Where silent, we are complicit
Jul. 10th, 2015 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexContent warning: this post is about rape, and rape culture.
https://verdict.justia.com/2015/07/10/troubling-question-how-do-bill-cosbys-attorneys-get-away-with-it
John Dean (yes that John Dean if you are old enough like me to have watched him testify) has a piece up on Justia pointing out that complicity in protecting Bill Cosby from the consequences of his attacks on women extends to the bar association as a whole.
That is, Cosby is entitled to a vigorous and effective legal defense. As a rich man he can afford the best lawyers and unfortunately that already tilts the field well against the women who are trying to get out their truths, their stories, and to get heard.
But Cosby's lawyers have, as Dean illustrates, gone on the attack. They've gone so far as to draw defamation lawsuits and censure from a judge in at least one case we know about. These lawyers have been allowed to get away with this disregard of their codes of conduct by the bar associations they supposedly belong to. They hold their law licenses because no one is willing to step up and censure them for their offenses, despite public documentation.
I call that part of rape culture. The ingrained social attitude that "it's not that serious" and "all part of the job" that Dean highlights - how the legal profession itself (not just an individual lawyer) is protecting a serial rapist - shows that we have a very long way to go.
https://verdict.justia.com/2015/07/10/troubling-question-how-do-bill-cosbys-attorneys-get-away-with-it
John Dean (yes that John Dean if you are old enough like me to have watched him testify) has a piece up on Justia pointing out that complicity in protecting Bill Cosby from the consequences of his attacks on women extends to the bar association as a whole.
That is, Cosby is entitled to a vigorous and effective legal defense. As a rich man he can afford the best lawyers and unfortunately that already tilts the field well against the women who are trying to get out their truths, their stories, and to get heard.
But Cosby's lawyers have, as Dean illustrates, gone on the attack. They've gone so far as to draw defamation lawsuits and censure from a judge in at least one case we know about. These lawyers have been allowed to get away with this disregard of their codes of conduct by the bar associations they supposedly belong to. They hold their law licenses because no one is willing to step up and censure them for their offenses, despite public documentation.
I call that part of rape culture. The ingrained social attitude that "it's not that serious" and "all part of the job" that Dean highlights - how the legal profession itself (not just an individual lawyer) is protecting a serial rapist - shows that we have a very long way to go.
