So, once accused, one can never be exonerated, even if innocent? Because that sure sounds unfair and undefendable.
I wouldn't want to be alone with you either, in that case, and I'd warn other men to do the same, given that they may evidently be accused for... having previously been accused?
I'm the last person to defend anyone who has laid a finger on or harassed anyone without their consent. But I also believe that anyone can accuse anyone of anything, since that's quite literally what rumors are.
The law has strict standards for fairness, for good reason. It excludes things like rumor, for good reason. But when you as a private person are deciding how to act, you make the best decision available to you with the information you have. The information we have is fairly compelling: multiple women have deeply regretted their interactions with him, enough to risk lawsuits to publish their regret publicly. Why interact with him unless absolutely necessary?
Because multiple people accusing a single person does not make them guilty and is not compelling evidence.
Many people accused women in Salem of being witches. Literally zero of them were guilty. But they were made pariahs, ostracized, and then killed, nonetheless.
As a private individual you can do anything you’d like; but that doesn’t mean anything you’d like to do will be fair or right.
People of all genders do this all the time, group up and rat-fuck the reputation of someone they don't like for all sorts of reasons, not all of them particularly good.
Throw in a bit of bandwagoning during the height of #metoo when we decided that having a bad date where the wrong kind of wine was ordered with Asis Ansari or having a jokey boob photo from 30 years ago with Al Franken was somehow worthy of Thou Shalt Never Work Again, and I can totally understand how all this went down.
I wouldn't want to be alone with you either, in that case, and I'd warn other men to do the same, given that they may evidently be accused for... having previously been accused?
I'm the last person to defend anyone who has laid a finger on or harassed anyone without their consent. But I also believe that anyone can accuse anyone of anything, since that's quite literally what rumors are.