Why we exist
In court, a woman whose name is protected is called Jane Doe.
The unfortunate reality of being a woman or girl is that nearly 1 in 3 of us will face physical or sexual violence in our lifetime. That’s about 840 million women and girls in the world today. It is a truly shocking number.
Not all of our stories will be told. Many of us keep them to ourselves and carry that burden for the rest of our lives. We do this because so often we are not believed. The psychological impact creates barriers. Sometimes we are too young to know we have a voice, or even to know that what happened was wrong, because it was someone we trusted. Whatever the reasons, we go on carrying a piece of ourselves that we never get to share.
Most survivors who do come forward never get to court at all. Their reports are closed, their stories go unheard, and they carry it alone. We Are Jane Doe is a place to set some of that weight down, and to show anyone reading that they are not the only one.
I hope that sharing our stories, and having a place to be seen, will make it easier for us to come forward and for those who have done heinous things to be held accountable. I would like to believe that a world could exist where I don’t have to worry about if, or when, this will happen to my daughters.
The founder of We Are Jane Doe
Statistic: World Health Organization, violence against women fact sheet.
Story guidelines
- No names of the people involved: accused, witnesses or bystanders.
- No schools, workplaces, teams or other details that could identify anyone.
- Stories about cases still before the courts may be held or edited to protect the case.
- We Are Jane Doe is a space for women’s voices, whenever it happened. We hope to welcome every survivor here in time.
- We don’t publish graphic detail. A reviewer may gently trim it.
How your privacy is protected
- No account, no email, no IP address stored.
- No ad trackers or social-media pixels on this site.
- A person reads every story and removes identifying details before posting.
- Your removal code lets you take your story down at any time.
- Unposted submissions are deleted after 30 days.
When we have to act
British Columbia law applies to us. If a story gives us reason to believe someone under 19 is being harmed, or is likely to be, and isn’t being protected, we are required to report it to BC child protection services. We can only pass on what’s in the story itself. We don’t have your name, email or IP address.
If you’re sharing something that happened when you were a child and you’re an adult now, we usually don’t have to report it, unless your story suggests the person who hurt you may be harming children today.
If you’re an adult, what you do about what happened is your choice. We don’t report adults’ stories to police. If a court ever ordered us to hand over information, we’d have to comply, which is one reason we keep so little.
Because we can’t contact you, if you’re in danger right now please call 911 or a crisis line.
We review and update this information regularly to keep it in line with current BC and Canadian law. Last reviewed October 2026.