Alot of the stories go like this:

I was out with BC, he gave me a pill or something to drink. I felt wasted. Next thing I woke up with my clothes undone and it was clear that sex occurred. I had no memory of what transpired.

Is that rape? Of course the understandable reflexive answer is yes. However, from a legal perspective there are a couple of considerations that could change everything.

For example, did you knowingly ingest drugs/alcohol? If the drugs/alcohol were giving to you without your knowledge, yes definitely rape. If you knowingly took drugs or alcohol and became wasted because of it than the fact you were under the influence is not dispositive of you being raped.

Then there is the "next thing I remember, I was undressed". That could mean two things. 1.) I was unconscious or 2.) I was drunk/high and I don't remember. Whether it was the former or the latter greatly changes things.

All that to say two very different stories can come from that fact pattern.

1.) A woman takes drugs with Bill Cosby, she gets really drunk and consents to sex while drunk, she wakes up not remembering what occurred the night before.

compare that to

2.) A woman was hanging out with Bill Cosby. He slipped drugs into her drink without her knowledge. She passes out and he had his way with her.

Both stories are reprehensible but if both of those stories were verified one would lead to a person being legally guilty of rape and the other wouldn't.

The problem with rape cases is that they are so fact intensive and you have to ask alot of uncomfortable questions to figure out what happened and no one really wants to do that to someone who may have been the victim of rape.



I think I am about done on this topic for now.

I understand that some folks can't rationally discuss this without getting upset and start ad hominem attacks. And I am aware as a man I am alot more dispassoinate about the subject than a woman or a person who has someone close to them who has been the victim of rape. But do Folks really have to believe you have to be a terrible person and hate women if you disagree with them on this topic? If we can't openly discuss I don't see how you raise awareness.



I get it. It's an emotional topic. I am just trying to make the unpopular point that the law should be rational, dispassionate and fair because rape is such a serious crime and shouldn't be watered down to include stuff like economic coercions and other manipulative but none physically threatening behavior.

And for the record I do believe that BC probably committed some of the sexual assaults he is being accused of (it's hard to have this many claims if you weren't doing something wrong).


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