Anyone else been raped by Bill Cosby?

[Guest]

It seems as if anyone who's anyone these days is claiming to have been raped by Bill Cosby. If they're all telling the truth, he must be the most clever serial rapist in history to have evaded the law for so long. Apparently, there is at least some evidence that some of these allegations can't be true: http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/bill-cosby-lawyer-disputes-janice-dickinsons-rape-claim-1201360149/

According to Mr. Cosby's attorney Janice Dickinson’s story accusing Bill Cosby of rape is a lie. There is a glaring contradiction between what she is claiming now for the first time and what she wrote in her own book and what she told the media back in 2002. Ms. Dickinson did an interview with the New York Observer in September 2002 entitled “Interview With a Vamp” completely contradicting her new story about Mr. Cosby. That interview a dozen years ago said “she didn’t want to go to bed with him and he blew her off.” Her publisher Harper Collins can confirm that no attorney representing Mr. Cosby tried to kill the alleged rape story (since there was no such story) or tried to prevent her from saying whatever she wanted about Bill Cosby in her book. The only story she gave 12 years ago to the media and in her autobiography was that she refused to sleep with Mr. Cosby and he blew her off. Documentary proof and Ms. Dickinson’s own words show that her new story about something she now claims happened back in 1982 is a fabricated lie.

Maybe some of these accusers are seeking some publicity and/or perhaps some settlement $$? I wish rape victims would report the crimes immediately to law enforcement personnel. Even if the case couldn't be proved, at least there would be a contemporaneous record. Then, if other victims came forward later with similar stories, there would be more credibility. The fact that there was similarity between the stories would be more significant, because the similarities couldn't just be explained by the fact that alleged victims might have merely read others' stories in the paper on or the web. Of course, these rapes would be extremely bizarre if all of this is true. Bill Cosby could certainly afford to pay good $$ for excellent escorts, and I'm sure the sex would be infinitely more enjoyable.

[armadillo]

https://twitter.com/DNGR_Cartoons/status/535616232662528000/photo/1

[bostonman]

The only story she gave 12 years ago to the media and in her autobiography was that she refused to sleep with Mr. Cosby and he blew her off.

 

Now there's an interesting confession...

 

Somehow I keep thinking Janice Dickinson was also one of the models who filed suit against Bob Barker (which could lead to her claims against Cosby being seen as more dubious). But I think I have her confused with Janice Pennington and Dian Parkinson. (Well, they all do kinda sound alike, lol.)

[Mark Gordon]

Cosby's North American stand-up comedy tour is continuing, although 5 dates have been cancelled:

 

http://www.ticketmaster.ca/Bill-Cosby-tickets/artist/702564

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/11/22/bill-cosby-receives-standing-ovation-at-florida-show

[bigvalboy]

We need to change the conversation in this country on rape. I love how we always spin the story so that the one raped is the villain. I don't get it.

[instudiocity]

We need to change the conversation in this country on rape. I love how we always spin the story so that the one raped is the villain. I don't get it.

Here! Here!

 

Yet, I'm not so sure the rapee is not Mr Crosby this time.

[Guy Fawkes]

Perhaps we shouldn't prosecute people in the news or on social media.

[gallahadesquire]

Perhaps we shouldn't prosecute people in the news or on social media.

 

Ah! A Voice of Sanity in the Wilderness!

[+ WilliamM]

We need to change the conversation in this country on rape. I love how we always spin the story so that the one raped is the villain. I don't get it.

 

I don't get it either. But, it's a start that NBC, Netflix and TV Land are taking the accusations against Cosby seriously.

[armadillo]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/11/30_fire.jpg

[+ purplekow]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/11/30_fire.jpg

 

Sometimes a hell of a lot of smoke and a really small fire which does not at all resemble the fire you thought was there. There are so many more important things that this, like what is Kim Kardashian doing for Thanksgiving and who is Taylor Swift dating this week.

[Guest]

We need to change the conversation in this country on rape. I love how we always spin the story so that the one raped is the villain. I don't get it.

