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    HippieQueen420Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 9:20pm

    A serious question: how do you trust again after this happens to you?

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      Beet ArthurHippieQueen420
      7/26/15 9:24pm

      I can’t speak for others, but in my heart I truly think most people in the world are good. If monsters were ‘normal’, none of us would leave the house.

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      LOREM IPSUMHippieQueen420
      7/26/15 9:32pm

      For me personally, it took years for me to trust anyone that wasn’t close family. My parents, my brothers, my Busia and step-grandfather, a couple of aunts and cousins- they were the only people I ever felt safe around. Years and years of therapy has gotten me to be able to trust others, though that circle is very tiny and I still give people the side eye for a long time after I meet them.

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    themudlarkJulianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 9:18pm

    It’s amazing how many trolls online will say, “where’s the proof that this happened?” Here is your proof. No more anonymity, all guts. I applaud them.

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      LOREM IPSUMthemudlark
      7/26/15 9:29pm

      It does take a lot of guts. But then the trolls will say “they’re doing it for money/attention, and this is proof!” Sigh. As a survivor of sexual abuse/rape myself, it amazes me the kinds of mental gymnastics people will go through to discredit victims.

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      thebadseedthemudlark
      7/26/15 9:30pm

      But this isnt proof to them. They want hard evidence. Seejng these women arent going to change any of those people’s minds.

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    KaeteJulianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 9:18pm

    I love the open chair at the end of the line. It’s silently implying so many things. Because you KNOW there are more out there. And more women that will be raped by others. It's almost an open invitation to other victims to feel like they could step up and join those women who were able to come forward.

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      FacelessOldWomanKaete
      7/26/15 9:37pm

      I got choked up seeing that. It’s such a sad and powerful image.

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      SuarezHambriento2Kaete
      7/26/15 9:46pm

      Well said. Quite powerful. Admire their strength.

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    lisaroweJulianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 9:43pm

    THIS IS A BADASS COVER.
    FUCK THAT WANKSTAIN.

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      PBandBananaSammichlisarowe
      7/26/15 9:49pm

      ::: All My Stars To You :::

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    chrleJulianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 9:47pm

    So basically, he victimized enough women to almost provide a decent sample size to do a proper study on the effects of rape.

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      radradplaidchrle
      7/26/15 10:02pm

      I was just thinking, “Can’t they form a class action?”

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      LaZodiacchrle
      7/27/15 12:15am

      I don’t know why but I had the grimest laughing fit at this. It’s like...he really did didn’t he. He genuinely raped enough people to be a scientific study.

      I seriously hope he just breaks and admits it. Bald faced, 100%, listing every single woman he remembers actually raping, crystal clear, on national TV.

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    Darth Meow 504Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/27/15 1:09am

    Accusations are not proof. Did the Salem Witch Trials teach us nothing? Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, period. I believe nothing, one way OR the other, until there has been a due process of law.

    I DO NOT KNOW what happened or if Cosby is guilty or innocent. I’m not a lawyer, or a judge, qa member of a jury, or a police officer, so really I have no business speculating or making any judgement in the case. That’s for the courts to decide. Absent a court determination, all of this is nothing but a witch hunt.

    Honestly, am I the only one not frightened by the ability the media has to try people in the kangaroo court of public opinion? That if enough people say something happened that is horrible enough, no one will dare to question or demand proof or legal action? I don’t think it’s at all too much to ask that if these women insist this happened, they should have to file charges and prove their claims in a court of law. It’s astonishing to me that people can line up behind these people who make a public claim and yet refused and continue to refuse to initiate court proceedings where their claims can be proven true or false. Again, what part of “due process of law” do people not understand?

    All citizens have a right to face their accusers in a court of law and put their claims to the test of legal due process. Abandoning it for the mob justice that is trial by media is nothing short of terrifying in its implications. Have we learned nothing?

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      David Bowie's Grey PantsDarth Meow 504
      7/27/15 2:34am

      You sound butthurt.

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      Darth Meow 504David Bowie's Grey Pants
      7/27/15 2:55am

      Let me get this straight: I’m concerned over the concept that a citizen can be judged guilty by the media and the general public without that citizen ever getting due process of law, and you describe that as “butthurt”? I’m not sure how that even remotely applies. Do you understand why the due process clause exists? Do you understand why we have a presumption of innocent until proven guilty in a court of law? Those protections exist for very good reason, and when they’re abandoned the result is never pretty.

