- Sonali Rashtwar said it was a ‘consensual way’ to ‘get out their knot’
- Controversial comment on We Need to Talk About Bill Cosby on BBC2
A sex therapist has sparked an uproar over a BBC documentary which suggested men who hold superstitious beliefs about sex with unconscious partners may be able to pay women to drug them.
The offensive remarks were made by American therapist Sonali Rashwar during a four-part documentary series about disgraced American star Bill Cosby.
Ms Rashtwar, appearing on the program We Need to Talk About Bill Cosby, claimed that ‘consent’ was a way for these men to commit their ‘felony’.
One viewer labeled the comments as ‘beyond torture’, while another said the comment was a ‘rape apology’.
US sitcom star Cosby, 85, has been the subject of several sexual assault allegations, which became public in 2014. BBC2 aired the opening episode of the documentary series in the US for the first time on Sunday.
Commentary from a sex therapist is in episode 4, available on iPlayer.
Ms Rashtwar told the programme: ‘If we really grapple with the fact that sex negativity is the cause of this type of behaviour, we can create a world where, in a pleasurable sex positive world, no conscious women have to face And able to pay to go. Get drunk so I can take out my kink, my fetish of having sex with unconscious people. There is a consensual way of doing this.
But Ms Rashtwar’s comment, who described herself as a ‘fat sex therapist’, sparked anger from onlookers.
James Esse, co-founder of Thoughtful Therapists, posted the clip on social media saying, ‘I feel sick. This is beyond brutal.
Former Olympic swimmer Sharon Davies wrote on Twitter: “How the BBC (or any credible TV station) is airing this.”
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch UK, said: ‘”Sex negativity causes this behaviour”?!?. This is an apology for rape immediately followed by an advocacy of rape. How did it end up on the BBC?’
Bill Cosby rose to international fame playing Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show, which launched in 1984. In 2018 he was convicted of aggravated indecent assault of Andrea Constand. But later this decision was overturned in 2021.
Last year, the star was found guilty of sexual assault in a civil case dating back to 1975.
The four-part documentary series first aired in the US on Showtime last year.
On her website, Ms Rashtwar describes herself as a ‘clinical social worker’, ‘sex therapist’, ‘public speaker’, ‘community organizer’ and ‘doughnut lover’.