Of course, we’ll never know exactly who knew what, but it is entirely unlikely that a rape survivor would be procuring young women for a powerful man. A part of the known dynamics of the dominance hierarchy is that those with greater power are nearly always believed over those who have less. We also find it difficult to believe that people we know and like could do terrible things (see Kobe Bryant and Bill Cosby as examples) and we have a very victim-blaming culture that says that if something bad did happen, the victim must have brought it on herself somehow. Combine those things with a culture that says this is just kind of how it is in this world (which is the culture in many industries, to be honest) and you’ve got a recipe for this type of abuse at the hands of a powerful man at the top of the dominance hierarchy, which has been reported in many instances to be vicious and violent as well as entitled.

It took 60 women willing to come forward and accuse Cosby before he was brought down, so I think that’s a pretty clear snapshot of the dynamics in play with these kinds of well-known and powerful men, as well as what kinds of enabling takes place for them, mostly by turning a blind eye.