I think we talked about a really important topic a couple classes ago in regards to rape and rape victims. It’s important to be cautious when dealing with rape victims and being aware of their feelings and wants when it comes to reporting rape cases. This is something relevant to the recently exploded story in regards to Bill Cosby and his past rape allegations. Cosby has been accused of drugging and then rapping many different women. Several were aspiring actors and The stories didn’t make big news until a fellow male comedian, Hannibal Buress, mentioned the several rape allegations Cosby has against him. Before this blow-up some of the claims were mentioned, however, none of the claims received charges. Until now, these stories haven’t received much attention in the media. They were swept under the rug. 
A lot of what Cosby did was shrugged off for reasons that are unknown. Was it because he was a major father-figure in America and a celebrity and someone that no one wanted to believe was a rapist? Why was it deemed almost acceptable for Cosby to rape these women with no repercussions?
This idea is transferrable to the topic of cads and dads in Taylor’s article. I think it’s pretty clear the Cosby is a dad figure. He was the root of many life lessons for families all over the country that tuned into the Cosby Show. So how can Cosby go from being a dad to a cad so dramatically in the media? Is it possible to be both in this case, being a public dad figure and a private cad figure?
Also, sexual health is discussed in Hust, Brown and L’Engle’s article. They discuss how the old theory of modeling from Albert Bandura is relevant to sexual behaviors as seen int he media. Because of this, can we understand Cosby’s sexual behaviors to be traced back to media content that showed violence? It’s something to look into for further research.
Focusing on the women, how did they become the targets for Cosby. Well, for one they were younger than him, which probably made them more attractive. Second they were inferior to Cosby (being a successful older male actor), making it easy for him to obtain them and take advantage of them. It’s sad this these stories were untold for so long, and no one should have to go through such physical and mental stress over years and years. Some people have argued over Jezebel and other social media sources claiming these women should have come clean sooner and almost blames them for not doing so. What do you guys think about this whole thing? How should it be handled in the future with these kinds of situations?
Hust, S., Brown, J., L’Engle, K. (2008). "Boys will Be Boys and Girls Better Be Prepared: An Analysis of the Rare Sexual Health Messages in Young Adolescents’ Media."
Taylor, L. D. (2008). "Cads, dads, and magazines: Women's sexual preferences and articles."
Interesting post. I think another aspect of this issue that is relevant to talk about is also the way viewers build relationships with characters on television even if it's only through the screen. In another Comm class (comm 490) we were talking about parasocial relationships and interactions and the ways people really build relationships with the people they see on screen and think that's exactly what is going on here. I think it's hard for people to distinguish between Dr. Hugstable and Bill Cosby as a person to where they think that since the character on tv would never be capable of such a thing, neither would Cosby.
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