Bill Cosby’s Criminal Mistrial Represents The Lack of Respect For Women
Famed comedian Bill Cosby has been accused by more than 3 dozen women of drugging and raping them more than 2 decades ago. Most of these women never pressed charges because of the fear of ruining their careers and because of the fear of his power as a powerhouse in entertainment. He was finally brought to trial by a single woman whose case had not exceeded the statute of limitation. The court procedure against Cosby ended in a mistrial even though in a former deposition he admitted to obtaining drugs to give to women before having sex with them.
When people who admire Cosby hear about the case they ask – Why didn’t these women come forward sooner?
When a woman is violated she feels a certain shock and then shame and then anger at herself for not being able to stop it. In this particular case any retribution would have not only devastated the women personally but it would likely have ended their careers.
During the time of Cosby’s reign over comedy and America’s hearts, a woman’s accusations against him would have been pointless. Why? Because Americans wanted to believe in the goodness of this man who had become the standard for goodness, success and progress in our society. All because of a television show.
What could have stopped this repeat offender in his tracks?
There are two things that should have happened to possibly curb Cosby’s monstrous attacks on women.
All men should be taught to honor the choices of the women they engage with.
If men were taught the principles behind a Loving Female Led Relationship then they would know that it is absolutely out of line to touch a woman without her consent. Honoring a woman’s choices means asking a woman what she wants and then adhering to that choice. ASK FIRST then ACT.
Because our society values the reputation of men more than the honor of women, both sexes have the understanding that women will have the burden to prove any wrong doing which means men do not automatically assume that they will have to face repercussions for their behavior. Â Even if they get caught harming a woman, she still has to prove it. This promotes mischief and decreases the level of respect men have for women.
All women should be taught to create independent streams of income so that they answer to no one.
When these women, who were victims of Bill Cosby’s sadistic nature, considered fighting back against their attacker, I am certain that they had to let go of their desire to see him face retribution because they were dependent on outside sources to maintain their incomes and their lifestyles.
When any person has to answer to someone else for their livelihood they will have to compromise their standards and they will second guess their emotions when they are violated or challenged. A woman who has created an independent stream of income that no one can control by being an entrepreneur would be able to stand up and scream that she had been violated and fight to the death to see him brought to justice because her lifestyle and personal well-being would not be at stake.
These women were held captive by their inability to support themselves without asking for permission from others. Because they were dependent upon someone else giving them a chance to create the income they needed to care for themselves and their families they were unable to stand up for themselves in fear of losing everything they had worked hard for.
Let us decide TODAY that we will create for ourselves a stream of income that no man can control. Let us examine our skill set for a talent that is valuable to others. Let’s put a price tag on that talent and work to promote ourselves. Any woman can become an entrepreneur, especially one who cares about being able to raise her voice when she wants to.
Previous Post
Next Post
Erika, I do not believe that the mistrial “…represents the lack of respect for women…” Our present system requires the prosecution to show guilt “BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.” There was simply not enough evidence and there was conflicting statements by the defendant. Keep in mind that this trial was only about her experience. I am willing to bet that it did in fact happen and I feel for her too, but we can not convict someone without proper evidence, even if we are 100% sure that it is true. We have convicted and executed many innocent men in the past and I can not imagine what was going through their heads when they were led to their executions.
There have been female predators who never really served anytime for raping kids. When a man rapes a woman or girl it’s called “rape.” When a woman rapes her male students it’s called, “a sexual relationship with a minor.” There is not much justice for young males and female predators.
When you look at rape statistics that do not reflect rapes in prisons. If we counted those rapes we would have more male rape victims than women. Why do we not count them? Because we blame the male victims because that put themselves in that position by committing other crimes. Women also have no sympathy for male rape victims. Why? Because women want a monopoly on being the victim.
Look at domestic violence. When you see the number of female victims of domestic violence they are missing something: Who was the perpetrator? Females beat each other up all the time. Let’s look at all the possible combinations:
1) Mom on daughter
2) Daughter on mom
3) Granddaughter on grandmother
4) Grandmother on granddaughter
5) female lover on female lover
6) female roommate on female roommate
7) female neighbor on female neighbor
8) female friend on female friend
Women abuse men too, but no one seems to care. I am divorced and my exwife was physically abusive 4 times and yet the courts gave her primary residence for our child. Male victims of domestic violence are not respected. Why? Because women want a monopoly on being the victim.
Look at how many women commit child abuse. Look at how many women give birth to babies addicted to opiates, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine,…etc. Look at how many women have abortions, give babies up for adoption, or just leave them at a church or elsewhere. This may be their right to do so but conceiving a child and then deciding they didn’t want it is irresponsible and shows a lack of self control. I am not dismissing dad’s part at all but women are responsible for their body so that requires responsibility. Men do not get the options to throw away kids like women do. They sometimes walk away from their responsibility but nobody has a problem with condemning them.
I know that I have gotten off track a little but my purpose was to illustrate that their is not a lack of respect for women. Women themselves have shown a lack of respect for men and children.
Back to Cosby:
I know these women were afraid to come forward and they had good reason to be, but if the first 2 or 3 had come forward immediately it may at least given him a scare and slow him down. Instead they all stayed quiet and enabled him to continue unchecked. Fear is something that we all live with and I want to review women’s history for a moment:
Harriet Tubman- I can not imagine the fear that ran through her mind when she ran away to freedom. I have even a harder time imagining her courage to comeback and help others. What if she had been too afraid to do that?
Helen Keller-I can not imagine the fear that ran through her head when she had to wake up to a world that she could not see, hear, nor communicate with. I also have even a harder time comprehending the courage it took to face these challenges and to go on to teach others.
There are other women too, Erika, who chose to face their fears and do what they had to do instead of using the excuse, “I was afraid….” We are all afraid that’s is part of life.
My last point is simple:
Bill Cosby has already lived longer than the average male. How many more years does he have? We do not know but we do know that it is not many. These women came forward wanting “justice.” If he was convicted of every rape and was given 10 years for each rape that would mean over 100 years in prison. He would likely only spend 10 in prison. How is that justice? I do not understand why, if these women wanted “justice” why they waited until he was almost dead anyway. The only possible “justice” would be money. They wanted restitution, financial restitution.
Anyway, regardless of fear we all owe to ourselves and others to come forward to stop these people and not enable them to continue. Remember the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:
” History will have to record that the greatest tradedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people but the appalling silence of the good people.”
Fantastic Tron!