Stanford assault victim's message to survivors: 'No one gets to define you'

Chanel Miller, who was sexually assaulted by Stanford student Brock Turner, has released a powerful short film sharing her story and support for other victims of sexual abuse.

The video is narrated and animated by Miller and explores how she dealt with the aftermath of her sexual assault in 2015, as well as sharing a message of solidarity to all the people who have stood in her shoes.

"When you are assaulted, an identity is given to you," Miller says in the film's opening.

"It threatens to swallow up everything you plan to do. And be. I became Emily Doe. Nobody wants to be defined by the worst thing that's happened to them."

Miller was sexually assaulted by Turner behind a dumpster in January 2015 when she was just 22, leading to a massively publicised trial in which her identity was kept hidden.

Known only as 'Emily Doe' throughout the 2016 trial, Miller chose to publicly identify herself just last month in an effort to remove the stigma many sexual assault victims feel crushed under.

When Turner received a "moderate" prison sentence of just six months the public was outraged — a furious fire only fanned when he was released after serving just three months.

The judge argued that "a prison sentence would have a severe impact on [Turner]", but what about the impact he had on Miller?

She revealed just how the assault had affected her in a 12-page impact statement read during the court case, but says in the video that the judge wasn't listening.

But when Miller published the statement online shorty after the case, the reaction was immediate.

"When I released the statement, something else happened," Miller says in the film.

"The world breathed life into my words. I spent all this time absorbing, absorbing. Listening to their voices, until I understood."

The statement, which has since been read by millions of people around the world, lead to a flood of support for the then-unidentified Miller, as thousands of other victims shared their own stories and support for her.

"Survivors will not be limited, labelled, boxed in, oppressed. We will not be isolated – we've had enough. Enough of the shame, diminishment, the disbelief, enough loneliness," she says in the video.

"No one gets to define you. You do – you do. My name is Chanel – and I am with you."

The video, which was created by an almost entirely female production team, was designed to empower and support other victims of assault, Miller writing on YouTube: "We should all be creating space for survivors to speak their truths and express themselves freely."