Credible

Credible helps us forge a path forward to ensuring justice for the countless individuals affected by sexual misconduct.

Reviews

“This is not just an important book. It’s way more than that—it’s a new algorithm, an upending of long-held beliefs kept in place by law and culture. As I read the case studies about victims of sexual assault and harassment, I felt my own baked-in assumptions being rewired. Credible changed me from the inside out. As Deborah Tuerkheimer says, ‘Each of us is part of the solution, as we are all part of the problem. If we rewire ourselves to respond more fairly to the accusations that come our way, law reform and culture change will follow. Over time we can dismantle the credibility complex.’”  — Elizabeth Lesser, bestselling author of Cassandra Speaks and Broken Open, cofounder of Omega Institute, and member of Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul 100“Deborah Tuerkheimer makes a brilliant, clear, and convincing legal case in Credible that justice for survivors requires basic changes in the law. But she makes an equally compelling plea for something with even more world-historical ambition: a transformation that is needed in the court of public opinion so that women’s dignity—and credibility—is finally seen as equal to men’s.”  — Jackson Katz, PhD, educator and author of The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help“In Credible, Tuerkheimer tells a range of stories of victim-survivors of sexual assault and harassment. What’s different is that she traverses these stories through the lens of credibility—the ways in which its absence (or in rare cases, its presence) will make all the difference in someone’s recovery and healing. This is essential reading not only for those deeply invested in #MeToo activism and scholarship and for victim-survivors who will finally feel seen but also for anyone who has ever known a victim. Which is to say, Tuerkheimer’s book is essential reading for everyone.” — Donna Freitas, author of Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention “A persuasive analysis of the cultural and legal forces that ‘downgrade the credibility of sexual-abuse survivors. Tuerkheimer explains how doubt is ‘baked into law,’ which creates a ‘care gap’ that places more weight on the abuser’s suffering than the accuser’s. Packed with insight and empathy, this is an open-and-shut case for a more compassionate form of justice.” — Publishers Weekly“The book’s analysis is both layered and nuanced, and the language is precise, passionate, and clear… an important addition to an ongoing conversation…[and] a trenchant analysis of how flawed notions about credibility fuel a wide variety of societal inequalities." — Kirkus“Powerful [and] essential. A necessary read urging individuals to start changing the way they think about allegations of abuse and the women who make them." — Booklist, starred review