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I know this look. Complete disbelief, a person shocked in a way that can’t be hidden. When reality seems too much to bear—a picture taken from afar, a former Prince fallen out of grace, I almost feel sorry for Mr. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, but not for long.
I knew about Jeffrey Epstein, but to be honest, I didn’t pay too much attention to the details of the investigation or the trial. I didn’t read up enough as I should have. Young girls, underaged girls, were sexually abused and trafficked by older, wealthy, often famous men.
Whatelse is new?
Sex trafficking. Human trafficking. Sexual abuse of women. Sexual abuse of girls. Isn’t this story as old as humanity itself?
Sometimes it’s a crime, but it often stays hidden.
The girls, the young woman. The nameless, the forgotten victims. I am not a Netflix fan, but I applaud them for showing the Epstein documentary again. I missed it in 2020, so much was going on in our lives back then, and Covid was only the icing on our cake. Last week, we finally watched the documentary about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. I ordered the book “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice” by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. I will support the victims openly, as I should have from the start.
This is a man’s world!
The Epstein Files. It’s a good start. The rich and famous are questioned. It’s about time!
But it’s only the tip of the iceberg. There is more to it. It. Goes. Deeper.
Young girls, married off to older men, often with the blessing of the girl’s parents, isn’t that a form of hidden pedophilia? Even the holy books write openly about it, almost like bragging. “Look what his old stud could do!” Nobody ever talks about how it made the young women feel.
Marriage to an underage girl is, to this day, a legal loophole given to men by the law. Some states here in the US still have no required minimum age for marriage in their statutes; all it takes is the parents’ consent—or the right amount of money given to the parents—sadly, it’s too often needed for survival.
Similar laws—missing laws—can be found all over the world.
Marriage, as the ultimate get-out-of-jail card for rape and pedophilia? We don’t talk about it as loudly and as often as we should.
www.unchainedatlast.org is a nonprofit website dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and systems change. Not many know about it. www.girlsnotbrides.org is the global site that gives us the numbers, and they are scary:
1 in 5 girls in the world are married before 18.
- Over 650 million women alive today were married as children.
I am not talking about a 16-year-old girl who happens to fall in love with a 19-year-old young man. No, I am talking about 30 or 40-year-old men. Young girls are given to them. Young underage brides and wives, who sometimes fall in love with the older man, because that’s all they will ever know. A form of Stockholm Syndrome in a marriage.
They are not brides, they are children!
Prince Andrew had it coming to him. It serves him right. Others will follow. Not all will get what they deserve; they never do.
The stupid double standard we have, how we judge women and men so differently, how we allow the wealthy and super-rich to get away with bending and breaking the law(s). I wish it would stop once and for all.
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I am in a country where we let kids get married young with parental approval (which, in my book does not make them very good parents) , vote for rulers of the nation and fight in wars at 18, but not consume alcohol or gamble until 21. I really think our priorities are screwed up. A marriage between a 70 and 40 year old is one thing but 45 and 15 is the same age span and presents a much bigger issue. People do not “grow up” at the same rate every where. We are a nation with parents who throw their kids out of the house over identity, money or just hate as early as 14 I have heard. Kids live on the streets and have to get food some how as getting a job both at that age and with no address are hard. No further schooling ruins their futures and they are groomed by others to find “peace” in a life that is far less than ideal and can land young girls pregnant and facing a very uncertain future worse than just living on the streets. …I know I am rambling, but girls have rights or SHOULD have them. We should protect those not old enough to take a drink of a beer. If they are not “mature” enough to manage alcohol, how can they manage a marriage? It is too often just an excuse for abuse and/or rape. Even in marriage you CAN be raped by a spouse. Women should have the right to say no, period. What if boys were forced to marry much older men to provide a youth to abuse daily? The boys would be protected so fast your head would spin. Protect our girls! Show them we care. … and don’t get me started on all the surgical mutilations going on globally with young girls to improve men’s enjoyment. I am so disgusted by all of this. RESPECT human life. All life, male, female and everything in between!
Yeah, I rambled again. I could gripe about this so much more but I don’t want to take over your blog that made many good points and I will check out those websites. If only the world remembered the word respect.
One more question… so it has been going on for years? Does that mean it is right? (ok, maybe more questions) Stoning deaths used to be regular practice, is that right still? For years people smoked and provided second hand smoke pollution, does that make it right? Since the automobile was created we have polluted the air, is that right? I could go on and on… just because it happens and has for years does NOT make it right or fair or humane. RESPECT.
I will start now “Comment of the Week” on my blog because I am tired of letting good replies go to waste.
