A staggering 68 percent of sexual assaults are never reported to the police, according to the Justice Department. So the fact that 35 of the 46 women who've accused Bill Cosby of forcing himself on them agreed to tell their uncensored stories to New York magazine for its latest issue—and to show their faces on the cover—is pretty huge.
New York spent six months reaching out to all of the women who have publicly accused the actor/comedian of assaulting them (at the time they started reporting, there were only 30 women who had done so). "The group, at present, ranges in age from the early twenties to 80 and includes supermodels Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson alongside waitresses and Playboy bunnies and journalists and a host of women who formerly worked in show business," writer Noreen Malone says in the article. The stories the affected women have shared are unilaterally disturbing. Here's an example of one (the emphasis is New York's, not ours):
"I was introduced to Bill Cosby through my modeling agent. She said that Cosby wanted to see me. Which I thought was obviously for the show. I was told there was going to be a dinner, and when I got there, no one ever arrived. He asked me if I wanted a glass of wine; I took a few sips. It had a horrible taste. And I started not feeling well. He helped me up by my underarms with both hands. He walked me into the next room, where there was a mirror on the wall, and he told me to look at myself. Something was wrong with me. And then he took my right hand, and he put it behind my back. I remember seeing semen on the floor. And I felt some liquid on my hand. That was when I knew something sexual was going on." —Jewel Allison
Another woman recounted Cosby pulling out a "script" for her to read in which her character was inebriated in a bar—and said he then pressured her to drink wine as a "prop."
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The accusations are nothing new, of course. As the article recounts, the first came in 2005, when former basketball player Andrea Constand told authorities that Cosby had drugged and then fingered her. Since then, dozens of women have come forward with similar allegations. What is new, however, is a major media outlet giving these women's stories such prominent coverage—even though they threaten the image of the legendary comedian.
Cosby admitted during a deposition years ago, which was released to the public last week, to giving some women the drug Quaaludes prior to having sex with them. "I used them the same way a person would say, 'Have a drink,'" he said.
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We're thrilled to see the world finally taking these women's accusations seriously—and hope that the courts trying Bill Cosby will do the same. To learn more about the stories of the women interviewed by New York (they're definitely worth a full read), check out the article.
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