Whither #MeToo? Chilling effect of Cosby reversal feared

When Indira Henard, director of the DC Rape Crisis Center, received the text message Wednesday, she thought she wasn’t reading her phone correctly. “It’s a deeply painful moment — not just for survivors in the Cosby case who came forward at great personal risk, but for all survivors.” ___ This story includes discussion of sexual assault. It only makes sense to put yourself through that if you believe that at the end, there’s a reasonable chance of getting justice.” He said RAINN would try to educate people that “the issue that let Bill Cosby out is not an issue that comes up in a normal case.” That’s the point that Lisa Banks — one of the nation’s most prominent attorneys in #MeToo issues with her partner, Debra Katz — sought to drive home. The issue of the non-prosecution agreement was, Hill said in an interview, ”revealing in how hard it is for women to actively prove to prosecutors their claims should be heard in court by a jury.” She also found it troubling that the court had left open the question of whether the prosecution’s use of five additional accusers was improper, as Cosby had argued, “creating this other uncertainty.” “Uncertainty: that’s the thing that keeps people from coming forward,” said Hill, who famously came forward herself in 1991 with harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas in his Supreme Court confirmation hearing. But Henard said Wednesday’s court decision, shocking as it was to so many, “in no way diminishes the good work of the #MeToo movement.” “We’ve made great strides in the last few years,” she said.