00:10.461 --> 00:12.850
(gentle music)

00:12.850 --> 00:14.490
- Many of your parents
are probably taking you

00:14.490 --> 00:16.960
somewhere really special
for dinner tonight.

00:16.960 --> 00:19.770
(audience laughs)

00:19.770 --> 00:21.533
I heard, I heard, I heard.

00:24.120 --> 00:26.300
I can do a little better than that.

00:26.300 --> 00:27.710
And to the parents, again

00:27.710 --> 00:31.377
I say in faculty, family,
friends, graduates.

00:33.493 --> 00:36.990
(audience cheers)

00:36.990 --> 00:39.570
Let me tell you something about the truth,

00:39.570 --> 00:44.570
the truth exonerates and it convicts.

00:44.810 --> 00:48.770
It disinfects and it galvanizes.

00:48.770 --> 00:53.170
The truth has always
been and will always be

00:53.170 --> 00:55.750
our shield against corruption.

00:55.750 --> 00:58.180
Our shield against greed and despair.

00:58.180 --> 01:02.136
The truth is our saving grace.

01:02.136 --> 01:04.969
(audience cheers)

01:11.212 --> 01:15.880
- I would say about 10
days before the story ran,

01:15.880 --> 01:19.710
we sent USC a letter outlining
our key bullet points

01:19.710 --> 01:21.240
of what the story would show.

01:21.240 --> 01:25.060
USC said, you know, we'll meet with you.

01:25.060 --> 01:28.620
And they scheduled it
for commencement day.

01:28.620 --> 01:31.140
It certainly had the effect of

01:31.140 --> 01:34.020
delaying the story past commencement.

01:34.020 --> 01:37.960
So as Oprah was speaking
to journalism students,

01:37.960 --> 01:39.940
we were in a conference room,

01:39.940 --> 01:44.280
going over the Tyndall story
and pressing the administrators

01:44.280 --> 01:47.500
for some kind of explanation
for how they handled this.

01:50.982 --> 01:54.232
(playful gentle music)

01:55.553 --> 01:59.303
(continuous reporters news )

02:05.358 --> 02:06.620
- In 1989, Dr. George Tyndall

02:06.620 --> 02:08.830
was the only full-time gynecologist.

02:08.830 --> 02:10.440
- Treating thousands of women.

02:10.440 --> 02:12.730
He now stands accused
of sexual harassment,

02:12.730 --> 02:14.350
abuse and assault.

02:14.350 --> 02:17.450
- Women ranging in age from 21 to 53

02:17.450 --> 02:19.810
are telling their
shockingly similar claims

02:19.810 --> 02:22.290
of abuse from a man they trusted

02:22.290 --> 02:24.940
and a place they say that
should have protected them.

02:30.110 --> 02:31.590
- I wanted to come to USC

02:31.590 --> 02:33.270
just because it seemed
like the perfect culture

02:33.270 --> 02:34.210
for me to fit in.

02:34.210 --> 02:35.870
It's just a super fun environment

02:35.870 --> 02:39.130
and, I think I immediately
joined a sorority

02:39.130 --> 02:41.310
so I like extra had fun.

02:41.310 --> 02:42.450
And I was already surrounded by people

02:42.450 --> 02:44.630
that kinda made me feel
safe and comfortable

02:44.630 --> 02:46.730
because you actually have a bit of a home.

02:48.560 --> 02:50.750
Was the spring of my freshman year.

02:50.750 --> 02:53.600
It was January still

02:53.600 --> 02:57.300
and because I'd been raped
over Christmas break,

02:57.300 --> 03:00.720
I had confided in a friend
and he had told me, not even,

03:00.720 --> 03:02.450
I didn't even tell him
everything that had happened

03:02.450 --> 03:05.330
but he was like, oh, you
had a sexual experience,

03:05.330 --> 03:07.130
you have to go get an STD check.

03:07.130 --> 03:09.820
And the only way that
I knew how to get that

03:09.820 --> 03:11.653
was by going to a gynecologist.

03:13.350 --> 03:16.590
When he came in and there
was a chaperone in the back,

03:16.590 --> 03:18.860
and then I was sitting on the table,

03:18.860 --> 03:21.173
then one of the first
things he said, he was like,

03:21.173 --> 03:23.737
have you ever used the stirrups before?

