Photo By: Gilbert Carrasquillo
Bill Cosby may be 81 and blind, and the judicial system may be very corrupt, but this doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a heartless rapist who showed no remorse for his actions. After all the pain and trauma that Cosby inflicted on more than 55 women, the victims can finally feel a little bit of peace knowing he’ll be locked up for the next three to 10 years. It might have taken over four decades and a lot of backlash for these women to receive some justice, but in a society where rape victims, especially women, are constantly shamed and belittled this shouldn’t surprise anyone.
As of Tuesday morning, Cosby will be sitting in prison for drugging and raping Andrea Constand in 2004. The recent news of Cosby’s verdict has caused a lot of mixed emotions and reactions from the public. As I was scrolling through some Instagram comments, I noticed a lot of people were feeling sorry for him. Some still seem him as the father figure from the Cosby Show, some think his age and health conditions aren’t fit for prison, and others are comparing his case to someone like Brock Turner’s, proving how broken our system is. Either way, his judge said, “Mr. Cosby, this has all circled back to you. The day has come, the time has come.”
Despite Cosby admitting to owning drugs to give to the women he wanted to have sex with, there are still people who think he’s innocent. Even more people believe that his accusers are liars because they waited too long, and are only in it for the money. These are probably the same people who think that going against men with money and status like Cosby has is the easiest thing to do. Even women who accuse men with nothing to offer of sexual assault know they’ll be disrespected more than they already have. This is why so many people never say anything about their experiences with sexual assault.
Constand was the first woman who spoke out in time to actually get Cosby on trial. After Constand came forward, so did the rest of the 59 women he allegedly assaulted. Some of these accusations go as far back as 1969, and some of these women were only 15 years old when it happened. I applaud and respect Constand because not only did she have the courage to speak out against a long time actor with so much credibility and fame in the industry, but she gave the rest of the victims confidence to do the same.
The kinds of reactions this incident stirred up serves as a reminder that rape culture is still alive and well, and for some reason people will always find a way to justify rape and feel sorry for a rapist. We’ve progressed in a lot of areas but still live in a society where people are afraid to speak out about being sexually assaulted. Instead of people focusing their energy on why Cosby’s sentence is unjust, they should educate themselves on the traumatic and life long effects sexual assault has on people. Cosby got what he deserved and I hope him and his victims find peace.
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