The Missing Voices in the Epstein Files' Media Commentary: Sexual Assault Prevention Educators

[Uncle Joe]

As pundits dissect elite corruption, they’ve largely sidelined the experts who understand the deeper cultural roots of sexual exploitation and male peer complicity.

Epstein abuse survivor Danielle Bensky hugs Sky Roberts, brother of Virginia Giuffre, on Feb. 10, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced Virginia’s Law, legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations that Schumer argues has shielded traffickers and denied survivors their day in court. (Heather Diehl / Getty Images)

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But men’s violence against women is not an elitist crime. It’s a pervasive societal problem that transcends the categories of socioeconomics, ethnicity, race and region. It’s a problem in red states and blue, in big urban centers and small rural towns. It happens in the private sphere of relationships and the family, as well as out in public: on the streets, public transportation and the workplace.

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Feminists have warned about the dangers of sexualizing young girls for decades. In fact, in 2008, the same year that Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to procuring a child for prostitution, two mainstream books were published on this very topic: So Sexy, So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids by Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne, and The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It by M. Gigi Durham.

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But there’s a big difference between appropriate expressions of compassion, empathy and gratitude for survivors, and a clear-eyed analysis of the ways in which cultural misogyny is the necessary backdrop to the nefarious behavior committed or tolerated by the numerous men named in the files. It’s the latter analysis that largely has been missing.

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When was the last time, for example, that you heard a sexual assault prevention educator interviewed in the media, and asked to comment about similarities and differences in the dynamic between men in the groups with whom they work, and those in Epstein’s social network?

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https://msmagazine.com/2026/02/19/epstein-men-protect-experts-masculinity-male-peer-complicit-sexual-assault/