 

Hmm. So how do you know for a fact who is telling the truth? Do you know for a fact that Janice Dickinson was raped? Were you there? Even when there's evidence she's bullshitting? Thank God that in this country a person is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Quite frankly, if Ms. Dickinson is telling the truth, then I have nothing but sympathy for her, and I hope Mr. Cosby spends the rest of his days rotting in the state penn. But there have definitely been times when rape allegations have been proven to be false (not that they should ever have to be--it should be the accuser's burden to prove the case), and I reserve the right to question the accuser's truthfulness and her motives when there are holes in her story. Maybe Mr. Cosby is a serial rapist, and if so, I hope he never sees the light of day, and that every penny he's earned goes towards compensating the victims. What I'm saying is that I give much more credibility to a contemporaneous account than to someone mouthing off decades later when there's a feeding frenzy going on.

[bigvalboy]

Hmm. So how do you know for a fact who is telling the truth? Do you know for a fact that Janice Dickinson was raped? Were you there? Even when there's evidence she's bullshitting? Thank God that in this country a person is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Quite frankly, if Ms. Dickinson is telling the truth, then I have nothing but sympathy for her, and I hope Mr. Cosby spends the rest of his days rotting in the state penn. But there have definitely been times when rape allegations have been proven to be false (not that they should ever have to be--it should be the accuser's burden to prove the case), and I reserve the right to question the accuser's truthfulness and her motives when there are holes in her story. Maybe Mr. Cosby is a serial rapist, and if so, I hope he never sees the light of day, and that every penny he's earned goes towards compensating the victims. What I'm saying is that I give much more credibility to a contemporaneous account than to someone mouthing off decades later when there's a feeding frenzy going on.

 

You are absolutely right, no one knows.... yet. There are holes in the stories of all parties here. I just find it interesting, that time and time again, when it comes to rape, the conversation becomes twisted somehow. Ms. Dickinson isn't alone in her accusations.

[SteveEscort]

I had wondered how long it was going to take the United States to catch on. For the last few years we've had many much loved celebrities from the 60s, 70s and 80s caught up in the headlights, some of whom are guilty as charged but it's not always been the case with many charges dropped, cases folded and not guilty verdicts cast. Even now someone is making the news every week in England for someone they inappropriately touched in a hotel car park in 1975.

 

He isn't the first and if this culture explodes, he will be the first of many to come

 

Watch this space

[bigvalboy]

Sometimes a hell of a lot of smoke and a really small fire which does not at all resemble the fire you thought was there. There are so many more important things that this, like what is Kim Kardashian doing for Thanksgiving and who is Taylor Swift dating this week.

 

Or is Bruce Jenner transitioning or not. Inquiring minds want to know.

[bigvalboy]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/11/30_fire.jpg

 

http://www.thewrap.com/bill-cosbys-1980s-co-star-claims-he-sexually-assaulted-her-paid-college-tuition/

 

http://www.thewrap.com/abc-the-views-rosie-odonnell-squares-off-against-her-co-hosts-over-bill-cosby-rape-allegations/

My moneys on Rosie.

[+ WilliamM]

Former Pennsylvania Prosecutor, Bruce Castor, on the Cosby allegations:

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141120_Prosecutor_on_Cosby_sex_assault_claim___quot_I_thought_he_did_it_.html

 

The article stands on its own. Castor is the former District Attorney of Montgomery County (2000-2008).

 

Bill Cosby lives in Montgomery County, which is close to Philadelphia.

 

Castor was an unusually high profile DA, who was defeated in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2004. Castor contemplated a primary challenge against Republican Governor Tom Corbett in 2014. Corbett lost in the general election in November to Democrat Tom Wolf.

 

Former county DAs are seldom well-know; Castor is an exception.

 

Please read the article.

[bigvalboy]

Former Pennsylvania Prosecutor, Bruce Castor, on the Cosby allegations:

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141120_Prosecutor_on_Cosby_sex_assault_claim___quot_I_thought_he_did_it_.html

 

The article stands on its own. Castor is the former District Attorney of Montgomery County (2000-2008).

 

Bill Cosby lives in Montgomery County, which is close to Philadelphia.

 

Castor was an unusually high profile DA, who was defeated in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2004. Castor contemplated a primary challenge against Republican Governor Tom Corbett in 2014. Corbett lost in the general election in November to Democrat Tom Wolf.

 

Former county DAs are seldom well-know; Castor is an exception.

 

Please read the article.

 

 

Interesting article. Thanks for posting. I am not as enamored with Mr. Cosby as some.

