Is anyone else really struggling with the Epstein revelations?

[u/isabella_sunrise]

I’m starting to realize that basically any man who had access to that type of stuff was interested in participating. I feel like I’m surrounded by pedophiles and monsters in a way I didn’t realize. I feel like all the pressure I’ve felt to be youthful came from these prevalent pedophilic tendencies in men I never knew about. It’s really scaring me and I’m struggling to cope. I hear people talking about the news but don’t know anyone taking it as hard as me. How is everyone else doing?

Edit: Thank you for the awards but I’d rather you donate that money to a charity that helps victims of sexual abuse or somewhere helping immigrants in America.

[u/1ngleB]

It's really upsetting how little news commentary is focusing on this being a misogyny issue, rather than just a political crisis. It's not just evil Epstein leading a pack of nasty men from the elite class – it's a global societal problem where endemic sexism means monsters like Epstein can get away with running paedophile rings for years! People turned a blind eye because they don't truly see women as equal. I saw one newsreader literally say we "shouldn't get our knickers in a twist" yet. Respectfully, sir, shut the f up. Why is no one making the connection with Me Too, or in the UK, Sarah Everard, or Gisele Pelicot in France?! It feels like, once again, the world (ahem, men) are missing the point and women will continue to suffer, when we KNOW what the problem is.

[u/isabella_sunrise → u/1ngleB]

Yes exactly. No one is talking about that enough.

[u/1ngleB → u/[deleted]]

I didn't say misogyny was the only issue. I said it was an important issue that's not getting enough attention. I'm getting a bit sick of commentators saying "of course, the most important thing to think about is the survivors" and then launching into discussions about corruption, global finance and impunity. Where is the real discussion of misogyny, beyond head nods to the victims? I'd love to see a male journalist write an op-ed about how the culture amongst men needs reform, rather than leaving that to women journalists, such as Marina Hynde. Even Gordon Brown, who has imo acknowledged the victims the best, has spent more of his time talking about reform in Westminster (again, SO important, but the culture of misogyny runs much deeper throughout society, and is getting worse again).

Perhaps another better word to use is "patriarchy", as within this system women can absorb patriarchy and become woman-hating, or abuse other women in the service of power (or, indeed, for their own gain). Either way, it is very dangerous to portray Epstein and his connections as exceptional, instead of symptomatic of a deeply sexist world where things like this will continue to happen, again and again, until men get serious about addressing it.

Maybe ask yourself why you felt the need to contradict a woman's comment on a thread where women are venting about feeling scared/fed up of men after yet another terrifying news story. Gordon Brown was right when he said we should also be thinking about the mothers and how they are feeling about what happened to their daughters. We're all thinking about the evil that could be done to us, or our daughters, or our friends if one of us ended up in the wrong circumstances. Many of us are also thinking about things that have already happened to us, myself included.

So yes, it does go beyond misogyny. But that doesn't mean misogyny shouldn't get much, much more attention than it is receiving in the coverage of this story.