the feminist librarian reads

In almost all the reported cases, these were young people being violated by someone impossibly famous, powerful, and older than they were. These assaults all took place during nights that began with overtures of friendship and collaboration and aid. The nature of rape culture is that other forces beyond clamped hands keep victims’ mouths silent, most of them forces of power that feed into widespread cultural assumptions. To wit: if it took over a decade for the stories of the initial 12 accusers, who filed a joint lawsuit, to truly be taken seriously by the public, how seriously would a single accusation here and there, in the ’60s and ’70s, have been taken by anyone?