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1-Page Summary of Know My Name
Overview
Rape culture is pervasive in our society. Chanel’s story shows that it starts with sexist “locker room” talk. If you are male-identified, take care with the words that you use and call out your friends and colleagues when they make sexist jokes or talk about women in derogatory language. Change starts at home, work, or in a locker room.
What’s it like to be a woman who has been sexually assaulted and then have the media portray you as “the victim”? In her own words, Chanel Miller describes how she was referred to in court as “Emily Doe” or worse, “Brock Turner’s Victim,” instead of being seen for herself. She also talks about what happened when the press made decisions on how they wanted to portray her. This is an important book because it sheds light on sexual assault and shows us that there are ways we can change the way things are done now.
In this passage, you will learn how Chanel Miller was able to heal from her assault by doing stand-up comedy. You’ll also learn what inspired Vice President Joe Biden to write a letter to her after hearing her story on stage.
Big Idea #1: Chanel Miller found out about her sexual assault through a news report – over a week later.
On January 17, 2015, Chanel Miller and her sister Tiffany attended a party at Stanford University. Chanel was not particularly excited about going to the party since she had already graduated from college. She wanted to concentrate on developing educational apps for an NGO but she decided to go anyway because she wanted to spend time with her sister who was visiting for the weekend.
Chanel hoped that they would have fun together at the party and Tiffany would leave feeling inspired by all of the people there who were making a difference in this world.
One night, Chanel went to a party. The music was loud and the students were drinking vodka. She also drank some vodka at the party. At one point, she and her sister left the room for a bathroom break. When they returned, she can’t remember what happened next because she passed out in an unknown place with police officers around her who told her that two students had seen something “wrong” happening to her while she was unconscious.
When Tiffany came to pick her up, she was upset because she couldn’t find Chanel. She had gone over to check on a sick friend and suddenly lost sight of Chanel. She spent the night looking for her but didn’t have any luck.
Ten days later, Chanel was drinking coffee at her desk when she got a text from her sister. It alerted her to news stories about the assault. She went online and saw an article that revealed details of what happened to her. She learned that Stanford student Brock Turner had been charged with raping and assaulting her.
Big Idea #2: When the article about her rape went viral, people blamed Chanel for it.
Chanel was found half-naked and passed out next to a dumpster behind the fraternity where she’d been at a party. While she was unconscious, Brock Turner sexually assaulted her. Two Swedish students on bicycles discovered him in the act and chased after him until he got caught by police officers who were called by bystanders.
When Chanel read the article, she was horrified and thought that any other reader would be as disgusted by it. How could someone rape an unconscious woman? What was this man’s motive?
Chanel was at a party with her friends when she drank too much and passed out. The next day, she read about the incident on social media. Some people criticized Turner for assaulting Chanel while others supported her. But most of them blamed Chanel for being in that situation to begin with because she wasn’t a student anymore and shouldn’t have been drinking so much. A few even said it was her fault because she got herself drunk in the first place.
