[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

The law in this country is that you are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

"no smoke without fire" does not come into a court of law and is the language of the mob

When accusations are spread around in the press, it does cloud things somewhat. If say, 10 seemingly unrelated women said the same thing, randomly, about the same man that is a bit damining. However, if one does, then the press spread it around, and then others say it..it..is slightly different.

Dont get me wrong, I know how rare false accusations are. But I do acknowledge that when it comes to high profile men, lots of press, the possibility of compensation..it can encourage chancers. And then people can assume guilt simply because there are a lot of accusations also. Bad bad combo really.

I still do think a lot (again, not all) of these older guys probably did behave innapropriately towards women at some stage though. I mean, guys today do it all the time. Not all of them, but enough. And it was all way more acceptable then too..almost 'normal'. No I am not including rape in behaving dodgily..but 'sexual assault' covers a LOT of ground, patting women on the bum, and stuff included.