Of course I believe them, and personally I would never call someone coming forward with an accusation the "alleged" victim because I'm not required to do so. Journalists are.

I think you hit on something there... words are important, but so long as our collective attitude is still one of disbelief and disdain for victims of sexual assault: it won't matter what word we employ, it will be used in a way that discredits or blames the woman.

That's true, "complainant" doesn't currently carry any harmful baggage about women who come forwards... but it also seems a bit.. mild? Like, when I think of the word 'complainant' I think of someone complaining about bad service at a restaurant or something like that. It doesn't seem to convey the seriousness of what…

I can see where you're coming from about the word "victim"... how it's powerless and negative. BUT I also think that in the current victim blaming climate we live in, we have such a hard time seeing women as victims at all ("she was asking for it", "she's no saint", etc.) that I think it could be a helpful term to…

Of course! I had the same reaction when I first read his words.

Yeah, I agree... it's definitely harmful to the public opinion to use "alleged", but it's one of those things where if you're reporting, you have to say that until the case has proven. :/

I'll just copy and paste what I responded to another commenter with the same question...

"Alleged victim". Because she should be considered the victim of sexual assault, while Bill Cosby should not be considered the victim of her accusations.

Stop using the word "accuser". It makes it seem like she is the one acting upon Cosby and putting all the focus on her, when it should be the other way around.

Wow. I live in a little house on an actual prairie in Alberta... and I'm impressed.

Of course you'd assume that I'm a cheerleader.

Well I actually play the sport, I don't sit on my ass watching others play it on TV... unlike most "sports fans".

Wow, this was such a good read. More of this please!!

Except I never said anything about giving it to the owners or the league itself. If you reread my comment you'll see that I mentioned distributing the money between the cities, charities, etc.

Yeah, and I don't pretend to have an action plan on how to enact change... I guess I'm just saying that even though star athletes are making millions, it doesn't mean that it's well deserved or the only way that it can ever be. We CAN work towards creating salary caps for athletes across the board, recognizing as a…

Because nobody is worth that much money. Especially when your job is to put a ball into a basket (and I say this as a longtime basketball loving person). Direct those funds towards the cities they play for, towards charities, towards anything really. The players can still be incredibly well paid without making tens of…

I got ur back.

How about the NBA players get paid as much as the WNBA players then. There's no way anyone is worth 23 million for one season, don't care how good they are.

Now I'm cackling like a loon in my office, I hope you're happy!

I'm so relieved to read all these comments of "omg my husband/ bf too" that you're getting after that comment. It's not just me!