Bill Cosby Wants to Teach Youth to Avoid Sexual Assault? Physician, heal thyself!

I didn’t want to believe it. When the first few women spoke out about being drugged and sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby, I admit, I’m guilty of being dubious.

No one wants to get out the pitchforks for America’s dad. He’s the lovable, 79-year-old man we invited into our living rooms every week. Not even a jury of his peers will convict him in court, apparently.

I get it. He’s Dr. Huxtable, for crying out loud! And he brought us Jello Pudding Pops. Who doesn’t love some creamy, frozen chocolate bliss on a stick?

Given his fame and wealth, it’s not implausible that someone might try to cash in on an opportunity to make a name (and a buck) for herself.

But ten…twenty…SIXTY women?

That’s quite a conspiracy. Really hard to believe all those women slept with him consensually and then decided to gang up on him and ruin his reputation decades later.

I believe them. Still, I might voice my disappointment in him only in private, except for the headlines this week.

Time reported that his post-mistrial plan is teaching youths to avoid sexual assault.

I had to read it twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

Do they mean teach youths how to avoid prosecution for sexual assault?

If that weren’t bad enough, Mrs. Cosby castigated the DA for doing his job and bemoaned the fact that the statute of limitations are being extended for victims of sexual assault. “This is why people need to be educated on a brush against the shoulder,” she said.

What?

Mrs. Cosby, with all due respect, when your husband was drugging women (in your home!), it wasn’t their shoulders he was brushing.

And then she goes on to say, “Because anything at this point can be considered sexual assault and it is a good thing to be educated about the laws.”

Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that I buy the consensual story, Mrs. Cosby. That would mean he was cheating on you! And you want to make it out to be that he wasn’t aware of sexual assault laws? Do you not have one iota of self-respect?

So many things are messed up about the justice system’s treatment of sexual assault, but nothing Mrs. Cosby mentioned is anything close to the truth.

1) The statement that anything can be considered sexual assault is false. In fact, too many judges, juries, and defense lawyers scrutinize the victim to see if any of the blame lays on her. Meanwhile, privileged men (jock stars in college, famous beloved comedians) get a pass on straight up rape.

2) The reason not enough victims come forward to report their crimes is because prosecutors don’t believe them. We only hear that the statute of limitations is up and conclude that they must be money-grubbing hoes who want to profit off of Cosby’s fame. But how many of us know that Andrea Constand sought the police’s help a year after the alleged assault and then prosecutor Bruce Castor decided not to bring charges?

3) Bill Cosby isn’t denying that he drugged these women, or that he slept with them. He admitted to obtaining prescriptions for Quaaludes in order to offer them to women he wanted to sleep with in the 1970’s (Time). Can we please stop lobbing the word consensual around? People cannot consent to anything if they’re under the influence of drugs. They’re literally out of their minds.

I’m just as disheartened by all of this as the rest of America. No one wants to believe America’s dad would do such horrible things.

I don’t even want to believe that Dr. Huxtable would cheat on his wife, let alone assault dozens of women.

But the sad fact is, Bill Cosby isn’t the man we thought we knew from TV. He’s not a doctor.  Just a really good actor, following a well-written script and supported by a cast of other really good actors.

And now his PR machines are already setting up the smoke and mirrors, trying to slant his legal troubles as overly litigious people crying rape when it was clearly all just a misunderstanding. Sixty times.

Meanwhile, his victims don’t have millions of dollars to mend their reputations. All they have is each other.

And hopefully us.

Silence speaks volumes. I don’t want to send the wrong message.

 

I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Have you ever been disappointed by a public figure who was nothing like they appear in the media?