Last month marked five years since Chanel Miller was sexually assaulted on the Stanford University Campus and became “Emily Doe” in court documents and news clippings. Four years have passed since former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky for his “good behavior” demonstrated by character letters submitted on his behalf, sentencing him to six months in jail followed by three years of probation. Three years since Turner appealed that decision and lost.
She’s attuned to and speaks about her body in a way that most, particularly those in their twenties, don’t. Miller believes that likely comes from choosing to remain anonymous for as long as she did. In her book, Miller likens her period of anonymity to leading a double life—where there was invisible work just to move her limbs, to make a dent in the growing piles of papers on her desk at her job and to hold herself together just long enough to make it back home to “fall back apart.
She also carries a kind of self-care maturity that extends far beyond guarding herself against what might immediately hurt. For instance, the process of writing the book was not what Miller would describe as self-care but was something she knew she needed in the long term.