[armadillo]

Cosby is becoming creepy to me.

 

Female staffers at “The Late Show With David Letterman” are breathing a collective sigh of relief they don’t have to deal with an upcoming Bill Cosby appearance. A source close to the show tells Confidenti@l that the disgraced comic had some truly bizarre backstage requests.

 

“He’d include as a request, before he arrived, that the young girls, interns and assistants, all had to gather around in the green room backstage and sit down and watch him eat curry,” our stunned source explains. “No one would say anything, and he would sit silently eating and make us watch and want us to watch.”

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/cbs-women-curry-favor-article-1.2020179

[bostonman]

Cosby is becoming creepy to me.

 

Female staffers at “The Late Show With David Letterman” are breathing a collective sigh of relief they don’t have to deal with an upcoming Bill Cosby appearance. A source close to the show tells Confidenti@l that the disgraced comic had some truly bizarre backstage requests.

 

“He’d include as a request, before he arrived, that the young girls, interns and assistants, all had to gather around in the green room backstage and sit down and watch him eat curry,” our stunned source explains. “No one would say anything, and he would sit silently eating and make us watch and want us to watch.”

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/cbs-women-curry-favor-article-1.2020179

 

Just consider the source. The Daily News is not exactly CNN. (Of course, CNN isn't exactly what CNN used to be, either.)

[+ quoththeraven]

There doesn't seem to be much awareness or acknowledgment of the relative power disparity between men and women when it comes to sex and consent. Between the differential in upper body strength and widespread societal narratives about how men are entitled to cajole, seduce, and pressure women into having sex with them -- as if women wouldn't want sex in the absence of male pressure or don't have the ability to decide for themselves and as if sex is all women are good for -- women are damned if they do (then they're sluts) and damned if they don't (then they're teases).

 

Women -- college students especially -- are actively discouraged from reporting rape and pursuing prosecution, as much by other women as by men. Many times, they don't even process what happened as a rape initially if they know the perpetrator -- which is most rapes. (Stranger rapes are far less common.) And in cases where they've been drugged, they might not recall enough to know enough about what happened to know they were raped. Given the fallout and the scrutiny someone who pursues any form of redress faces, the reluctance to report is understandable. Pursuing charges just ensures that the trauma lasts longer. Testifying in court or in an administrative hearing requires the victim to relive the rape, and if the accused goes unpunished, the victim feels victimized a second time. In just about every case, victims blame themselves. That's without regard to all the other people who are quick to blame them as well.

 

In Cosby's case, this is compounded by the narrative of African-American men as sexual predators (think Emmett Till, who was lynched for looking at a white woman the wrong way) and his standing as a role model. What woman would willingly tear that down? What kind of reception is the first person to report (or the second, or third) going to encounter?

 

That is why so few victims report contemporaneously. This is an entirely rational response. Who would report if they know they're going to be raked over the coals for it? For an example of how this works, see the recent Rolling Stone article about how UVA has done nothing to discourage a culture of rape among its fraternities that focuses on a specific case of brutal gang rape.

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119

 

UVA is hardly unique, either; a Columbia University student is currently engaged in a public protest of the continued on-campus presence of the student she says raped her after her pursuit of administrative remedies resulted in no action on the part of the university.

 

As for innocent until proven guilty: That's true of criminal proceedings, and anyone on a jury should avoid coverage of the case they're hearing, follow the judge's instructions, and evaluate all the evidence. But it's not true of the court of public opinion, as demonstrated by the way people form opinions about all kinds of things. Just look at what people say on social media every single day. Not only does there seem to be a pattern here of enough accusations that aren't frivolous on their face, simply coming forward to accuse someone as famous and powerful as Cosby is daunting and fraught enough. Given the litany of men like Bill Clinton and John Edwards who deny, deny, deny until they're faced with irrefutable proof, it seems to me that based on past experience, it should be the men whose credibility is at issue here, not the women.

 

In some ways social media makes things worse; the girl who was raped in Stuebenville was vilified for drinking to the point of unconsciousness and was called a slut and a wh0re, but the boys involved get a pass from much of the public when they drank too (the better to gain the courage to rape her) but held their liquor better and plied her with drinks in order to more easily victimize her.