      Those making accusations should have to prove their allegations in the neutral setting of a court of law, where evidence must be presented and there are standards and procedures to determine fact from falsehood. This is not a radical idea, it is in fact the very basis of our criminal justice system. And if you were ever under accusation, you’d be very glad of that mechanism so that you could face your accusers in court rather than be smeared or punished without the claims against you ever needing to be proven.

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    goaskallisJulianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 11:15pm

    Another serious question:

    I was raped and feel like it did not cause trust issues or permanent trauma. Am I crazy? It’s been 4 years and I expected it would take a while to settle in my mind. I don’t understand. I feel like something is missing that I’m not angry and never wished to press charges. More power to these women. I wish they were referred to as Cosby’s victims rather than accusers.

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      Rancorrgoaskallis
      7/26/15 11:20pm

      Journalism standards prevent them using that term quite so cavalierly.

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      lilisobigoaskallis
      7/26/15 11:54pm

      No. Nothing about your reaction to your experience is crazy. Everyone’s different.

      Have you ever participated in any kind of therapy regarding the rape? I obviously don’t know you or your experience, but it’s possible that, if you haven’t already gotten therapy, you might need some guidance in exploring what happened to you. And you might get into therapy to find that you actually don’t carry any permanent psychic damage from the rape - who knows?

      My experience might differ from yours, but for me: I experienced abuse as a child, but never sought therapy for it as an adult, because I felt similarly - I never felt angry or broken from it, so I figured I was fine. Then I was raped as an adult, and everything practically EXPLODED for me - every reaction I’d unknowingly suppressed from childhood along with my reactions to the rape. I just needed some guidance to help me feel what I needed to feel.

      tl/dr: Therapy. :) If you’ve already done it, maybe try some more - if nothing else, to help settle this uncertainty for you.

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    imaletyoufinishbutJulianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 9:18pm

    How powerful is that image of the empty chair. Even with the staggering number of woman who have come forward we will never really know how many women he attacked, how many are suffering. I just feel so angry

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      rMadrazoimaletyoufinishbut
      7/27/15 12:44am

      I agree, that final empty chair is a powerful image. Because precisely, as someone said, it is so wide open to interpretation. I have read yours and I agree and feel them as well, but in my mind, the first impression I had was that it was Cosby’s chair. The one he’s never sat down to, never faced these women, never been accountable, always denying and lawyering up and settling out of court. To me, that was my first impression of the empty chair. The rapist’s refusal to acknowledge this ever even happened.

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      Kris1721imaletyoufinishbut
      7/27/15 12:31pm

      I feel the same way. Looking at that cover makes me so angry. Angry that Bill Cosby is such a monster and horribly victimized so many innocent women and girls - he the so-called family man who has four daughters; angry at the way he treated these women - even beyond the rapes - he spoke to them like they were nothing and promised them no one would believe them; angry that he was right and the few who tried to speak out - found no audience to listen or real help of any kind; angry that Bill Cosby has not and will not spend ONE day in prison for being a serial rapist; angry at his ongoing defiant attitude and denials; angry that since these women started speaking out so many have called them liars; angry that so many continue to do so.

      I also love the picture because I love the women for speaking out and agreeing to be part of such a powerful image. They are a true inspiration to me.

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    lilisobiJulianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 9:30pm

    This made me burst into tears. Seeing them all in one space...

    Fuck him.

    Just fuck him.

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      Vulcan Has No Moonlilisobi
      7/26/15 9:45pm

      Not all of them by a long shot. Just the ones who he couldn’t threaten into silence. I’m sure Cosby’s actual number of victims is probably in the 100’s. He’s likely been doing this since he was a teenager. He’s 78, that’s 60+ years of victimizing.

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      lilisobiVulcan Has No Moon
      7/26/15 9:48pm

      Yes, as the empty chair illustrates. It’s momentarily overwhelming to see so many of them in one place. As it should be.

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    Beet ArthurJulianne Escobedo Shepherd
    7/26/15 9:14pm

    Wow. Kudos to these ladies for doing this. And to the photographer and editor for making such a dynamic statement. Seeing all of them lined up together - this is amazing.

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      radradplaidBeet Arthur
      7/26/15 9:52pm

      My hope is that this will become one of the most iconic magazine covers of all time. Because it is.

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