Prima Facie Quotes

“But I will tell you what I have lost;
I have lost my dignity and my sense of self
I have lost my career path, friends, peace of mind, my safety,
the sense of joy in my sexuality. But most of all, I have lost my faith in this,
the law,
the system I believed would protect me.”
― Suzie Miller, Prima Facie

“All I know is
that somewhere.
Some time.
Somehow.
Something has to change.”
― Suzie Miller, Prima Facie

“The law is an organic thing.
Defined by us.
Constructed by us,
in light of our experiences.
All of ours,
and so,
there are no excuses any more.
It must change.”
― Suzie Miller, Prima Facie

“Cross-Examination
aka
The Silencing”
― Suzie Miller, Prima Facie

“The law of sexual assault spins on the wrong axis. A woman’s experience of sexual assault does not fit the male-defined system of truth, so it cannot be truth, and therefore there cannot be justice.”
― Suzie Miller, Prima Facie

“If a woman is rattled by reliving the nightmare in court, if a woman’s experience of rape is not the way the court likes it to be, then … My voice catches slightly.... We conclude that she is lying, that she must be disbelieved. How can the victim ever win? Why do we believe consent exists until it is taken away to begin with? Are women such commodities? And then, when the woman does not consent, we are somehow not believing her? Despite everything she does and says? Could we not start with asking of the accused, ‘What did he do to determine consent existed in the first place?’ Could we not ask him to speak to it? To let the jury see what they might disbelieve in his story?”
― Suzie Miller, Prima Facie

“I'm not sure,
women can be just as bad as believing other women.
Why is that?
Why is that?”
― Suzie Miller, Prima Facie