Source: The Guardian (headline: So the Epstein scandal is about politics? Silly me for thinking it's about the mass abuse of women and girls)
Translation: Telegrafi.com

Respect to Bill Gates’ ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, a woman who had the nerve to appear on a podcast this week, while so many of the men named in the latest Epstein documents seem to have their agendas set on continuing to hide. Of course, Melinda was asked about Jeffrey Epstein, and she gave a measured response: “Any questions that may remain — I don’t know and can’t know everything — those questions are for those people, even my ex-husband. They have to answer for those things, not me. And I’m so glad I’m out of all that mud.” Phew. But she also added, more generally: “I think as a society we’re going through a moment of accountability, right?”

Let me be blunt: I don't think we're getting past it at all. Look at the headlines, or whatever dominates the newscasts. We're talking about everything but the things we need accountability for most. In the UK, we're talking 24 hours a day about Peter Mandelson, the one man in this story who at least we know wasn't sexually abusing the women and girls trafficked by Epstein. Even if he did offer Epstein advice on how to rehabilitate his image, which, as was discussed here in depth on Tuesday, was a plunge into the moral abyss. (Again.) But the frantic, relentless focus on the political fallout — and not on the man-woman humiliation that is the heart of this story and always has been — is strange, isn't it? I laughed wryly at the cover of New Statesman-it this week, who described the Mandelson Affair as the “scandal of the century.” Folks, it’s not even the biggest scandal of this scandal.

To put it bluntly. I think all the pieces of the fallout that we're focusing on now are a massive displacement activity, driven unconsciously or consciously by men to avoid confronting the fact that we now have searchable records of how some of the most powerful men in the world, who have a huge impact on our lives, talk and think about women. And, about girls.

In a way, this is a dark deception that we should all have been prepared for. There is no criminal abuse operation that a masker can’t buy and appropriate, and then turn into something that looks like charity. It’s an incredible video of Epstein giving an interview in a wood-paneled, men’s club-style room, filmed sometime in late 2018 or early 2019. “I made a living from the old way of thinking,” Epstein reflects at length. “But the future is about the way women think.” The view widens to reveal that the interviewer is his friend, Steve Bannon. “Is that an excuse for all the atrocities you’ve done to young girls?” Bannon asks. “Your excuse is that women’s thinking is the future?” “No,” Epstein smiles. “... I am a strong supporter of [organization that helps victims of sexual violence] Time's up"I wonder if he really donated money to this organization of the era." #MeTooI'd bet it is.

However, every man who transforms must transform. A few years after Epstein's death, Bannon repackaged this footage in a documentary called The Monsters (producer: Stephen K Bannon) and now calls Epstein a “global pedophile.” Yes, he would say that, wouldn’t he? But look what we have here? Also included in a recent release of documents was correspondence in which Bannon pitches a survival strategy for Epstein: “What if you create the largest center for human trafficking, teenage prostitution, etc. — a global problem, that needs to be solved.”

You laugh - again with irony - but I firmly believe that only the acceleration of events, more specifically Epstein's arrest and imprisonment in July 2019, prevented the world from establishing the Jeffrey Epstein Child Sex Trafficking Foundation. Yes, it sounds like a dark sketch from Saturday Night Live that never gets broadcast. But do sex abusers create fake charities that bring them closer to more vulnerable victims? Frankly, we've seen it before - from churches to aid organizations. And if these files tell us anything, it's that there would be many, many super-rich male donors. Many fathers of daughters who are willing to turn a blind eye to the use and abuse of other fathers' daughters.

Perhaps the foundation’s beautiful fundraising brochure would have been styled by “artsy” photographer Andres Serrano. “I was ready to vote against Trump for all the right reasons,” Serrano complained to Epstein in a 2016 email. “But I’m so disgusted by the ‘grab the vagina’ outrage that I’ll probably give him my sympathy vote.” Elsewhere, Epstein thinks the way to handle any Senate hearings on his activities would be to emulate successful Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, whose hearings included denying allegations of sexual assault. “I think I could imitate Kavanaugh. ‘Yes, senator, I like vaginas, vaginas yes. How about you, senator?’” Well, why not? For the sake of the lawyers, I should clarify that those were not Kavanaugh's words, and he focused on how much he likes beer... But his approach worked, and Judge Kavanaugh will have a profound impact on the lives of American women for the rest of his life. And, to top it all off, the "vagina catcher" became president - twice.

So really: spare me the elitist hypocrisy about Epstein’s crimes and look at what’s really happening. What has anyone in power done to challenge the structures and attitudes that allowed them to happen? We’ve known about Epstein’s world for a long time. As Julie K Brown, the brilliant journalist, has made clear: Miami Herald-, whose 2018 investigation into Epstein was based on years of careful reporting: "Epstein got away with his crimes because almost every element of society allowed him to get away with it."

I agree. And, years after that investigation, we can see that the reaction to each new release of documents stems from the same impulse to look the wrong way that allowed it all to happen. From Noam Chomsky to Steve Bannon, from Bill Gates to the former Prince Andrew - this has nothing to do with left or right, or new or old money. There will always be something more important than confronting the roots of misogyny - money, power, access, information, a political project, "how the world works", whether you can use Mandelson to bring down Keir Starmer, "philanthropy", realpolitik ... A million other priorities. Abused women and girls are nothing more than a narrative tool, just as they always have been. It's the world of vagina grabbers - we just live in it. The only thing that's changed is that now you can see it written in black and white. /Telegraph/

Opinions News