Credible audiobook

Credible is an incredibly important book. Author Deborah Tuerkheimer has put together a comprehensive and cohesive guide to how the system is failing women who are subjected to sexual violence. A warning - this book will make the reader incredibly angry; it is filled with stories of how survivors of rape and sexual assault are made to feel as if they are responsible for their attack. Tuerkheimer covers rape myths, such as “the stranger rape paradigm”, a misguided assumption that most rapes are commited by strangers. She also goes into great detail on how victims’ sexual history can be used as a weapon against them in any kind of rape trial.But there is some hope; there is a particularly moving story of the fantastic work attorney sujatha baliga is doing with restorative justice, a form of reconciliation through mediation and rehabilitation. There are also stories within the book of how victims find a way to move on from their attack. I found this book to be incredibly insightful and educational. It is staggering how little support there is for rape victims. A conviction, or any form of validation for the survivor, only occurs within the minority of cases. Thousands of rape kits are left untested, and woman are often dismissed by the institutions they are supposed to trust. For me, the key point Tuerkheimer drove home is that people have to listen to victims. There are so many assumptions when it comes to an emotionally charged crime such as rape, that people sometimes just don’t know how to deal with it. To paraphrase Tuerkheimer’s work, people have certain ideas about how the world is, and anything that shakes that belief can be difficult to deal with. I could go on for days about Credible. Everyone needs to read this book.

I put down another book to start this one and yeah this book was equally intense but I was able to finish it.If a word could sum up my experience it would be Whoa!Tuerkheimer is an attorney and uses concise language to explain why survivors/victims have an uphill battle to find the support they need after they are violated. The short version is that disbelief is the default. She moves to making a compelling case that we are socialized to feel bad for the rich and powerful (yuck but the eg is their lives shouldn't be ruined Bili Cosby and his elk) and the law is setup to make the victim take responsibility for abuser's behavior (why did you put yourself in the position to be raped).Like I said whoa!The longer version is Tuerkheimer frames the book as victims have to fit or be able to navigate the credibility complex which is dedicated by culture (norms, values) and the law (evidence/investigation of assault). In both cases women and victims are at a disadvantage. The system is setup to intentionally revictimized and protects the abused, especially if you the accusser is from a marginalized identity. There is an example where Tuerkheimer suggested that attorneys deploy the good man/guy strategize to scale for exoneration eg. I know John and he's good a person there's no way he could be a rapist. It's easy to then cast a harlot, Jezebel, gold digger narrative. The key though, is that rape over the decades has been narrowly framed as an act that happens with strangers in the dark or some angry monster so anything outside of this realm can be easily unbelievable. Though, IF you believe the victim you have to be called to action, which as Tuerkheimer points out many people do NOT because it's a threat to your safety (how you view rape, your interactions with the abuser, etc.).I think the framing of using rich powerful men coupled with everyday normal abusers provided eerily similarities and as Tuerkheimer puts it rape/sexual is one of the easiest violations to get away with or dismiss:-victim blaming-slut shaming -shifting blame (from the accused to the accuser) -viewing women often as an unreliable and/or untrustworthy narrator-expectations of response during and after the assault -memory of the event-he said/she said response-an extraordinary amount of corroboration and mostly painfully obvious men's entitlement to have sex with women (insert angry emoji)Tuerkheimer's application of institutional betrayal (Freyd, 2013) really adds teeth to her argument and I think for a more critical analysis particularly related to WoC I would recommend reading Jennifer M. Gomez's work on cultural betrayal https://jmgomez.org/cultural-betrayal....A couple of things you should be aware of before reading this book Tuerkheimer uses language like slaves instead of enslaved when talking about slavery. It's not current language and definitely felt like an outdated take for a book written in 2021. Also, she describes the assaults of all of her victims graphically. I had to take several breaks, but I think it was an intentional decision to remind the reader of how traumatizing the assault can be. Lastly, there are no real recommendations on how to uncouple yourself from automatically disbelieving, which I thought was a missed opportunity. Though, I don't think there's anything you can recommend other than BELIEVE women/survivors. She does reference restorative justice but that seems like it can be again very stressful to the victim which Tuerkheimer points out. Tuerkheimer does indicate the best way to help victims survive is to validate their experience.Yeah, it's a powerful read, I have about 6 pages of notes. CW/N: descriptions of rape on page, legal system not supporting victims (victim blaming, botching investigations, not testing rape kits), intrusive investigations to discredit rape allegations, men getting away with rape, community members being welcomed even with the knowledge of abuseI received a libro.fm credit in exchange for an honest review from HarperAudio.

