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5 Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s Abuse on Trauma, Justice, and Sisterhood


Rachel Benavidez: This is important stuff, and this is an important sisterhood that we have. And Virginia said, “Well, we want to focus on moving forward,” which absolutely, I do. I want to move forward with this, and help other women and children.

Virginia Giuffre: That’s what we were.

Rachel Benavidez: So, it’s very important. For me, I’m still in that phase of healing and trauma, and processing that. But I want to move forward. And I feel like with my sisterhood, with these women, and all the other hundreds who aren’t here, that that can really help me. So, thank you, Virginia, for putting yourself out there on all levels, and providing this opportunity for all of us.

Virginia Giuffre: It means the world.

Rachel Benavidez: You’re beautiful. And you’re so strong. And I love when you speak, you’re like, “Yeah, and what about going after that bitch” [laughter]. It was like, yeah, yes. I’m just happy to be here, and I’m happy to share my story. But I’m very teary, so I’m sorry. And I’m a ugly crier.

Virginia Giuffre: Don’t worry!

Rachel Benavidez: It’s not too pretty.

Teresa Helm: Speaking about the sisterhood of everyone gathering throughout these, this time? I don’t even know how to put it. These times, this time? What is this?

Rachel Benavidez: It’s a time warp. It feels like I’m in a time warp, actually.

Virginia Giuffre: It’s a past, present, and future topic.

Teresa Helm: It is. It is a past, present, and future. I mean, it’s been nearly two decades since this all began. Who knew that nearly two decades later, I would be sitting around discussing this now, going through it, seeing the events unfold as they have? And who knows how they’re going to continue to unfold?



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Pay Less Attention to Jeffrey Epstein’s Death and More to What His Accusers Need Now


Over the weekend, Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan of an apparent suicide. The moment it happened I could almost hear the sound of a million conspiracies blooming on the internet, each more insane than the next. It hadn’t been unthinkable, though—it was after all his second attempt.

But within minutes, there was talk of a swap, a body double, a plan hatched to get Epstein to Guantanamo Bay. Rapid-fire connections were drawn to the convoluted (and not real) QAnon conspiracy theory, which alleges a vast (and not real) “deep-state” effort to undermine Donald Trump. I saw supposed pictures of the corpse, and comments that it obviously didn’t match Epstein. I saw threats leveled against the Clintons and deceptive hashtags spring up like daisies. But what I didn’t see—at least not at first—was a great effort to think about what Epstein’s death would mean for his alleged victims. The focus had been switched, veering from the real plight of his victims to the fantasy of his death. We can leave investigations into Epstein’s death to the professionals, but the Twitterverse could stand to turn its attention to a conspiracy that we already know is legitimate: how badly run America’s jails are, how badly treated America’s victims of sexual assault and rape are, how the criminal justice system makes allowances for the powerful and the well-connected, while millions of people convicted of lesser crimes are made to suffer more. There is an actual miscarriage of justice here, and you don’t need to turn to Reddit to find it. Epstein’s alleged victims deserved better.

In the time since his suicide, a number of his accusers have spoken out to express their frustration.

“I am extremely mad and hurt thinking he once again thought he was above us and took the easy way out,” Jena-Lisa Jones, 30, who claims that Epstein abused her when she was 14, told ABC News.

In a statement, Jennifer Araoz, 32, who has accused Epstein of rape, expressed her own disappointment: “We have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed, the pain and trauma he caused so many people.”

These women haven’t accused the government of a wild master plot or drummed up support for internet theories. They’ve just asked to be heard, listened to, and respected. But of course, in Trump’s America, the prospect of a vast web of lies appeals more than the simple fact of a group of women’s truth. campaign. Trump got into politics on the back of birtherism, a conspiracy theory that suggested Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States. (Spoiler: He was.) Since he was elected president, he’s continued to make references to various supposed schemes, egging on his base. So it should come as no surprise that, as Mother Jones put it, within minutes of the news that Epstein had died, “Trump appointees, Fox Business hosts and Twitter pundits revived a decades old conspiracy theory, linking the Clinton family to supposedly suspicious deaths. #ClintonBodyCount and #ClintonCrimeFamily trended on Twitter.”

It’s crucial to call out Trump’s insane and dangerous social media activities, but not at the expense of Epstein’s accusers who are begging us to remember who the real victims in this case are. It was exquisitely Trumpian: Another potential moment of restorative justice stolen from women who just wanted a powerful man to be held accountable.





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Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, and the Powerful Men Who Get Away With It


If we’ve learned anything from the presidency of Donald Trump, it’s that more often than not rich men get away with it—whatever it is.

For all the overdue justice that #MeToo secured, the last 20 or so months have seen countless men scrutinized and then…exonerated. From Trump to Brett Kavanaugh, the process tends to follow a familiar script: Justice is invoked, press conferences are held, social media is ablaze, and then the outrage fades—or worse, it never quite materializes in the first place.

