The sentence of Bill Cosby, the statement of Andrea Constand, and the following

These family members, instead of the many women who were not allowed to share their own statements when sentencing, also expressed themselves: those gathered in the courtroom and those who were looked elsewhere. The Constands, at the hearing, spoke of trauma that persist. They talked about lives whose paths were irrevocably changed during an evening. They talked about stories that refuse to be concluded by an orderly end.

Gianna Constand, Andrea's mother, apparently her daughter's sexual assault as a "nightmare" she had experienced, after learning the abuse, as a mother; she also stated that vicarious vicarious behavior led her to develop emotional as well as physical conditions.

Andrew Constand, Andrea's father, explained to the court how, after discovering what had happened to his daughter, he had started asking Ativan to sleep: "Today, I am taking double the drugs, "he added. "The thought of what happened to my daughter will be with me forever, like a dark cloud hanging over my head."

Diane Parsons, Andrea's sister, reportedly m said when people ask her how Andrea is doing, "I always say, 'She's fine, thank you. But: "I wonder how she is really going," she added, referring to the assassination attempts that so often accompany the allegations of sexual violence by a woman. "How can she be called a pathological liar, be called a scammer, an addict?"

Americans have a habit of hearing and telling stories that revolve around the interests of powerful men. Talented men. Men of industry. We are conditioned to gravitate around narratives of their struggles and their resilience and their kindness and their madness and their genius. We were trained from birth – the Supreme Court confirmation process that coincided with Cosby's conviction this week served as an extra reminder – to see men as centers of our stories. Bill Cosby has, of course, been for a very long time one of those myths. He benefited from the familiar centrifugal forces. His condemnation, however, suggested the emergence of a new type of story: one that focuses on women. The one who finally cares about their perspective, their experiences, their lives.

Justice O'Neill did not allow other victims to speak; in this he prevented a repetition of what happened when Larry Nassar's victims spoke to him and to the network of people who had allowed him to, share their rage and betrayal and, in their own words, their stories. In their place, however, the Constands spoke. The Constands shared their anger. And the gendarmes reminded those in the audience room and those who were watching from afar that even the stories that end have a way to go on. "The victims can not be unsheathed," said Gianna Constand. "All we can do is hold the authors accountable."