ANON interviews Ms. Jane Doe
April, 2004

ANON: Before you joined the Anonymity Project, what sorts of topics were you researching and did you think of them as being related to anonymity/identity/authentication?

JANE DOE: For the past 18 years, I have been involved in decoding and examining social, legal and medical responses to the sexual assault of adult women. I am alarmed by the manner in which the crime has become increasingly de-gendered. I see my work in the area of sexual violence as being related to anonymity and to sexuality. There is also a connection to the construction, identity and authentication of women who are sex workers. I am currently working on social audit on how the Toronto Police Force investigates sexual assault, including their increased use of technology as a crime fighting tool. I am interested in the credibility of the identity profiles that law enforcement authorities use to address rape or crimes of violence, especially when most sexual violence is committed by men we know rather than strangers.

ANON: Some people would characterize you as someone who has lived under the veil of anonymity for a number of years. Do you agree with this characterization?

JANE DOE: I have lived with a large degree of anonymity for almost 2 decades now. It has been a safety net of sorts and it has been liberating, but at the same time the veil has been difficult to wear. And it has been imposed on me. I would prefer to use my own name, I am very proud of my work, my book, but it is simply unsafe for me, on a number of levels, to use my name. We must look at why that is so. Who really benefit? Why cant women enter the legal system without that blanket or veil? Why do they often drop the charges when, not if, their personal lives are used to discredit them? It is seen to be the women’s choice to be anonymous, but is that so? There is a social, legal, medical imperative to make raped women invisible, to sensationalize, to keep them passive and broken – witnesses to the crime, our bodies the evidence but otherwise without agency. Who benefits from such a construction? On the other hand, anonymity has afforded me a large measure of privacy. I value that and am mindful of the ways in which it would be invaded if I was not Jane Doe. My other identities, my work as a teacher, community worker, writer would all fall away and I would be forever raped. Defined through rape.

ANON: What role do you think anonymity plays for women who have been sexually assaulted?

JANE DOE: Women should always have the option of anonymity. 9 of 10 women do not report crimes of sexual violence, citing fear of a system which is designed to undermine their credibility as the primary reason. The anonymity the courts grant to women who file rape charges serves as a crude safety net while at the same time invisibilizing her sense or experience of the crime. She becomes anonymous, unknown, as does the nature of the crime committed against her.

ANON: During your case against Toronto Police, a lot of information about your personal life was revealed in court and in the media. Did the use of the pseudonym, Jane Doe, afford you some protection?

JANE DOE: Of course. I would never have proceeded if my identity had not been protected. I would have walked away at once. So many aspects of my life including my past sexual, work and psychiatric histories were used against me in a court of law. That testimony remains a matter of public record. It was the only time I faltered. The only time I considered ending the litigation. This is when women walk away – not just because we are afraid, but because we are not stupid. Why would anyone subject themselves to such treatment?

ANON: How has the use of the pseudonym, Jane Doe, affected your life since then?

JANE DOE: It has affected my life more so now than it has in the past. For me, using a pseudonym has been a lonesome and isolating thing to do. Being Jane Doe prevents me from owning my work; it prevents me from celebrating it - especially as a writer. I am often required to remove my 18 year body of work from my CV or to disguise it. It is work which has changed the laws of our country and affected public policy. But I am forever stigmatized by the rape victim label and what that implies. Anonymity has contributed to that.

Learn more about Jane Doe