When the dust settles, the man tends to retain his position (or in the case of Brett Kavanaugh, is rewarded with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court). From time to time, he’s forced to slink off for a little like Louis C.K. (whose eventual comeback seems inevitable) or Charlie Rose. But a lot of the powerful men of are able to ride it out. There’s some fallout, the word “allegations” is sprinkled into 10,000 news stories, and then people like Eric Bolling or Bill O’Reilly recover; as popular in conservative circles as ever. It’s been hard to see #MeToo as a triumph or as all it was supposed to be, especially when people like Donald Trump, Jr. use it as a punchline.

But on Saturday the Daily Beast broke the news that Jeffery Epstein had been arrested as soon as he stepped off his private jet at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. He was taken directly to a prison cell. When his indictment was unsealed, it revealed that Epstein had been charged with “one count of sex trafficking of minors” and “one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.” It feels like a strange victory. In a time when rich men seem to have a separate justice system all their own, what does it mean for a powerful person to be treated like what he really is—a man who’s been accused of sex trafficking children for over a decade?

But it’s not so simple. I wish the fact that Epstein could face an actual sentence commensurate with his crimes means the dawn of a new era. The bad guys get caught! They suffer for it. Instead, Epstein feels not even like an aberration, but like proof: the system is broken and unfair. He isn’t just some guy who made one mistake; the charges against him paint him as a serial sexual predator. When prosecutors made their case that Epstein should be denied bail, Bloomberg reports that the team pointed to the “vast trove of lewd photographs” it uncovered in a search of Epstein’s New York mansion (once valued at $77 million) over the weekend. The images, the government said, show he is a danger to the public. But if you’ve read the Miami Herald investigation that revived the allegations against Epstein, you already knew that. And so did all the other powerful men who decided for years not to do anything about it.

In 2008, Alex Acosta, who is now the secretary of labor and was then a district attorney in Miami, secured for Epstein a non-prosecution agreement that allowed him to plead guilty to a fraction of what he was accused of; he ultimately served 13 months, most of it in a private wing of a county jail that permitted him to leave for work almost every day. This week, Acosta addressed the new charges on Twitter, writing, “The crimes committed by Epstein are horrific, and I am pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence.”





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Jeffrey Campbell and Curve Model La’shaunae Steward Are Releasing Size-Inclusive Shoes


Footwear brand Jeffrey Campbell is addressing a blind spot in its own inventory: shoes designed to fit all bodies.

On Tuesday, the brand announced it was teaming up with curve model La’shaunae Steward to launch a capsule collection of size-inclusive shoes. In an Instagram post about the collaboration, Jeffrey Campbell promised five styles “made to fit your every curve.”

“When we say our shoes are made for everybody we truly mean everyBODY,” the brand captioned an image of Steward from a Girlboss editorial, in which she’s wearing one of the shoes from the collaboration. “Stay tuned. ?”

In an interview with Refinery29, Steward explained that the seed was planted when she and her friend Sanam Sindh, Jeffrey Campbell’s creative director, were discussing the lack of boots on the market for plus-size customers. “I was telling her how a lot of the boots don’t fit thicker legs, and as my friend—who knows how the fashion world doesn’t celebrate fat brown women enough—she saw this as an opportunity for me, an underappreciated curve model,” she said.

The model pointed out that even when brands do attempt to be size-inclusive, they don’t make an effort to create fashionable or attractive products. “So many brands never care about their fat customers,” she told Refinery29. “Most plus-size stores have the ugliest clothes and wide-fitting shoes.”

This capsule marks a huge step forward for size-inclusive shopping, according to Steward—especially considering the reach of an affordable, trend-driven footwear brand such as Jeffrey Campbell. “I grew up never being able to afford the things I like and for [a brand I’ve] loved since a young teenager to believe in me and to acknowledge me is amazing,” Steward said.

Steward is also a body positivity activist who hopes to break barriers in the fashion industry, according to Refinery29—and this collaboration is just the beginning. “[I want to see] girls who actually look like me in high-fashion and walking the runways,” she told Refinery29. “Representation is so important. So many models are glamazons who are 5’7″ or taller. They have small waists and perfect thighs. [For plus-size models, they’re] a size 16 at the biggest. And these are the women ‘representing’ all fat women. I’m 5’3″ and bigger, [and I] also deserve the spotlight!”

Related Stories:

3 Plus-Size Brands That Are Changing the Game Right Now

Plus Size Clothing Retailer CoEdition Wants to Become Your Go-To for Shopping Sizes 10–26

Ashley Graham’s Call to the Beauty Industry: ‘We Need More Size Diversity’





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