Stanford sexual assault victim explains why she wants to stay anonymous

A week ago, a 23-year-old woman spoke to the man who was convicted of sexually assaulting her.

The powerful 7,200-word statement to Brock Turner about the pain and suffering he had caused her was read across the globe. Now, she has another statement, this time on why she has decided to not reveal her identity to the public.

“I remain anonymous, yes to protect my identity,” the statement, released to KTVU, reads in part. “But it is also a statement, that all of these people are fighting for someone they don’t know.”

Brock Turner was convicted in March of three counts of sexually assaulting the woman on Stanford’s campus in January 2015. Two graduate students riding bikes said they saw him thrusting his body on top of a woman who was not moving behind a dumpster, and when they went over to see if something was wrong Turner tried to run away, while the woman was clearly completely unconscious.

The case sparked outrage when the California judge sentenced Turner to only six months in county jail, saying he feared a harsher sentence would have a “severe impact” on the convicted sexual assaulter, who was a 20-year-old former Stanford swimmer. A petition calling for the judge to be removed from the bench has garnered about 830,000 signatures.

Public fury continued to build after a letter that was written by the father to the judge was leaked. It was written before Turner’s sentencing, asking for only probation for his son. The letter also called the assault “20 minutes of action” and blamed it on “the dangers of alcohol consumption and sexual promiscuity.”

The latest statement of the victim can be read in full below:

“I remain anonymous, yes to protect my identity.

But it is also a statement, that all of these people are fighting for someone they don’t know.

That’s the beauty of it. I don’t need labels, categories, to prove I am worthy of respect, to prove that I should be listened to.

I am coming out to you as simply a woman wanting to be heard.

Yes there is plenty more I’d like to tell you about me.

For now, I am every woman.”

This story was originally published June 9, 2016 at 5:37 AM with the headline "Stanford sexual assault victim explains why she wants to stay anonymous."