Arguably one of the most moving stories of 2016 involved a woman known only as Emily Doe. Despite the anonymity surrounding her real identity, she became one of the most powerful voices in the story of sexual assault and the light sentences bestowed upon the privileged men who commit these crimes. Her attacker, Brock Turner, has already served his prison time and been released, but the weight of the victim impact statement she read aloud in the Californian courtroom in June still lingers in the thoughts of the millions of people around the world who read it.
Now Glamour magazine has named Emily Doe as one of its Women of the Year, with Doe writing a new essay reflecting on her life since Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to just six months despite two Swedish men having to chase him down as he fled the alley where he was assaulting the unconscious Doe.
“It was Doe’s take-no-prisoners telling of what happened afterwards – the relentless victim-blaming; the favouring of Turner, a student athlete – that changed the conversation about sexual assault forever,” said Glamour’s editor-in-chief Cindi Leive in her introduction to Doe’s new piece.
Writing about how she felt when Turner received what many believed was a very lenient sentence, Doe writes: “Immediately I felt embarrassed for trying, for being led to believe I had any influence. The violation of my body and my being added up to a few months of his summer.”
You can read Emily Doe’s full essay here.
Among the other winners at Glamour’s Woman of the Year 2016 included singer Gwen Stefani, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, fashion designer Miuccia Prada, and U2’s Bono – the first man to ever receive the honour. The Irish musician and his One charity’s Poverty is Sexist movement, launched last year to highlight the gender disparity in the developing world, saw Bono take the accolade.
“We’ve talked for years about whether to honour a man at Woman of the Year and we’ve always kind of put the kibosh on it. You know, men get a lot of awards and aren’t exactly hurting in the celebration and honours department,” said Leive.
“But it started to seem that that might be an outdated way of looking at things, and there are so many men who really are doing wonderful things for women these days. Some men get it and Bono is one of those guys.”
