Background:
The below article shares personal views on Emily Doe’s (Chanel Miller) case of sexual assault inside the Stanford campus by a fellow student in 2015. The case gained traction as the judgements passed down were initially lenient- that opened up the fallacies of the US court and the law systems. Click here to read her personal account of the horrendous events that followed suit, to gain more depth and understanding of my comments.
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Feminism. Feminazi. How often we women are ridiculed with these words! How often is our fight for equal rights is dismissed as publicity stunts! And then they talk of women empowerment. Gender diversity at workplace. Oh, the double standards that this society is made up of!
The story of Emily Doe reminds me of those countless women worldwide who have been raped, abused and assaulted. A UN report cites that more than 250000 rape cases are reported worldwide annually. This is shocking because the world is moving towards providing human rights and equality to everyone rapidly, or it seems so.
It felt horrible to go through the entire 8 pages. I could feel all the pine needles, the dust, and the pain. I could feel the shivers running down my spine. It was terribly gruesome and graphic. I cannot imagine a human being undergoing such torture and harassment.
Apart from the statement, I did a little bit of digging. Her real name is Chanel Miller, the author of Know my Name. To protect her privacy, in all her court papers, she has been referred to as Emily Doe. I don’t know what kind of privacy are they talking about. When a woman has been photographed from all angles and the close-ups of her private parts have been flashed in the court, her horrific story published in the press, then what kind of privacy has been maintained? I could not follow.
Whenever we think about rape, the countries that usually strike our mind are nations like Afghanistan and Pakistan, South East nations like Bangladesh and India and parts of Africa. But do you know that the United States comes under the top 10 countries that are unsafe for women? Yes, US is the only western country that falls in the list. The country that claims itself to be the powerhouse for championing the cause of women’s rights and women empowerment.
Now, coming back to Miller. Emily was in a party, where she was in an inebriated state, and was subjected to physical and sexual violence. The details of her harassment are dreadful and chilling. She was also victimized to digital penetration. That made the court who handed over the sentence feel that this was not that of a big deal.
Wait, what?
Turner, her traitor, a student of the prestigious Harvard (read literate and educated) was also intoxicated that night, and hence whatever heinous crime that he did was taken warmly on the ground that he was drunk, and being an excellent swimming candidate for Olympics just added fuel to the situation.
So, if you are drunk and you have a scholarship, does that make you more humane?
In other words, the judge felt that he was not that guilty as he should have been.
It’s true that the judge also sentenced him to register himself as a sex offender for life. But was justice served in a right manner? I feel it wasn’t.
The alcohol was blamed more than Turner. Emily was also challenged in court for being drunk that night. Her memory had gone blank, she did not recall incidents from that night. Turner and his lawyer took advantage of that. Turner was allowed to paint a picture of that night’s details, much to the dismal and horror of Emily. She was asked way too personal questions that further shattered her core into pieces. She was mentally agonized time and again in the court when these questions were thrown at her, when all eyes were glued to her skin, when friends sent her “I am sorry” messages.
Emily became an international figure, and has been awarded the prestigious Glamour Award of the year twice for the courage and bravery that she depicted, for her fight, but at what cost? She lost her identity, succumbed to depression, suffered a lot of physical and mental trauma, and had to leave her job. She lost track of time, became emotionally vulnerable, and the way she visualises the world changed forever.
The need of the hour is to have fast track courts that handover apt punishments as quickly as possible. We need sensible people in courts who are better equipped at handling emotions. But most importantly, we need to teach our kids that it is not right to go beyond limits, limits that specifically concern women and their bodies, their rights and their lives.
Because justice delayed is justice denied.
THE FUNKY WRITER 