I feel like no one's talking enough about Bill Cosby.
I feel like I just found out that the man I looked up to for decades, that I trusted with my affection and that I laughed with every week; same time, same channel is a rapist. Because that's exactly what just fucking happened and I want to talk about it.
Recently I've had painfully sustained conversations re: Kim Kardashian's ass, but as of yet I haven't had one conversation about the accusations facing Bill Cosby. Accusations that I don't hesitate for a second to believe. Not because I'm a woman or a feminist, but because it makes sense. You don't pay people to shut up about things that aren't true. You just don't. You don't just shut the fuck up when people start accusing you of rape. You just don't. And sure, that's not solid evidence, but it's one fucking hell of a hunch.
When the Jimmy Saville case blew up over here in the UK it was on every news channel for...well it still is. He was some radio DJ who liked to fiddle underage girls, boys, the infirmed, you name it. He's also dead, but that didn't stop his face being plastered all over the papers for months, continuing to the present. Speculations flew and in their dozens and now hundreds of people have come forward and started talking. But this is a dead man, and a man who I feel is getting a much tougher time in the media and in the nostalgic minds of children than Mr. Cosby.
Cosby's victims are calling him "this generation's most prolific serial rapist" yet his new stand up show is still due to be broadcast on Comedy Central this month. What a way to begin the festive season: with a rapist telling jokes. Ho, ho, ho. Dapper Laughs gets his show banned for making jokes about rape, but Bill Cosby, an actual real live rapist is still earning a paycheck many, many, many years after these accusations first came to light.
I feel such intense sympathy for Barbra Bowman. Having suffered at the hands of Cosby multiple times in the 80's she spoke out numerous times to a variety of different people. Their advice: shut the fuck up. But she didn't. Bowman has continued to speak out against Cosby and supported a fellow claimant against Cosby in 2006. It's not a surprise if you've never heard of Bowman, surprisingly after numerous rapes at the hands of Cosby her career never really took off.
What blows my mind is that after nearly 10 years of evidence and complaints against Cosby from as many different women, it took a comedian, a man, to point the finger just once and suddenly we were all listening. What the hell does that say about us as a society? Be dubious of women who accuse their attackers, but if a man makes a joke, we better follow that shit up. I'm sorry, but whaaaa?
The statistical data suggests that less than 50% of rape victims in the USA report their rape. And we wonder why this is? The culture of disbelief and senseless shaming of victims is allowing criminals to continue to commit crimes. Our reluctance to react in a way that empowers victims is silencing them. I blogged earlier in the month about how proud I am of Ke$ha for coming forward and pursuing her claims against producer Dr. Luke. I wonder how many of "her people," people employed to protect and look after her told her to shut up about it?
The statute of limitations is up on all of these accusations, so Cosby will unfortunately not be prosecuted for these attacks. To add insult to injury there are people still buying tickets to his stand up show. "Plenty of people still love Cosby, and they would be willing to overlook just about any allegations in order to see him perform." (Vox, 2014) WHY? Why are we continuing to financially support a man who raped multiple young, vulnerable women? I just don't get it. We continue to support known sexual offenders like Cosvy, Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, but Lena Dunham checks out her sisters vag and she's now a paedophile. Something has to change.
We need to support the victims in the Cosby case. We need to show that it's better to come forward and to make a big noise than to shrink into the shadows. People are not going to believe these women. People are going to say terrible things about them.We need to stop thinking that they should have said more, spoken sooner, done more. They did their best and they are the victims. Bill Cosby is not a victim. Bill Cosby was not your dad. Bill Cosby is most probably a rapist. We need to get used to that idea.
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