Difficult Questions and Personal Cost

Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Viking Press, September 24, 2019

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After sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at a party at Stanford University in 2015, Brock Turner became the face of sexual assault on college campuses. During the sentencing phase of the trial, the woman known only as Emily Doe wrote a powerful victim impact statement that instantly went viral. This woman – Chanel Miller – has shed her anonymity in a profoundly brave and vivid first-person account of her experiences with the legal system, university officials, victim advocates, and others. Named one of the top ten books of 2019 by the Washington Post, Know My Name is filled with difficult questions about consent, sexism, and gender-based violence. Miller skillfully illuminates the social and personal cost of coming forward within a culture that questions victims at every turn, reminding us that “[e]very woman who spoke out did so because she hit a point where she could no longer live another day in the life she tried to build.” Miller’s memoir would be an excellent choice for a book club among students and faculty at the secondary level.