My babbling rant? … I really think it is because I am SUPER stressed and getting mad at the drop of a hat right now and this subject makes me furious! Maybe I should build up my anxieties more often. 🤔
I don’t know if you have the time, but if you do take a moment to read my post “The Darkness We Ignore: Confessions of A Guilty Bystander.” I write about this from a different angle. We can do more to bring about justice in these issues of sex trafficking, abuse of minors, and women. The question is are we willing to pay the price rquired of us to challenge the systems. Are we willing to speak truth to power? Too many are unwilling to do more than throw up there arms and think there is nothing we can do. Too many others don’t even want to see the ghosts walking in the darkness. I hope your readers will re-read your piece, take a few minutes to read mine, and that written by others, and decide it is time to act. Thanks for posting your piece.
I read it and wanted to comment, but was asked to leave email address and then my reply just disappeared. Let’s try it again:
I grew up in the catholic church, in a boarding school in the South of Germany that was run by nuns. It was an all girls school, and I remember the priest, a filthy old man, who felt the need to touch us, and punish us girls frequently. He liked the younger girls the best. When you believe in the church as a place of holiness, it’s hard and often simply unimaginable for people to acknowledge the wrongdoings and the crimes committed by individuals who are supposed to be closer to a god and better than us. We expect these people to be perfect and we look away, because we don’t know how to deal with it. I remember mentioning the priest’s ‘touching’ once to my grandma, who didn’t want to hear about it. She shushed me, thought I was disrespectful toward a priest.
You did nothing wrong. Silence often means we don’t know what to do.
all girls are underage
Yes, all girls were underaged. They were minors not prostitutes.
I am sorry but I do totally disagree. Prince Andrew (as he will always be to me) acted as most men would have – the woman was 17 (of age) and working as a prostitute. Big deal.. Yes, the story is sordid and unpleasant but happening all around the world – always has, probably always will be. I am hugely sorry that that Reuter’s photographer caught him in obvious shock – I would have been in shock after being questioned for 12 hours in a police station on my birthday also. Nothing untoward has been proven – and, should anything ever be business-wise > in business that sort of occurrence happens everywhere every day. I truly am sorry the poor Royal Family has to find coping mechanisms in a situation last happening 400 years ago. They actually should be standing by him a lot closer and cannot afford to. And – no, I have never ‘liked’ the guy – he has a vulgar streak as his ex-wife does, but fair is fair – exactly what CRIME has he committed that is not happening literally millions of times a day around the world? Why pick on him except jealousy !!!
Let me ask you one question and then we just agree to disagree. With what age is an underaged girl a prostitute with 14, 15, 16 or 17? And are all underaged girls who are forced and lured into ‘sex work’ automatically prostitutes? And if he didn’t commit a crime, why did the queen pay millions of dollars to the girls?
I agree they are both not very likeable and rather vulgar.
OK – in Australia and New Zealand prostitution is naturally totally legal, as is street prostitution as long as it does not take place next to a school, church or hospital. The legal age is 16 in most States, 17 in a few. Fine by my reckoning. To the best of my recollection 17 is the age in England. Obviously I am not advocating child molesting ! Epstein obviously had penchant for young women – but he did not hold a gun to anyone’s head and the girls were paid awfully well and led ‘glamorous’ lives. Prince Andrew is very polite – I remember reading Giuffre saying he actually said ‘thank you’ before leaving her! We should remember Epstein was part of ‘High Society’ all around the world – he knew most kings and queens et al and was accepted everywhere – most people may have known he had a penchant – that was his business. Prince Andrew was one of literally hundreds occasionally on his sidelines and is simply getting ‘picked on’ – sells newspapers, doesn’t it and makes the ‘nobodies’ feel virtuous! Oh, I thought paying Giuffre was wrong but methinks those at the Palace thought that would shut the girl-on-money-trail up – yes, in retrospect it was incorrect.
I doubt there will ever be justice for the majority of those who were treated so badly. There is too much money and power involved in those who treat their fellow human beings as less than goods and chattels. Andrew was only arrested on a charge of Misconduct in a Public Office. Whether further charges ever arise remains to be seen!
Probably not. I think it’s too late for that and as we all know, the rich often get away with it. Misconduct is at least something. Giving the interview and denying knowing the girl, when he knew the had photographs, was perhaps not the smartest move.
At least our justice system is working as it should. In the US the despicable old men are doing their best to protect themselves and their friends.
It took some time in the UK as well. Six years after the documentary was first shown. Fourteen years after Andrew was first accused. He was sheltered, protected and by the Queen, she even paid millions for hush money. I wonder if he would have been arrested if his older brother would have not stripped him of his title. As for us in here in the United States of America. There is still hope if we still get the chance to vote in November (which I doubt).
An example of the administration’s skill in diversion