>Hmmm, I dunno. I think media looked the other way alot more
>back then... hell, even 20 years ago. Media likely knew he was
>out, partying, and just didn't report it out of professional
>courtesy.

A messy "affair"--a SERIES of messy "affairs" with accusations of rape/assault was another thing altogether.

In the 1960s and 70s? This was the era of Soul On Ice... Dutchman... you know what hot-button issue the rape of white women by black males was?

None of this to meant to suggest that it didn't happen... I'm just saying that this particular explanation I've heard offered again and again (and not even so much from the women themselves as from others trying to explain it) "Who would believe them because Bill Cosby was America's dad... He was so powerful... The cops would not have charged him"

That particular narrative seems inconsistent with reality. He was not yet America's dad and he was not yet that powerful. And black stars of his caliber caught cases... Flip Wilson... Redd Foxx etc.

I mean, in the case of someone like Joan Tarshis, who was a comedy writer, I can see how she might fret that attacking Cosby could possibly wreck her career. I can see that for a few of the women who were showbiz aspirants.

But the notion that the cops or the courts would not touch him? Nah...

>People struggle with pressing charges NOW and the system is
>much more sensitive to this kind of thing now than it was in
>the past.

I know. Which is why I said I'm sure they had their (very real) reasons.