'The system is backing us up at last': Bill Cosby sexual assault trial delivers 'Me Too' movement's first courtroom victory

The guilty verdict in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial was an official victory for Andrea Constand, the former basketball player who has accused the famed comedian of sexual assault for more than a decade. But for many of the women gathered at the Pennsylvania courthouse to watch the trial unfold, it was a victory for a larger movement, as well.

“I think [the verdict] will say to all women – not just Cosby survivors, but other victims – that the criminal justice system is working,” said Victoria Valentino, one of the more than 50 other women who have claimed Cosby assaulted them. “I think that we’ll understand that we have the system backing us up at last.”

Cosby was the first celebrity to stand trial for sexual assault since the start of #MeToo – a social media hashtag that morphed into a social movement. Using the hashtag, women described their experiences of being sexually harassed and assaulted – often by famous or powerful men like Cosby.

The outpouring of stories resulted in major cultural changes: Several high-profile figures lost their jobs, legislators proposed new anti-harassment laws, and sexual misconduct became a mainstay topic on front pages and at dinner tables.

But before Cosby’s trial, no one had tested whether the Me Too momentum could extend to the courtroom.

The case revolved around allegations that Cosby drugged and assaulted Ms Constand at his Pennsylvania home in 2004. Ms Constand said Cosby – a powerful alumnus of the university where she worked at the time – invited her over one night to discuss career opportunities.

Once there, she said he supplied her with wine and "herbal" pills. The pills, which Cosby has since claimed were Benadryl, left her incapacitated and unable to consent when he began groping and penetrating her.

The case originally went to trial last year, before the Me Too movement began, but ended in a mistrial when the jury could not reach a verdict.

This time around, the prosecution took a page out of the movement’s playbook, supporting Ms Constand’s allegations with the stories of other women who said they, too, were assaulted by Cosby. In total, five other women testified at the trial, telling the jury Cosby had plied them with drugs and alcohol before sexually assaulting them.

Ms Valentino said she felt this was emblematic of the movement as a whole – what she called a “big support group" of people who had started to make their allegations public.

“I think that was an important part of [the Cosby accusers] speaking out in the beginning, because we gave other women information on speaking out,” she added. “And now look at this tsunami of energy and movements of women saying: ‘Hey, we’ve had enough.’”

Cosby’s defence team, however, had a different view of the movement. Attorney Kathleen Bliss criticised #MeToo as a form of “mob rule,” which she said relied on emotions instead of evidence.

"Questioning an accuser is not shaming a victim. Gut feelings are not rational decisions,” she told the courtroom in her closing statement, in which she compared the movement to witch hunts, lynching, and McCarthyism.

The defence team also attacked the character of the women who testified, calling Ms Constand a “pathological liar” and saying the other accusers were only looking for fame or money.

Ms Valentino admitted that watching the court proceedings was difficult. But she and other supporters of Ms Constand said they felt the process was worth it.

Shari Botwin, a therapist who attended the trial alongside several of Cosby’s accusers, wrote an editorial about the case last year. Afterward, she heard from dozens of women and men as old as 60, who said they had been sexually assaulted, too. They said they were too afraid to speak out before this trial.

The case, Ms Botwin said, challenged a lot of stereotypes about sexual assault: That victims had to say no, that assailants had to be a stranger, and that no one would believe survivors.

“Ever since this story broke in 2016, I feel like what has been happening is more women and men are starting to feel like, ‘If I came forward, someone actually will believe me’,” Ms Botwin said.

She added: “When I think of the long-term [effects] and all of the attention that this topic has been given, and the movements that have followed.. I think the verdict itself doesn’t mean that much.”