Chanel Miller, woman sexually assaulted by Brock Turner, reveals herself in new book that'll 'change the culture'

Meet the real "Emily Doe."

Tod Perry
09.05.19
Viking / Mariah Tiffany

The Brock Turner rape case was at the infection point of a series of social issues that now dominate today's headlines. It was the beginning of real discussions on white male privilege and sexual assault on college campuses, and helped inspire the #MeToo movement.

In 2016, Turner was found guilty of three counts of felony sexual assault for raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster outside a fraternity house at Stanford University.

To protect her identity, she was referred to as "Emily Doe" in court proceedings, or "unconscious intoxicated woman" by the media.

Turner faced 14 years in prison, but the college swimmer only received six months from Judge Aaron Persky who said "a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him, I think he will not be a danger to others." As if prison time wouldn't have a "severe impact" on just about anyone.

It was widely presumed that Turner's lenient sentence was the result of white male privilege, resulting in voters recalling Persky from his position in 2018.

During the trial, "Emily Doe" wrote a powerful 12-page impact statement that revealed how the rape and its investigation upended her life.

"My life has been on hold for over a year, a year of anger, anguish and uncertainty, until a jury of my peers rendered a judgment that validated the injustices I had endured," she wrote.

RELATED: Brock Turner is now the textbook definition of the word 'rape'

She included painful details about how her body was handled by investigators.

"I had multiple swabs inserted into my vagina and anus, needles for shots, pills, had a Nikon pointed right into my spread legs. I had long, pointed beaks inside me and had my vagina smeared with cold, blue paint to check for abrasions," she wrote.

While taking a shower in the hospital, she felt terrified of her own body.

"I don't want my body anymore," she continued. "I was terrified of it. I didn't know what had been in it, if it had been contaminated, who had touched it. I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else."

It's been over four years since the brutal rape and "Emily Doe" is ready to show the world that the strong woman behind the impact statement is Chanel Miller.

But she has a lot more to say. Miller's story was purchased by Viking and will be told in her upcoming memoir, "Know My Name."

"Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life," the publisher describes her book.

"It was just obvious to me from the beginning what she had to say and how different it was and how extraordinarily well she was going to say it," Miller's editor, Andrea Schulz, told The New York Times. "She had the brain and the voice of a writer from the very beginning, even in that situation."

RELATED: The judge who sentenced Brock Turner to 6 months in jail has been recalled

The cover of the book is inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi or "golden repair" where broken pottery is mended together by gold lacquer into something beautiful and new. Kintsugi artists treat breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something they're trying to hide.

"It is one of the most important books that I've ever published," Schulz continued, because of its ability to "change the culture that we live in and the assumptions we make about what survivors should be expected to go through to get justice."

"Know My Name" will be released on September 24.

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Culture

Oprah's social experiment on audience members puts racism in a new light

On an old episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in July 1992, Oprah put her audience through a social experiment that puts racism in a new light. Despite being nearly two decades old, it's as relevant today as ever.

She split the audience members into two groups based on their eye color. Those with brown eyes were given preferential treatment by getting to cut the line and given refreshments while they waited to be seated. Those with blue eyes were made to put on a green collar and wait in a crowd for two hours.

Staff were instructed to be extra polite to brown-eyed people and to discriminate against blue-eyed people. Her guest for that day's show was diversity expert Jane Elliott, who helped set up the experiment and played along, explaining that brown-eyed people were smarter than blue-eyed people.

Watch the video to see how this experiment plays out.

Oprah's Social Experiment on Her Audience www.youtube.com

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Culture

Cadbury removed the words from its wrappers to bring attention to a seldom-discussed issue

The candy giant said it "donated" the words.

via Cadbury

Cadbury has removed the words from its Dairy Milk chocolate bars in the U.K. to draw attention to a serious issue, senior loneliness.

On September 4, Cadbury released the limited-edition candy bars in supermarkets and for every one sold, the candy giant will donate 30p (37 cents) to Age UK, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for the elderly.

Cadbury was prompted to help the organization after it was revealed that 225,000 elderly people in the UK often go an entire week without speaking to another person.

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Walgreens

Teachers seek outside support to tackle today’s challenges in the classroom

Young people today are facing what seems to be greater exposure to complex issues like mental health, bullying, and youth violence. As a result, teachers are required to be well-versed in far more than school curriculum to ensure students are prepared to face the world inside and outside of the classroom. Acting as more than teachers, but also mentors, counselors, and cheerleaders, they must be equipped with practical and relevant resources to help their students navigate some of the more complicated social issues – though access to such tools isn't always guaranteed.

Take Dr. Jackie Sanderlin, for example, who's worked in the education system for over 25 years, and as a teacher for seven. Entering the profession, she didn't anticipate how much influence a student's home life could affect her classroom, including "students who lived in foster homes" and "lacked parental support."

Dr. Jackie Sanderlin, who's worked in the education system for over 25 years.

Valerie Anglemyer, a middle school teacher with more than 13 years of experience, says it can be difficult to create engaging course work that's applicable to the challenges students face. "I think that sometimes, teachers don't know where to begin. Teachers are always looking for ways to make learning in their classrooms more relevant."

So what resources do teachers turn to in an increasingly fractured world? "Joining a professional learning network that supports and challenges thinking is one of the most impactful things that a teacher can do to support their own learning," Anglemyer says.

Valerie Anglemyer, a middle school teacher with more than 13 years of experience.

A new program for teachers that offers this network along with other resources is the WE Teachers Program, an initiative developed by Walgreens in partnership with ME to WE and Mental Health America. WE Teachers provides tools and resources, at no cost to teachers, looking for guidance around the social issues related to poverty, youth violence, mental health, bullying, and diversity and inclusion. Through online modules and trainings as well as a digital community, these resources help them address the critical issues their students face.

Jessica Mauritzen, a high school Spanish teacher, credits a network of support for providing her with new opportunities to enrich the learning experience for her students. "This past year was a year of awakening for me and through support… I realized that I was able to teach in a way that built up our community, our school, and our students, and supported them to become young leaders," she says.

With the new WE Teachers program, teachers can learn to identify the tough issues affecting their students, secure the tools needed to address them in a supportive manner, and help students become more socially-conscious, compassionate, and engaged citizens.

It's a potentially life-saving experience for students, and in turn, "a great gift for teachers," says Dr. Sanderlin.

"I wish I had the WE Teachers program when I was a teacher because it provides the online training and resources teachers need to begin to grapple with these critical social issues that plague our students every day," she adds.

In addition to the WE Teachers curriculum, the program features a WE Teachers Award to honor educators who go above and beyond in their classrooms. At least 500 teachers will be recognized and each will receive a $500 Walgreens gift card, which is the average amount teachers spend out-of-pocket on supplies annually. Teachers can be nominated or apply themselves. To learn more about the awards and how to nominate an amazing teacher, or sign up for access to the teacher resources available through WE Teachers, visit walgreens.com/metowe.

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Fed up news anchor has the best response to a man who told her to dress ‘like a normal woman’

Women shouldn't have to dress for the male gaze.

via KGW-TV / YouTube

One of the major differences between women and men is that women are often judged based on their looks rather than their character or abilities.

"Men as well as women tend to establish the worth of individual women primarily by the way their body looks, research shows. We do not do this when we evaluate men," Naomi Ellemers Ph.D. wrote in Psychology Today.

Dr. Ellers believes that this tendency to judge a woman solely on her looks causes them to be seen as an object rather than a person.

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