You don’t know me, but you were inside me and that’s why we are here.Emily Doe’s letter published on Buzzfeed
That’s how it all started. Emily Doe was sexually assaulted by a former Stanford student Brock Turner. ‘Emily Doe’ is a pseudonym that she has chosen for her.
Doe was unconscious when she was assaulted and had no memory of the incident when she woke up hours later in a hospital.
Doe was told that her case was ‘very strong’: she had forensic evidence, sober unbiased witnesses, a slurred voice mail, and police at the scene. She had everything yet her case fell short. Brock was charged under three felonies, a charge that is usually sentenced to a maximum of 14 years in federal prison. In this case however, the judge deemed Brock to a sentence of 6 months – judge felt that Brock was subjected to enough scrutiny at the hands of the media and that extending the sentence would only ‘severely affect his well being’.
Doe felt defeated.
So when it was quickly announced that he’d be receiving six months, I was struck silent. Immediately I felt embarrassed for trying, for being led to believe I had any influence. The violation of my body and my being added up to a few months out of his summer.
The morning after the sentencing, Doe obliged to publish her statement that she half-yelled at Turner. It was several pages long with harrowing details of the assault. It was published by BuzzFeed and received over a billion views overnight, becoming the voice of several women who have been, and are assaulted everyday.
As soon as it was posted, I remember thinking, what have I done, making myself exposed and vulnerable again.
Recently, when Glamour Magazine named her the ‘Woman of the Year’, she recounted her experiences in the aftermath of that letter.
The Immediate Reaction to Her Letter
When Joe Biden E-Mailed Her
When Her Letter Was Read on the Floor of the US House of Representatives
On the Culture of Victim Blaming
Here’s all you need to know about Brock Turner’s six-month sentence and why banning alcohol has got nothing to do with sexual assault.
(With inputs from Glamour News)
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