03:23.737 --> 03:25.270
And I was like, yeah, you know

03:25.270 --> 03:28.670
I had a issue, when I was like nine

03:28.670 --> 03:30.170
so I've technically done this

03:30.170 --> 03:32.130
and I was like also I'm more a spec writer

03:32.130 --> 03:34.370
so I've been in stirrups before

03:34.370 --> 03:36.180
like trying to make light of a situation

03:36.180 --> 03:38.230
that I already felt uncomfortable in.

03:38.230 --> 03:41.070
And he goes, so you know how to ride then?

03:41.070 --> 03:45.140
Just like made it a
sexual commentary instead.

03:45.140 --> 03:47.823
I was sitting there and
your legs are up, you know,

03:48.680 --> 03:51.030
and everything else is nude.

03:51.030 --> 03:55.263
He looked inside and then,

03:56.300 --> 03:59.020
he first like kinda
like placed his fingers,

03:59.020 --> 04:00.330
like kind of checks it out

04:00.330 --> 04:03.350
and then he goes, we're
like, you're pretty tight,

04:03.350 --> 04:05.050
we're gonna have to loosen you up.

04:05.050 --> 04:07.090
By which point he started
like massaging my clitoris

04:07.090 --> 04:08.123
with his fingers.

04:09.320 --> 04:12.993
The attempt to make it wider I guess,

04:14.470 --> 04:16.970
and then immediately just
like shoved the steel device

04:16.970 --> 04:19.830
like just metal device whatever,
it's like freezing cold,

04:19.830 --> 04:21.570
like just like up.

04:21.570 --> 04:24.437
So I yelled out in pain and
then the chaperone in the back

04:24.437 --> 04:26.937
was like, I'm uncomfortable
and she left the room.

04:34.520 --> 04:35.870
- I studied English.

04:35.870 --> 04:38.442
I was an English major,
actually an Americanist,

04:38.442 --> 04:42.410
a modernist, that was my favorite period.

04:42.410 --> 04:44.670
But I also studied translation.

04:44.670 --> 04:46.133
I loved being a grad student.

04:49.100 --> 04:52.750
It was the worst experience
with a doctor period.

04:52.750 --> 04:55.640
He commented on a small Rose tattoo

04:55.640 --> 04:58.223
that I have on the inside of my thigh.

04:59.110 --> 05:01.552
And he said in a very sleazy manner,

05:01.552 --> 05:03.923
a picture for me.

05:05.350 --> 05:07.960
The examination itself was very painful.

05:07.960 --> 05:12.960
I mean, he just basically
shoved his, I would say not hand

05:13.290 --> 05:16.330
but probably several of
his fingers inside me

05:16.330 --> 05:20.600
and I remember that I reacted,

05:20.600 --> 05:24.563
I shrieked and he told me
not to make such a fuss.

05:25.450 --> 05:27.810
And so I never wanted to see him again

05:27.810 --> 05:29.320
and I made sure I didn't

05:29.320 --> 05:32.200
and the next gynecologist who was a woman,

05:32.200 --> 05:33.170
I told her

05:34.430 --> 05:38.650
and she was very embarrassed by it.

05:38.650 --> 05:41.800
It seems, she didn't know what to say.

05:41.800 --> 05:42.930
She looked away.

05:42.930 --> 05:45.723
She swallowed, she
didn't say anything else,

05:47.300 --> 05:48.390
but it seemed to me

05:48.390 --> 05:50.590
that it was not the
first time she heard it.

05:56.103 --> 05:58.686
(gentle music)

06:07.562 --> 06:12.562
(continuous women stories)

06:20.312 --> 06:23.200
- It's still a difficult
thing to talk about.

06:23.200 --> 06:24.853
It's still hurting.

06:38.160 --> 06:42.260
I wanted to give the best life
to my daughter that I could

06:42.260 --> 06:45.140
and that meant going to college.

06:45.140 --> 06:48.260
It meant doing what I
could do to better myself

06:49.350 --> 06:53.073
in order to make a better life for her.

