NEW YORK, Nov. 2 (UPI) — The 22-year-old victim of a Stanford sex assault has been named Glamour magazine’s Woman of the Year after she wrote an essay for the December issue.
The woman, identified as “Emily Doe,” spoke out for the first time since Brock Turner, a freshman and member of the swimming team at Stanford, was sentenced to six months in county jail for sexual assaulting her behind a dumpster on Jan. 18, 2015 as she lay unconscious.
Turner was released on Sept. 2, after three months in jail.
The magazine, in explaining its choice, wrote: “But it was Doe’s take-no-prisoners telling of what happened afterward — the relentless victim-blaming; the favoring of Turner, a student athlete — that changed the conversation about sexual assault forever.”
Before the judge’s sentencing, Emily Doe read aloud in court an impact statement that started, “You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me, and that’s why we’re here today.”
“I am not just a drunk victim at a frat party…while you are the All American swimmer at a top university…I am a human being who has been irreversibly hurt…. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.”
After BuzzFeed published the 12-page letter in full, the victim drew worldwide support, even receiving a letter from Vice President Joe Biden.
“Doe’s words circled the globe,” read a note signed by Cindi Leive, Glamour’s editor-in-chief. “Within four days her statement had been viewed 11 million times; it was read aloud on CNN and the floor of Congress. Rape hotlines experienced surges in both calls and offers of volunteer help. And importantly, California closed the loophole that had allowed lighter sentences in cases where the victim is unconscious or severely intoxicated.”
The letter closed with the following: “We all know the statistics: One out of every six females will have someone rape her—or attempt to. Doe sent those women a message: I am with you. Glamour is honored to name Emily Doe a Woman of the Year; here, for the first time, she tells what happened next.”
In the essay, she writes about the supportive emails and gifts she received from around the world.
She also looks back on the day of the sentencing.
“I yelled half of my statement. 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.
“I thought, this can’t be the best case scenario. If this case was meant to set the bar, the bar had been set on the floor.”
She also expressed support for the current recall effort of the judge who presided over the case: Judge Aaron Persky.
Ten other women were also honored for 2016: Olympic gymnast Simone Biles; Black Lives Matter founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi; model and body activist Ashley Graham; singer and fashion designer Gwen Stefani; human rights activist Nadia Murad; International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde; fashion designer Miuccia Prada; and actress and activist Zendaya.
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