Episode 16: Believe Women

Why is it, when a man is trailed by rumours of sexual harassment and assault, or their behaviour reaches the level of a "despicable open secret," we are so quick to dismiss women and protect men?  This episode explores some of the reasons why women aren't believed and why it takes upwards of 10, 20, 60 women to come forward before an accusation is taken seriously, or 50+ UK MPs to be currently under investigation for sexual misconduct before we believe there might be a systemic problem.  We look to the likes of Johnson, Trump, Weinstein, Cosby, R. Kelly and Saville to show how accusations against some of the most powerful men in the world are dubbed as 'piffle', 'conspiracy theories' or just another excuse for a dumb gold digger to make a quick buck.  This week's SWDYS is a sobering experience from one of the panellists.   *****  Helpful links:   https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/creating-an-offence-of-public-sexual-harassment/public-sexual-harassment-consultation https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories  https://www.npr.org/2020/01/22/798222176/the-harvey-weinstein-trial-a-brief-timeline-of-how-we-got-here?t=1661807267895 https://www.axios.com/2017/12/15/the-hints-of-weinsteins-behavior-that-went-ignored-1513306130 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/business/weinstein-company.html https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/apr/01/bill-oreilly-fox-news-sexual-harassment-settlements https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/13/bill-cosby-raped-me-why-did-it-take-30-years-for-people-to-believe-my-story/ https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/4/20852639/me-too-movement-sexual-harassment-law-2019 https://www.vox.com/2015/7/26/9044867/bill-cosby-new-york-magazine https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-bill-cosby-timeline-htmlstory.html  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/05/03/camille-cosby-in-the-case-of-bill-cosby-unproven-accusations-evolved-into-lynch-mobs/  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/08/jeffrey-epstein-sex-abuse-allegations-started-2005-explained https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/13/list-of-donald-trump-sexual-misconduct-allegations https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-trump-sexual-misconduct-list-2017-12?r=US&IR=T#ivana-trump-2 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/29/no-10-denies-claims-boris-johnson-squeezed-thigh-journalist-charlotte-edwardes https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/28/is-there-no-end-to-tory-mps-sexual-misconduct https://gen.medium.com/why-dont-good-men-believe-women-23be0ce607c9 https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/a33497652/why-do-we-believe-some-women-and-not-others/ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/opinion/metoo-sexual-harassment-believe-women.html