06:56.900 --> 07:01.650
He did not give me any
kind of drape to put on.

07:01.650 --> 07:03.710
I just remember being naked on a table

07:03.710 --> 07:07.630
and he was making small talk with me.

07:07.630 --> 07:11.650
He told me that he was doing research

07:11.650 --> 07:15.530
and it was basically how
women's bodies change

07:15.530 --> 07:18.890
when they're pregnant and
then after you have a baby

07:18.890 --> 07:23.413
and he asked if he could
take pictures of me naked.

07:25.700 --> 07:28.820
Other teachers that I had,
I knew they did research

07:30.700 --> 07:34.160
and so I didn't have a
reason not to trust him.

07:34.160 --> 07:36.700
After I left, I remember feeling

07:36.700 --> 07:38.730
like something's kind of off.

07:38.730 --> 07:39.860
The more I thought about it,

07:39.860 --> 07:43.240
I felt really stupid and embarrassed.

07:43.240 --> 07:47.330
And then I thought about
it more and thought,

07:47.330 --> 07:50.810
okay, if I say something
and they're like, you know,

07:50.810 --> 07:54.140
nothing's happened or blaming it on me

07:54.140 --> 07:55.530
you know, will this cause me

07:55.530 --> 07:58.717
to not be able to finish
my college education.

08:20.300 --> 08:23.170
- And once we spoke to Dr.
Tyndall, it just became clear

08:23.170 --> 08:27.730
because he was very almost
proud of his fondness

08:27.730 --> 08:29.890
for his international students.

08:29.890 --> 08:31.290
He had a map of China

08:31.290 --> 08:34.830
and I believe he had studied Mandarin

08:34.830 --> 08:36.560
if I remember correctly.

08:36.560 --> 08:39.960
So he really tried to ingratiate himself

08:39.960 --> 08:42.533
with his international
students from China.

08:45.190 --> 08:48.313
- I was in China in
Wuhan, that's my hometown.

08:49.270 --> 08:51.820
I was in Duke University for undergrad.

08:51.820 --> 08:53.890
We had a program called Duke in LA,

08:53.890 --> 08:57.360
which is where we are allowed
to take classes in USC.

08:57.360 --> 08:59.900
So I was like, that's designed for me,

08:59.900 --> 09:01.363
I'm definitely gonna do it.

09:04.090 --> 09:07.660
The conversations we had were
very uncomfortable for me.

09:07.660 --> 09:11.020
I remember going in to
just do an annual checkup

09:11.020 --> 09:15.130
and then those conversation
would just go on and on

09:15.130 --> 09:18.130
into very personal topic.

09:18.130 --> 09:22.780
He wanted me to do follow up
visits and that's what we did.

09:22.780 --> 09:26.660
And I grew more and more
impatient each time we visit

09:26.660 --> 09:29.300
because I really don't
know why am I sitting here

09:29.300 --> 09:31.703
having these long conversations?

09:32.760 --> 09:34.550
- The vulnerability of
international students

09:34.550 --> 09:39.550
has to go to on some level,
the novice experience,

09:40.070 --> 09:41.410
that's to say the likelihood

09:41.410 --> 09:44.260
that those students were
experiencing a gynecological exam

09:44.260 --> 09:47.160
for the first time and
not knowing what to expect

09:47.160 --> 09:52.160
and not being ready to
object and recognize

09:52.450 --> 09:54.870
what had actually happened to them.

09:54.870 --> 09:56.170
A criminal might think that way.

09:56.170 --> 10:00.330
A criminal might say what's
the least powerful group

10:00.330 --> 10:03.630
that I can go to where I'm
least likely to get caught.

10:03.630 --> 10:06.230
- It's hard to explain to everyone

10:06.230 --> 10:11.230
the level of uncomfortableness
and the severity

10:11.350 --> 10:13.240
of how much you were assaulted.

10:13.240 --> 10:15.400
We're constantly thinking,

10:15.400 --> 10:17.890
maybe I didn't have the worst experience.

10:17.890 --> 10:20.520
Maybe I'm not categorized as a victim.

10:20.520 --> 10:25.350
There's no such thing as who
is the more victimized victim.