Another great library find! Deborah Tuerkkheimer, an attorney and legal scholar, develops a well conceived framework of credibility for analyzing our culture's approach and considerations of sexual assault broadly, but more specifically the gendered assault of women by men. Credible does an excellent job at not only succinctly conveying the systematic and emotional hardship of sexual assault survivors, but at compellingly demonstrating how this disregard for women's safety and wellbeing is/has been historically baked into our law and our routine understanding of how to handle sexual violence. This book is an excellent reminder that misogyny and patriarchy are not mere ideas in people's heads, but rather tangible forces that act on women with impunity, all while being served by institutions and peoples across the gender binary.

A thorough intersectional feminist legal analysis of how the “credibility complex” leads to us to disbelieve sexual violence survivors and prioritize their abusers. As a legal scholar, Tuerkheimer emphasizes legal responses to sexual violence. She also primarily discusses sexual assault and harassment and does not discuss intimate partner violence much at all. Nonetheless, her analysis is welcome, if not new to those familiar with feminist arguments about gender inequality in our societal response to sexual abuse. Tuerkheimer’s strong feminist analysis is a welcome corrective both to mainstream patriarchy and the growing chorus of voices critiquing so-called “Carceral feminism.” She reminds us that the legal system remains deeply sexist and skeptical of survivors of sexual violence. The system is still stacked against accusers and toward abusers. Legal sanctions are often less about punishment per se than social acknowledgement of harm done. And restorative justice only works in a small percentage of cases. These are all helpful reminders that this of us skeptical of the criminal justice system as a response to sexual violence would do well to keep in mind.

What an eye opener!

The idea that we, as a society, doubt accusers and protect perpetrators of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment is not revelatory. Many women could tell you that already. The value of Deborah Tuerkheimer's book is not that she makes a new point; it's that she explores how it happens, both in the legal structures and psychological biases that underpin it. The book isn't terribly long—only about 230pp of text—and it moves briskly through its points, illustrated through multiple examples (often enraging). We have biases about who is a "good victim," and how they should behave. Worryingly, those who have power over the situation, such as police, believe these falsehoods. Studies show that 2–8% of assault complaints are false allegations, and they're more likely to be "stranger in an alley" rapes than acquaintance, as is often assumed. Police assume that about 30% of rape allegations are false. They also believe in the righteous victim trope, judging the victims for their conduct and shifting blame from perpetrator to victim. They refuse to investigate rapes, and classify them as "unfounded." The law underpins our distrust of victims. The 1962 model penal code has a three pronged rule for rape and sexual assault: 1) it must be corroborated by outside evidence (a woman cannot be trusted about her own rape); 2) rape must be promptly reported; 3) juries should be given cautionary instructions to take a victim's testimony with extra suspicions. In addition, some states differentiate between voluntary and involuntary intoxication: If a woman drank of her own will, her rapist is not responsible. In sexual harassment law, non economic damage caps haven't changed since 1991 (discouraging attorneys from taking on cases involving lower wage women), and there are tests for how pervasive harassment has to be. Popular opinion often holds that sexual harassment bans all joking in the workplace, but the reverse is true: verbal abuse is excused as joking, and the courts allow it. Tuerkheimer takes us systematically through the steps by which accusers (largely women) are devalued (and learn to devalue themselves) while the needs and feelings of perpetrators (largely men) are upheld. (The exception being white women assaulted by Black men, where racial prejudice trumps sexism.) She's also careful to explore how race impacts Black women in particular as victims: they are doubly victimized because of both their race and gender. They are ignored (as in the R. Kelly case), hyper sexualized, and more subject to sexual violence. There's also an interesting chapter about what victims actually want out of the process. What they want, generally, is validation and vindication: for their claims to be acknowledged as true, and to be supported. Punishment, for many victims, is about showing that their assault mattered, and what that means varies. For Rachel Denhollander, it mattered that Larry Nasser get the maximum sentence, to show that the lives of his victims had meaning. On the flip side, Brock Turner's lenient sentence was offensive not because jail is intrinsically good, but because the process showed that the primary concern was his comfort and future, and not the life of Chanel Miller. The potential and pitfalls of restorative justice, as well as traditional criminal justice, are explored, and while restorative approaches can have good outcomes, Tuerkheimer makes the good point that when a perpetrator participates to avoid punishment, and an institution wants to avoid legal processes, it may not take the needs of the victim into account. Moreover, when the parties are not equal—as they are not in sexual assault—the process may simply replicate social prejudices. This book isn't revolutionary, but it's very well and clearly written.

