Since new allegations against Bill Cosby first broke last month I thought about writing something about it. But I didn’t. I kept coming back to it week after week, because I wanted to say something, but also felt overwhelmed by the whole thing. If I did write something, what would I write? Would I just give my opinion on the whole thing? Would I be more of a journalist and sum everything up, lay out the facts and then give a little commentary? Would I focus on the man or on the many women pointing fingers in his direction? And then, perhaps just to give myself an easy out, I decided it was too late to write about it. That ship had sailed.
But it never really did. I think that I keep coming back to it, because of other people’s reactions to it. Because the more I read, the more I am shocked and upset, and a lot of those feelings are directed at the reactions or comments of other people who have nothing to do with the actual case or allegations.
Let me get this out of the way, this (post) is not about whether Bill Cosby is guilty or not. Personally, I think that he is, if not in all of the cases, at least some of them. But I’m not going to talk about the facts, and I’m not going to make my case for his guilt. There are plenty of news stories and other blogs out there that do just that. Instead, I want to talk about rape and sexual abuse, and what it means to come forward. How hard that is. And why some of the comments from people reinforce just how much people have to lose when they come forward.