 

FYI, my rage on this topic isn't because I've ever been raped or come close to being raped or because it's some huge fear of mine. It has everything to do with my anger at how fucked up society's attitudes about women and sex are, especially the idea that women are waiting around to ambush men (especially famous men) with false rape accusations. A small percentage of reports turn out to be unfounded; many more cases of sexual assault go unreported. (Reporting rates for men who are sexually assaulted are even lower.) It's all part of the narrative that says women can't be trusted in sexual matters. Women who report other crimes aren't assumed to be lying. Why is it that women can't be believed when it comes to rape?

 

As for the idea that rape is a matter of differing perceptions and poor communication rather than predation, well, think again. Psychology professor David Lisak has conducted groundbreaking research (referred to in the Rolling Stone article) that shows that a certain percentage of college men are undetected serial rapists who will cheerfully admit to this as long as the word "rape" is never used. Here's a link to a paper of Lisak's that's not behind a scholarly journal's pay wall:

 

http://www.middlebury.edu/media/view/240951/original/

 

This report of an NPR interview with Dr. Lisak is particularly compelling:

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124272157

 

How easily Cosby could have had sex if he'd paid for it is beside the point. A man who drugs women or plies them with alcohol is not looking for consensual sex. The objective is the exertion of power through sex, not sex as something joyous and mutually pleasurable or even as a simple physical release.

[Frequentflier]

How easily Cosby could have had sex if he'd paid for it is beside the point. A man who drugs women or plies them with alcohol is not looking for consensual sex. The objective is the exertion of power through sex, not sex as something joyous and mutually pleasurable or even as a simple physical release.

 

So we can just skip any legal processes and go straight to conviction, even after decades of silence, because you've got it all figured out.

[Guest]

As for innocent until proven guilty: That's true of criminal proceedings, and anyone on a jury should avoid coverage of the case they're hearing, follow the judge's instructions, and evaluate all the evidence. But it's not true of the court of public opinion, as demonstrated by the way people form opinions about all kinds of things. Just look at what people say on social media every single day. Not only does there seem to be a pattern here of enough accusations that aren't frivolous on their face, simply coming forward to accuse someone as famous and powerful as Cosby is daunting and fraught enough. Given the litany of men like Bill Clinton and John Edwards who deny, deny, deny until they're faced with irrefutable proof, it seems to me that based on past experience, it should be the men whose credibility is at issue here, not the women.

 

Of course! Who cares about facts and the evidence?? If there isn't a movie line that goes by "I don't care about the stinkin' facts!" there ought to be. There are people all over the country vandalizing businesses of innocent people and creating havoc for people who have nothing to do with any of the Michael Brown case, because they simply want to believe that the 6'4" 280# Michael Brown was running away with his hands in the air, even when the people who actually looked at the evidence from forensics and the pictures of the police officer's beat up face felt it was more likely Michael Brown was the aggressor. Why examine the facts when hysteria and mob rule are so much more emotionally satisfying?

Maybe I have old timers' disease and missed something, but I don't recall Bill Clinton or John Edwards to have even been accused, let alone convicted, of rape. Yes, Clinton's affairs with Ms. Flowers and Ms. Lewinski were extra-marital, but they hardly consisted of rape. My recollection of Edwards was that he too had an ongoing extra-marital affair, but that's absolutely different from rape. The fact that you seem to be confusing consensual sexual activity with rape merely underscores the hysteria and detachment from reality many people (even the media) have when discussing the subject. Just because a person at some later time regrets the sexual encounter does not mean rape occurred.

I do not know whether or not Mr. Cosby is guilty of what he's been accused. If he's guilty, I hope that justice can be served, although accusations made many years or even decades later make it difficult to prove something. I do like it, though, when people keep an open mind when they do not know something, and admit to their ignorance. Claiming to have knowledge and/or having a moral high ground, when in fact one is simply ignorant, doesn't seem productive to me. It's very easy to just sit there and point fingers, rather than trying to examine objective facts.

[imrthr]

 

Or is Bruce Jenner transitioning or not. Inquiring minds want to know.

 

 

http://perezhilton.com/2014-04-03-bruce-jenner-sex-change-female-name-transgender-rights-advocate#.VHgOR8l5W-o

-

[bigvalboy]

So we can just skip any legal processes and go straight to conviction, even after decades of silence, because you've got it all figured out.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/university-massachusetts-cuts-ties-cosby-210040562.html