Her Statement To Her Rapist Went Viral — Now Chanel Miller Is Speaking Out As Herself

It was jarring and straightforward and powerful: "You don’t know me, nevertheless you’ve been indoor me, and that’s why we’re here today."


As soon as BuzzFeed published her letter on June 3, 2016, it sent shockwaves by means of the world wide web. The site identified the letter's writer as Emily Doe, a then-23-year-old woman who stood up in court to address her rapist, a 2o-year-old named Brock Turner, directly in court. He had just been sentenced to six months in jail for the January 2015 attack, though he would ultimately serve only three months' time. His father and the judge both publicly worried what jail would do to his future and prospects; as Emily pointed out in her statement, the newspapers that chronicled his assault on her made a point to reference his swim times and academic history. She was an "unconscious intoxicated woman," she remembered. The concern over his sentencing made her trauma seem like collateral damage, rather than the focus it should have habitually been.


Right now, Chanel Miller is speaking out not as Emily Doe, although as herself.


On Wednesday, September 4, the New York Times revealed the cover of Miller's new book, Know My Name. Inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese practice of fixing damaged pottery with gold, the cover is a dark teal with gold lines at the best and bottom.


Miller started working on the project in 2017, the Times reports. It was months before the paper and the New Yorker published countless bombshell allegations against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, thus ushering in a new era for survivors of sexual misconduct and assault looking to speak their truth. Since then, the cultural climate shifted even more towards belief and support for the millions of people who have been forced to endure unwanted and unwelcome attacks on their bodies.


Know My Name is set for a September 24 publish date and the author sat down with CBS's 60 Minutes for her first televised interview, which will air on Sunday, September 22. A preview clip of the segment shows Miller reading her court statement, which has also been read in Congress by a bipartisan categorize of 12 congresswomen and six congressmen, including Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA).


Viking Books' editor-in-chief Andrea Schulz called Know My Name "one of the most crucial books that I’ve ever published," and added that she hopes it will "change the culture that we reside in and the assumptions we make about what survivors should be expected to go through to get justice.”