, I think the book also will help other survivors live a full life. Miller’s book
demonstrates how she has been able to create something positive out of her
struggle, embodying kintsugi. I believe other victims will see her story as
inspiration and confirmation that it does get easier.
Know My Name will be released September 24th.
Sources:
I like how this post addresses victims of assault and rape. I saw some posts about Miller on Twitter but did not know that she was publishing a book. I think that it is amazing how she has been able to write about a rather unspoken and sensitive subject. I think that her book will open up more talks about sexual assault and address victim blaming.
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