Former federal prosecutor and current child protection advocate Francey Hakes comments on the allegations of sexual misconduct against Woody Allen and Bill Cosby and discusses the reasons she believes there can be a double standard in public opinion of the accusations.
When Hakes is asked about the perception that Woody Allen seems to be getting a free pass by Hollywood and keeps pushing forward with his career despite allegations of child molestation - which he has denied - compared to the recent accusations of rape by multiple women against Bill Cosby, who has made major television properties canceled since the claims recently surfaced.
“I think fundamentally, it really boils down to the fact that many people in our society have a difficult time believing that anyone is sexually attracted to children,” Hakes said, adding that experts believe about 3 percent of the population are pedophiles. “So most of us can’t understand it, we simply cannot understand being sexually attracted to a child, abusing a child, or hurting a child in any way,” she said.
She added that this reluctance to believe the possibility that adults could perpetrate such acts on children – coupled with the fact that Woody Allen has enjoyed award-winning success in his career – makes people disbelieve the allegations against him.
“Whereas you take someone like Bill Cosby, who is mostly accused of sexually assaulting adult women. And there’s such a pattern that’s emerged over such a long period of time, that I think people think gosh, this is just overwhelming now, the sheer number of women who’ve come forward surely mean it must be true.”
Watch the full episode to also hear Hakes iscusses the case of child predator Kelly Farley – a father of five with a pregnant wife who ended up being caught in a sting operation while attempting to travel out of state to meet a child who was under 11 years old.
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