10:25.350 --> 10:30.350
- It's really beyond kind of comprehension

10:30.480 --> 10:35.480
for many of us to understand
how it is, that so many people

10:36.480 --> 10:38.940
had some inkling and did nothing.

10:38.940 --> 10:40.810
One person did something.

10:40.810 --> 10:42.550
More than one person,

10:42.550 --> 10:44.947
but one person in
particular did something.

10:55.490 --> 10:58.040
- My connection to the students,

10:58.040 --> 10:59.520
that's really why you're there

10:59.520 --> 11:03.283
and makes you wanna do
everything you can for them.

11:04.130 --> 11:07.230
The complaints that were brought to me

11:07.230 --> 11:12.120
were, consistently,

11:12.120 --> 11:15.650
inappropriate comments,

11:15.650 --> 11:19.130
kind of inappropriate behavior in exams.

11:19.130 --> 11:21.450
Sometimes it was more
about what he would say

11:21.450 --> 11:25.830
and sometimes it was more
about how he treated the girls.

11:25.830 --> 11:30.090
We had a hard time getting
anyone to even come check it out.

11:30.090 --> 11:32.920
The major obstacle was being told,

11:32.920 --> 11:34.947
we weren't to talk to anyone about it

11:34.947 --> 11:37.090
and we weren't supposed to go to HR.

11:37.090 --> 11:39.650
We weren't supposed to go
to Equity and Diversity.

11:39.650 --> 11:42.710
We weren't supposed to go to
anyone except our management

11:42.710 --> 11:44.860
and then our management
didn't do anything.

11:47.120 --> 11:48.430
- USC is a really good job.

11:48.430 --> 11:50.230
It's a good place to work.

11:50.230 --> 11:54.530
Great benefits, retirement
package, your kids get tuition,

11:54.530 --> 11:55.780
you might even get tuition

11:55.780 --> 11:57.350
if you wanna pursue a degree.

11:57.350 --> 12:00.410
You know, several damaging
scandals had come to light

12:00.410 --> 12:02.850
over the years and people felt like,

12:02.850 --> 12:05.780
on the one hand, maybe
they could be retaliated

12:05.780 --> 12:08.220
for speaking out, on the other hand,

12:08.220 --> 12:09.930
not much had really changed

12:09.930 --> 12:11.963
after those scandals had come out.

12:25.680 --> 12:29.430
- That is amazing that you have to do that

12:29.430 --> 12:32.210
because if you've tried
more than once to report it

12:32.210 --> 12:35.670
to the people that you work
for, to the institution

12:35.670 --> 12:39.470
that's supposed to be
overseeing this employee's work.

12:39.470 --> 12:43.880
And if you don't have
tremendous faith in that

12:43.880 --> 12:45.770
and you have to go that far out,

12:45.770 --> 12:48.383
it tells you just how rotten the apple is.

12:57.720 --> 13:01.690
- Around this time, it was
a fruit fly infestation

13:01.690 --> 13:03.483
at USC campus off clinic.

13:04.720 --> 13:07.690
Dr. Tyndall was somewhat of a hoarder

13:07.690 --> 13:12.410
and had old fruit in his office
while he was on vacation.

13:12.410 --> 13:17.070
And those rotting fruits
had attracted flies

13:17.070 --> 13:19.800
and there were flies all over the clinic.

13:19.800 --> 13:21.840
People who worked at the
clinic said at one point,

13:21.840 --> 13:25.150
a fruit fly landed on a
patient during an exam

13:25.150 --> 13:28.610
and that's when you know,
they had had enough.

13:28.610 --> 13:32.570
So the fruit flies lead
some clinic administrators

13:32.570 --> 13:37.010
to Tyndall's office and they
find this box of images.

13:37.010 --> 13:39.883
What appears to be genitalia of patients.

13:41.470 --> 13:44.040
- Just every so often through the years,

13:44.040 --> 13:46.710
when people talk about
USC or asked where I went,

13:46.710 --> 13:50.010
or it would come up or
I see it on my resume,

13:50.010 --> 13:55.010
that my, I have a very
bad memory of picture

13:55.620 --> 13:58.113
that sticks in my mind,
that's attached to that,

13:59.410 --> 14:01.780
of me standing there naked

14:01.780 --> 14:03.793
and Dr. Tyndall, right in front of me.

