Marina Hyde Condemns Distraction from Epstein's Misogynistic Core
Guardian columnist Marina Hyde has issued a scathing critique of how society is responding to the latest Jeffrey Epstein file releases, arguing that obsessive focus on political fallout is deliberately avoiding the central issue of systemic misogyny and abuse.
The Political Distraction Game
Hyde points to the intense media coverage surrounding figures like Peter Mandelson in the UK as evidence of what she calls "a mass displacement activity." She notes that while Mandelson offered Epstein image rehabilitation advice—which she describes as "a foray into the moral abyss"—he wasn't among those accused of sexually abusing Epstein's trafficked victims.
"The frenzied and remorseless focus on political fallout—and not the male-on-female debasement that is the entire heart of this story, and always has been—is weird, isn't it?" Hyde writes. She particularly criticizes the New Statesman's characterization of the Mandelson affair as "the scandal of the century," retorting: "Guys, it's not even the biggest scandal of the scandal."
Melinda French Gates' Graceful Distance
The column highlights Melinda French Gates' recent podcast appearance where she addressed questions about Epstein with what Hyde describes as "a very graceful drive-by." French Gates stated: "Whatever questions remain there of what I don't—can't—even begin to know all of it, those questions are for those people, and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me."
While French Gates suggested society might be having a reckoning, Hyde firmly disagrees: "Cards on the table, I don't think we're having one at all." She argues that news coverage consistently focuses on everything except what needs confronting most urgently.
The Shapeshifting Abusers
Hyde examines how Epstein and his associates attempted to rebrand abuse as philanthropy, citing a remarkable clip where Epstein tells Steve Bannon: "I made my living from old thinking. But the future is for the way women think." When Bannon asks if this is "a sop because of all the depravity you've done against young women," Epstein smirks and declares himself "a firm believer and supporter of Time's Up."
The columnist reveals that included in recent file dumps was correspondence where Bannon suggested Epstein establish "THE major center for human trafficking, teenage prostitution etc etc etc—global problem, needs to be solved." Hyde believes only Epstein's 2019 arrest prevented the creation of "The Jeffrey Epstein Underage Sex Trafficking Foundation," noting that sex abusers creating fake philanthropy to access victims has precedent from churches to aid charities.
The Pervasive Culture of Complicity
Hyde references emails showing how figures across the political spectrum enabled or excused abusive behavior. She cites photographer Andres Serrano telling Epstein in 2016: "I was prepared to vote against Trump for all the right reasons. But I'm so disgusted by the outrage over 'grab them by the pussy' that I may give him my sympathy vote."
Epstein himself suggested mimicking Brett Kavanaugh's successful Supreme Court confirmation strategy during any Senate hearing, writing: "I guess I can mimic kavanaugh. 'Yes senator I like pussy, pussy yes. Don't you senator'." Hyde notes that while these weren't Kavanaugh's actual words, his approach worked, and he now has huge influence over American women's lives.
A Society That Looks Away
The column builds on Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown's assessment that "Epstein got away with his crimes because nearly every element of society allowed him to get away with them." Hyde argues that years after Brown's watershed 2018 investigation, society's reaction to each file dump demonstrates "the same look-the-wrong-way impulse that allowed it all to happen."
From Noam Chomsky to Steve Bannon, from Bill Gates to the former Prince Andrew—this is nothing to do with left or right, or new money or old, Hyde writes. She identifies numerous priorities that consistently trump addressing misogyny: "money, power, access, information, a political project, 'how the world works', whether you can use Mandelson to bring down Keir Starmer, 'philanthropy', realpolitik."
Hyde concludes with a devastating assessment: "The abused women and girls are nothing but a plot device, just like they always were. It's the pussy-grabbers' world—we just live in it. The only difference is you can now see it laid out in black and white."
