General Discussion

refer to Epstein's victims as "underage women." If they're underage they're not women, they're girls. Children! At least the oxymoron "underage girls" is accurate, though the use of the word "underage" is legalistic - it really denotes the concept of statutory rape, a situation where the victim is considered too young to be able to consent to a sex act, whether literally coerced or violent or otherwise. It's always considered coerced. But realistically a sex act doesn't magically become legal or acceptable on the day the victim is no longer "underage" - Epstein coerced or raped women who were legal adults as well, like the artist Maria Farmer, and they are victims, too.

I have to wonder whether the outrage would have been greater at the early stages of the investigations of Epstein and Maxwell if the victims had been boys instead of girls, since teenage girls seem to be considered fair game by a lot of people, especially if they look "adult." So far there's only one known male victim, an intern who was sixteen when Epstein molested him; he has sued Epstein's estate.