On the first day of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the New York Times released a bombshell report about Fox News spending millions of dollars to protect Bill O'Reilly from multiple sexual harassment claims—by any means necessary.
Nothing was too low for Fox News—if it meant protecting one of their biggest icons, even if meant digging up dirt on his victims and selling information to the tabloids.
Going for the whole “but she’s a slut!” defense is a classic ploy that rapists and other sexual abusers love to use. Someone’s sexual history has no bearing on whether they were harassed or not (rape shield laws, which bar any testimony about a victim’s sexual history from trial, exist for a reason). Unfortunately, we still live in a world where slut-shaming is an effective defense.
What is it with conservatives and sexual violence?