I hope we can learn something from this "Cosby" issue.

[hamsterjill]

I don't know personally if Bill Cosby is guilty of rape, but with so many accusations coming out against him, it's hard to ignore what's being said about him. But I want to address the undercurrent about this story.

Overwhelmingly, in each and every account that I've read from a woman coming forward to say that Cosby drugged and then raped her, the woman has indicated that she felt "intimidated" or didn't feel she could stand up for herself, or overwhelmed, or whatever other adjective that has been used. In other words, Cosby was pulling the strings at the time and the victims felt they couldn't resist, either at the time they were victimized or afterward when they may have or should have or could have spoken up about it.

I suppose it's too late for these women to get justice, but I hope in some way that the sharing of their stories gives them some catharsis.

I also hope that we, as a society, can give future young women who may find themselves in similar situations, the support that they need to NOT feel intimidated, etc. To yell and scream "NO WAY YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH", and to walk away.

Being sexually assaulted should not be a condition to being "discovered in Hollywood" or any where else. And I think it speaks volumes about society that women felt that way in years past and still sometimes feel that way in the present.

I hope the future will be different.

There will always be powerful men trying to get sex for favors. The answer is giving the victims of those advances the self-worth, self esteem, confidence and power to say no, to walk away, and to be respected for their strength to do that.

[MADem]

1. There's also the "Watch out for creeps who will give you a spiked drink" lesson.

That applies even if you're not looking for fame or fortune. It can happen to anyone, in any situation, if a nefarious person is intent upon committing a crime against an individual.

"Slipping a mickey" to an unsuspecting person in order to commit a crime is not a new thing, it's been happening for a long, long time. They used to do it to young fellows a couple of centuries ago; they'd get knocked out in a pub, and wake up at sea, members of the crew, like it or not, for the duration of the voyage, or longer.

[hamsterjill]

2. Yes, of course, that's correct.

But at least one of the Cosby accusers has indicated that she was handed pills and took them because she felt too intimidated to say no.

My post is not meant to say that there's always a possible way to "walk away". I'm merely saying that in some instances where there is intimidation and coercion meant to make a victim acquiesce, victims need to feel that they have the option of doing just that - walking away.

[MADem]

4. I agree that this is a very good point you are making. No one has the right to make anyone

feel unsafe or intimidated in a social or business situation.

[Sheldon Cooper]

3. What is most disturbing about all of this is the alleged drugging of the women.

It indicates more than just a desire by Cosby to get sex from lots of women. I'm quite sure that if all he wanted was some fun on the side, he'd have no trouble obtaining that with enthusiastic consent - for whatever reason: career advancement, attachment to a big star, money, hell, even shits and giggles. As a young man, Cos was pretty handsome and I'm quite sure he could have had almost anyone that struck his fancy.

But that he apparently felt the need to drug these women in order to rape them really puts a disturbing twist to the story.

[hamsterjill]

5. It does!

It is a very disturbing aspect to these stories - something that has been consistent in each of the women's accounts, too.