IT WILL NEVER BE SAFE

It will never be safe for a woman to go into a hotel room with a strange man.* It is even more unsafe to take a drink or a pill from a stranger. Just because you know a person's TV character, does not mean you know the actor.

If Bill Cosby had been a rock star, we would all be yawning over the stories of drugs and hotel rooms. For me Bill will always be a cool spy, as I do not watch sitcoms.

If you are so stupid as to go into a stranger's hotel room and take a strange drug, then you need to report the result RIGHT AWAY. Modern drugs leave the system really quickly.

I understand how upset people get when their heroes are not perfect. My hero is Thomas Jefferson, who wrote those famous words about all men being created equal. Did you know that he had an affair with a female slave? The affair started when the slave was 16, and continued though 6 kids. For me, the worst of it was that he did not even free his children when he died.

What kind of man believes in freedom, but allows his own children to live in slavery?

Jefferson is still my hero, because of the words that he wrote. But I never forget that, for Jefferson, the words that he wrote did not include me.

I do NOT like trial by internet. It is clear that Bill Cosby, along with thousands of other actors, athletes and rock stars, took advantage of his popularity to have sex with young women. I find that reprehensible.

Too many men think that women are put on this earth to provide pleasure and babies to men. But the subtext of all of the complaining about Bill Cosby is that women should be safe when they go into hotel rooms with strange men.

The law has a rule of implied consent. If a woman goes into a man's hotel room, she should still be able to say NO to sex. But the law may be unable to punish the man unless there is clear evidence of lack of consent.

LISTEN TO COSBY'S WOMEN. The momentary pleasure of intimacy with a famous person may not last when you discover that the famous person does not see YOU as a person.

* Hotel employees must also be careful. They should let people know when they intend to go to a room with a person inside the room.