***Trigger Warning: (mentions of sexual abuse and rape)***"We begin the work of cultural transformation the moment we respond fairly to a single allegation of abuse." ~Deborah Tuerkheimer'Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers' is an incredibly important book that discusses rape culture and the credibility complex that inhibits true justice when survivors come forward to accuse abusers and rapists. Tuerkheimer draws examples from the MeToo movement to the Jeffrey Epstein trial to the shaking of the gymnastics world in the fight against Larry Nassar and the stories of victims of little to unknown cases. Misogyny, racism, and the white capitalist patriarchy play huge roles in why so often victims are blamed and shamed while rapists are portrayed as victims of uncontrollable needs and urges provoked by the victim 'asking for it'. Deborah discusses the further struggles women of color, immigrants, members of the lgbtq+ community, and victims of lower socioeconomic status face while trying to seek justice for the dehumanizing violations they've faced while existing at multiple marginalized intersectionalities. This book is pivotal and an important social commentary piece on what society can do to create real change as well as help prevent further trauma to survivors and create true reformative justice. As a warning this book does go into graphic detail about victims' rapes.

“A culture that routinely downgrades the worth of victims in relation to perpetrators is a culture that muzzles accusations of abuse.”This was a very powerful and informative read analyzing what influences the credibility we give sexual assault/harassment victims and perpetrators. It was written by a law professor/former prosecutor and uses elements of the law, sociology, psychology, and real stories.Notable areas/terms discussed:⚖️ Credibility complex/discount⚖️ Intersectionality between race, class, immigration status⚖️ Police mishandling⚖️ Misconceptions of sexual assault⚖️ Collective gaslighting⚖️ Famous cases covered include Channel Miller and the victims of Weinstein, Nassar, Epstein, R Kelly, VA’s Lt. GovThis is such an important read to expand our views on sexual assault/harassment and learn how to properly treat victims. As a law student who will be working in criminal prosecution, I learned a lot. Read this if you like SVU, Know My Name, Catch and Kill.Thank you to Harper Wave for sending me a gifted copy! The spine and cover are gorgeous.“We begin the work of cultural transformation the moment we respond fairly to a single allegation of abuse.”⚠️: Sexual assault/harassment, rape, sexual violence

Resonates well with my experiences, but also opens my eyes to what I haven't understood or noticed. What I'm left wondering is how Canada's legal system compares to the U.S.'s; that we have the same cultural tendencies to discredit, blame, and disregard accusers is undoubtedly a fair analysis. And while this book doesn't engage much with religious institutions and communities, we can most certainly learn from its observations of how power and credibility influence our judgments.

Possibly the most depressing book I’ve ever read. Such an important read. While theoretically I understand the reasons behind the systems that lead us, as a society, to practically always discount the experiences of women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted, it’s so hard to accept as reality. I like that the author systematically lays out an explanation of the different reasons that these claims are not considered credible and (at the end) suggests an alternative framework. I don’t like the number of publicly available examples she can list and use to illustrate her points. I don’t like how all these examples ring too true.

This review is based on an ARC received from the publisher and NetGalley. The book is primarily comprised of the author giving examples of sexual assaults that have occurred and describing the impact this had on the victim, including not only the assault itself, but how other people (friends, family, police, courts, co-workers, etc) reacted and how all of these responses (when negative) can further victimize someone. These examples are further used by the author to illustrate how power and other dynamics affect whether we confer credibility to the accuser or the abuser when sexual assault allegations occur, and by connection, to whom we attach value. Ms. Tuerkheimer breaks down how our biases and outdated norms and laws prejudice people and the law against sexual assault victims, along with why so many people react to sexual assaults with disbelief.The book is very readable and accessible to people who are not familiar with the specifics of the criminal justice system. The author does reference academic research, but these references flow easily with the text and are not weighed down by jargon. It is a book that will (and should) make you angry, since a number of situations are explained in detail how sexual assault victims have been painfully failed by the rest of us. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the barriers that we as a society and culture have put in place that prevent us from responding effectively to sexual assault in our communities.

As a survivor, this book was incredibly healing for me.It also helped me understand why the concept of "Restorative Justice" for rape is so triggering and and feels like a shaming gut punch: it supports the idea that rapists should be treated more leniently than other violent offenders, and reinforces the idea that female humanity is less important than male humanity.That's exactly the message the rapist sends to his victims, and supporters of "Restorative" Justice for rape take the rapist's side in delivering that message.This book taught me that I am not a "bad" woman for being a "Carceral Feminist" (I actually made myself a bumper sticker that says Proud Carceral Feminist for my car).WOMEN'S LIVES MATTER!And rape is every bit as serious a Human Rights Violation as police violence against marginalized communities.No more excuses. No more regressive gender roles. No more misogynoir, where Black women are required to sacrifice their own humanity to protect Black men (most Black men do not want or need such "protection").Women will never have the freedom to live as complete human beings - or citizens - as long as men can rape us with criminal impunity.This book helped me to understand how healing the punishment of sex offenders can be, and that I am not a bad person for desiring that punishment.I recommend this book to every survivor who questions her right to justice.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate in life to have friends and colleagues who have challenged, expanded, and changed my assumptions and world views. No one holds a higher spot on that list than my law school flatmate Deb Tuerkheimer. CREDIBLE is the culmination of more than two decades’ work on violence against women, first as a prosecutor in Manhattan and through years as an activist, advocate, and academic. Her book is a detailed and nuanced examination of how our system treats and largely fails victims/survivors of sexual assault and harassment. This is an absolute must-read for everyone working toward a more equitable world for all sexes and genders.

