WASHINGTON (CBS DC)– New York Magazine released a powerful cover Sunday featuring portraits of thirty-five women who have accused Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting or drugging them.
CBS News reports the women were photographed and interviewed by the magazine. The diverse group of women range from their 20s to 80s and include journalists, models, and waitresses, among others.
“One by one, they came forward, finding safety in their staggering number and a world that was finally ready to believe them,” the magazine writes.
The online edition includes portraits and personal accounts from several of the alleged victims.
“The group of women Cosby allegedly assaulted functions almost as a longitudinal study,” the magazine explains, as reported by CBS News, “both for how an individual woman, on her own, deals with such trauma over the decades and for how the culture at large has grappled with rape over the same time period… In the ’60s, when the first alleged assault by Cosby occurred, rape was considered to be something violent committed by a stranger…But among younger women, and particularly online, there is a strong sense now that speaking up is the only thing to do, that a woman claiming her own victimhood is more powerful than any other weapon in the fight against rape.”
35 women speak about being assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the culture that wouldn’t listen: http://t.co/H5dss5F2F4 pic.twitter.com/RCF0BWBrxA
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) July 27, 2015
Cosby has maintained his innocence and denied any wrongdoing.
The comedian’s career has been under fire as more allegations surface, with “The Cosby Show” reruns getting pulled, a cancelled upcoming sitcom, and advocacy groups calling for his Presidential Medal of Freedom to be revoked.