14:15.690 --> 14:17.610
- Now we were told that didn't matter.

14:17.610 --> 14:18.733
This didn't matter.

14:20.180 --> 14:25.180
If that doesn't matter then,
we're in the wrong place.

14:25.180 --> 14:27.460
You know, what matters
more than the students

14:27.460 --> 14:28.910
at our student health center?

14:29.780 --> 14:34.480
The students have the right to have people

14:34.480 --> 14:36.890
take their concerns seriously.

14:36.890 --> 14:39.770
And the staff, you
know, shouldn't have to,

14:39.770 --> 14:44.120
see that constantly and
then be retaliated against

14:44.120 --> 14:45.053
if they speak up.

14:46.730 --> 14:50.053
So just the whole thing,
the whole culture is broken.

14:51.150 --> 14:54.063
So towards the end, it was
very hard to go to work.

14:55.090 --> 15:00.090
But I think that I had seen
that work before on other people

15:00.650 --> 15:02.790
where they just give up
and say it's not worth it

15:02.790 --> 15:04.653
and leave.

15:07.420 --> 15:11.320
And I realized I probably
was gonna have to leave

15:11.320 --> 15:14.193
but I was gonna finish this first.

15:47.797 --> 15:49.987
- How do you acknowledge, you know,

15:53.090 --> 15:58.090
500 or more alumni who
say they've been abused

15:59.260 --> 16:04.260
or harassed, on the exam
table, seeing their doctor?

16:04.910 --> 16:09.360
How do you acknowledge that
and are respectful of that

16:10.310 --> 16:13.630
while at the same time, trying
to promote the university?

16:17.930 --> 16:20.110
- Parents send their kids.

16:20.110 --> 16:22.850
Parents expect them to be safe

16:24.170 --> 16:29.170
and, we should keep them safe.

17:08.088 --> 17:09.460
- We let this happen.

17:09.460 --> 17:12.490
We didn't call this
administration to account

17:12.490 --> 17:17.220
when they had this enormous
breach of trust a year ago,

17:17.220 --> 17:21.393
we let it go and we can't do that again.

17:22.909 --> 17:26.909
(gentle music)

17:30.900 --> 17:32.640
- [Reporter] The scandal
has sent shock waves

17:32.640 --> 17:35.500
through the University of
Southern California community.

17:35.500 --> 17:38.480
This week, 200 tenured
professors signed a letter

17:38.480 --> 17:40.620
sent to the university trustees

17:40.620 --> 17:42.830
asking for the university president,

17:42.830 --> 17:45.250
C.L. Max Nikias, to resign.

17:45.250 --> 17:48.040
They still have questions
about what exactly happened

17:48.040 --> 17:50.080
involving Dr. Tyndall.

17:50.080 --> 17:51.633
What did the university know?

17:54.500 --> 17:56.110
- I think feeling the pressure

17:56.110 --> 18:00.710
from our letter called a town hall.

18:00.710 --> 18:03.500
- I worried at first that
we wouldn't get many people

18:03.500 --> 18:07.850
because often one of the first
responses to scandal at USC

18:07.850 --> 18:12.060
is everybody just gets quiet
and yet the room was packed.

18:12.060 --> 18:16.260
- Hundreds of people showed
up to that town hall, in May,

18:16.260 --> 18:19.520
after classes are over,
when the campus is empty.

18:19.520 --> 18:22.040
- No one from the administration came,

18:22.040 --> 18:25.170
at which point, many questions,

18:25.170 --> 18:27.940
angry comments were unleashed.

18:27.940 --> 18:31.630
They assured us that the
university was doing everything

18:31.630 --> 18:33.330
it could, and that they
knew nothing about it

18:33.330 --> 18:36.050
to which we all said, you
know, we call BS on that

18:36.050 --> 18:40.010
because we knew and they
had revealed that they knew.

18:40.010 --> 18:44.000
- Each person who stood
up, was more eloquent

18:44.000 --> 18:44.960
than the next.

18:44.960 --> 18:48.160
People were filled with outrage and anger.

