Of all New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's responses to investigative findings that he sexually harassed 11 women, one that most disturbed many women -- particularly sexual assault survivors and their advocates -- was his use of a family member's sexual assault to explain his own behavior with an accuser.
NEW YORK -- He said his actions had been misconstrued, his words misunderstood. He said it was cultural: He hugs, he kisses, he says "Ciao, bella." He said it was generational: Sometimes he lapses into "honey" or "sweetheart" or tells bad jokes.
"In these moments, survivor's stories are the ones that should be elevated," Burke said. "There are 11 women, whose stories were corroborated, who experienced harassment at the hands of the governor. His family's story does not exonerate him, and he does not get to use someone else's trauma as his own shield."
Elaborating Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Bennett said: "He insinuated that survivors of trauma and sexual assault can't tell the difference between mentorship and leadership and sexual harassment itself, which is not only insulting to me but to every survivor who listened to him yesterday."
"We often draw on a set of longstanding misconceptions about abusers as `monsters' with no redeeming qualities whatsoever," Tuerkheimer said. "Whenever an accused man looks different from this imagined monster, we're more inclined to doubt the allegations against him. And accused men often strategically tap into this cultural bias by highlighting, as evidence of innocence, their best qualities -- including, perhaps, empathy for victims of sexual assault.
"I do kiss people on the forehead," he said. "I do kiss people on the cheek. I do kiss people on the hand. I do embrace people. I do on occasion say, `Ciao, bella."'
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