Required reading.

I heard the author interviewed on a law podcast, and was compelled to get this book. It's terrific; zeroing in on sexual assault and sexual harassment, she argues that cultural beliefs and stereotypes end up significantly influencing our beliefs around who is believable/trustable when they make allegations. Unsurprisingly, women (especially women of color, poor women, immigrants) are consistently seen as unreliable or untrustworthy, and men (esp white men) are seen as reliable. This, Tuerkheimer argues with lots of evidence, impacts every step of how we deal with these issues, both on the immediate level (how friends and family members respond to accusers) and throughout the reporting/investigating/adjudicating process, when it happens. The book is most depressing when she documents some of the hair-raising discrepancies in law enforcement (like how common it is for assault claims made to police to be closed almost immediately on judgments of no credibility, despite, say, rape kits that go untested). She's particularly powerful in her assessment of the kinds of damages that are specific to the lack of taking accusers seriously (she quotes many survivors as describing this as a "second assault," and cataloging the sense of institutional betrayal accusers feel when schools or workplaces dismiss or undermine them). And she does a good job in general of weaving together her argument and evidence in ways that will engage and educate a general audience, but be useful for scholars or advocates. Three things that held me back from a 5-star rating, even though I absolutely found the book quite helpful: 1) the "solutions" chapter was kind of thin, particularly for things that would help institutions. Restorative justice is her main suggestion here, but she almost immediately throws cold water on this solution for institutions as soon as she raises it. (This could also be a job for a different kind of scholar; Tuerkheimer is a law professor, but I'm not sure she works in policy in general.) 2) While she is generally very good at addressing the kinds of credibility gaps that exist across racial and class differences, there was very little on how this can negatively effect men of color who are accused of assault--one brief discussion, but it seemed like something that needed some wrestling with in the text. 3) As a philosophy professor, I was delighted to see lots of the relevant philosophers mentioned here in the text, but surprised that the main philosopher behind credibility excess and deficit, Miranda Fricker, didn't get a mention. (*Epistemic Injustice* is her book that really started off a lot of thinking about credibility as an ethical/justice issue, from philosophers.) Just an odd lacuna in what was otherwise a very well-sourced and -argued book.

I'm listing this book as one of the most IMPORTANT reads of today. Please pick this one up and read it, whether you're a victim of sexual assault, or whether you know someone who has been assaulted. Sadly, that pretty much should cover everyone who exists. "Most sexual misconduct goes unaddressed, leaving intact the hierarchies that enable it."Credible takes a look at sexual assault, in our history and through today, and aims to answer why so many accusers are doubted, and why so many abusers are overlooked or believed without question. Tuerkheimer uses examples from as far back as the 1800s to the current #MeToo movement to show how law has or has not changed, and what women are up against when making claims against strangers, someone they know, even their husbands. At its core is our culture. "None of us can transcend cultural norms or avoid their imprint on our inner workings." Dismissal is our default. We look for ways to discount someone's credibility at every turn. When someone comes forward about sexual misconduct, they are telling us 3 things: This happened. It was wrong. It matters. And in order for the claim to be accepted, people must be convinced of all three elements. Tuerkheimer examines how credibility discounting breaks unevenly against marginalized, subordinated, and vulnerable groups like black women and girls, trans, LGBTQ, class, employment, sexual history. It all matters when it comes to judging credibility. We distrust, blame, or disregard. Because of our culture and the way we judge credibility, victims of sexual misconduct often feel they are assaulted twice; first by the abuser, and second by the people they believed would help them. When even our closest friends and family don't believe that it mattered, that it happened, or that it was wrong, victims can feel betrayed a second time, and often that betrayal feels more painful than the initial assault. The care gap: "the suffering of an abuser who could face accountability for his misdeeds matters far more than the suffering of his victim." As long as we believe this, we will continue to reinsure victims and uphold the idea that powerful men are more valuable than anyone else. If you are the victim of sexual abuse, this book may bring about some explanation, as your credibility relies on an old and outdated system of beliefs that still prevails to this day, deeming your worth as less than. You are not less than. Please know that what happened to you mattered.And if you are on the other side, if you have judged someone for their experience of abuse - cultural transformation starts with you. Our culture must evolve.