18:48.160 --> 18:51.030
Jane Junn who's in the
political science department,

18:51.030 --> 18:52.813
and held up the names,

18:54.646 --> 18:59.646
of women victims and women students.

19:01.970 --> 19:04.700
- And we asked those on the stage,

19:04.700 --> 19:07.230
did they have a special student

19:07.230 --> 19:11.250
who was an incredible person?

19:11.250 --> 19:15.040
And then we asked them,
are you standing for them?

19:15.040 --> 19:16.528
Can you protect them?

19:16.528 --> 19:18.500
- And it was the boldest thing,

19:18.500 --> 19:22.660
this academic Senate had
done in at least all the time

19:22.660 --> 19:24.688
I've been at the university.

19:24.688 --> 19:29.688
- So many unethical, unlawful
things have happened here

19:30.520 --> 19:33.083
and nothing ever happens,
it's all the same.

19:34.060 --> 19:36.360
And that's what I felt when we left.

19:36.360 --> 19:38.550
And I was delighted to hear later on,

19:38.550 --> 19:43.073
later on, that the president
had agreed to step down.

19:58.430 --> 20:00.720
- It wasn't the original,
this is what happened.

20:00.720 --> 20:03.790
It wasn't even the, the 30 years thing

20:03.790 --> 20:05.300
which both were awful.

20:05.300 --> 20:08.990
But I think for me, it was
USC's reaction afterwards.

20:08.990 --> 20:12.090
They paid off George Tyndall.

20:12.090 --> 20:14.260
They paid him off to leave basically

20:15.578 --> 20:17.610
and I was like, you're gonna
pay him after all this time.

20:17.610 --> 20:19.180
Like, why not just let him get in trouble?

20:19.180 --> 20:20.070
Why not?

20:20.070 --> 20:21.760
Why are you protecting him in a way,

20:21.760 --> 20:23.930
even though you know,
that this is what happened

20:23.930 --> 20:26.730
- And USC was never transparent,

20:26.730 --> 20:30.390
they were always trying
to make it go away.

20:30.390 --> 20:33.060
So that did not surprise me in the end

20:33.060 --> 20:38.060
because if you focus
everything on raising money,

20:38.290 --> 20:41.503
which USC is, USC is
a fundraising machine.

20:42.990 --> 20:45.390
When fundraising becomes,

20:45.390 --> 20:50.390
the number one cause and
purpose, then sometimes,

20:50.510 --> 20:53.350
obviously ethics will go by the wayside

20:54.610 --> 20:56.820
and even crimes can be committed.

20:56.820 --> 20:59.300
- It's not a quick, let's move on.

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To me that is a little
bit too close to that.

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Let's protect our brand and keep moving.

21:05.980 --> 21:08.160
Part of fixing that is allowing victims

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to have a voice in the process

21:10.240 --> 21:13.450
because otherwise you're
just sitting in an office

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separated from your community,
separated from the victims.

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- We want institutional change.

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We wanna go back to the status quo on tape

21:26.580 --> 21:29.160
before all this happened

21:29.160 --> 21:30.813
and that's why I'm still in it.

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Was there ever a time that
I considered giving up?

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No.

21:37.140 --> 21:39.840
I think there were
times where I questioned

21:39.840 --> 21:43.880
whether we were ever gonna
get someone to listen

21:44.980 --> 21:47.513
but as far as giving up, no.

21:53.970 --> 21:56.900
- As soon as I knew that telling my story

21:56.900 --> 21:58.620
would help other people,

21:58.620 --> 22:01.630
I think was when I was
able to actually be open

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about what was going on.

22:02.810 --> 22:06.620
- [Woman] I didn't realize
how courageous I was.

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- [Counselor] Imagine if all
of these hundreds of women,

22:09.120 --> 22:12.130
if we all had a voice
and were speaking up,

22:12.130 --> 22:16.330
how big, how much more
power, how much more strength

22:16.330 --> 22:17.163
and encouraged.

22:17.163 --> 22:19.160
- I didn't realize how
big it would be ultimately

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that there would be so many women.

22:24.280 --> 22:27.043
And many of them have not
even come forward yet.

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There are potentially thousands more.

22:31.775 --> 22:36.775
(gentle music)