“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.”
—Lord Acton, 1887
The Epstein Outrage: Why Justice Still Eludes Us
The public is angry!
Years after the death of Jeffrey Epstein, the full list of individuals tied to his global network of underage sex trafficking remains sealed. Despite his vast connections to royalty, billionaires, politicians, and celebrities, few have faced consequences. The people he trafficked are named; the people who exploited them are not.
The silence is not justice—it is protection. Not for the victims, but for the powerful.
Why haven’t the Epstein files been released? Is it because those holding the power to expose the truth are often the same people implicated in it?
This isn’t merely about Epstein. It’s about the system – a system where power corrupts not only men, but entire institutions. In this article, I explore the disturbing intersection between power, corruption, and the sexual exploitation of minors – underage girls, drawing from psychology, anthropology, and sociology to expose how predators flourish and why they are so rarely stopped.
The Psychology of Power: How Entitlement Warps the Mind
Power disinhibits behavior. It alters cognition and dulls empathy. Studies such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgram’s obedience trials have shown that authority without accountability breeds cruelty.
Some powerful men exhibit:
- Narcissism: Grandiosity, entitlement, and disregard for others
- Psychopathy: Lack of empathy and remorse
- Social Dominance Orientation: A belief in rigid hierarchies and control over subordinates
“Every master has full authority to use his slave as he might wish,” said the philosopher Musonius Rufus.
Underage girls, in this dynamic, are not seen as people. They’re seen as possessions – status symbols, trophies of power.
In these power imbalances, grooming becomes strategic: offering gifts, feigned affection, and control to manipulate young, vulnerable victims. The more status a predator holds, the more protected, and emboldened, he becomes.
“In her comprehensive and important analysis of rape, Susan Brown Miller says that ‘when men discovered that they could rape, they proceeded to do it’ and that from prehistoric times to the present rape has played a critical function .'”(1975, p. 14 – 15.)
– Peggy Reeves Sanday, Socio-Cultural Context of Rape: A Cross Cultural Study (Read the PDF of the study here)
Corruption: The Infrastructure That Shields Predators
Corruption doesn’t just allow abuse – it incentivizes it. Corruption operates at three levels:
- Weakening Legal Systems: Bribes, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and backdoor deals prevent prosecution
- Networks of Impunity: Elite circles close ranks, shielding one another to protect reputations and wealth
- Cultural Legitimacy: In certain societies, age-of-consent laws are casually bypassed by those with money and influence
Epstein wasn’t a rogue predator—he was a protected one.
His 2008 plea deal, negotiated by Alexander Acosta (later Trump’s Labor Secretary), allowed him to serve minimal time while continuing his abuse. This wasn’t a lapse in justice. It was elite deviance in action.
Anthropology of Abuse: What Peggy Sanday Reveals
Anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday coined the term rape-prone cultures identifying societies where sexual violence is normalized and institutionalized.
Her research identified three core traits:
- Patriarchal Control: Men dominate politics, religion, and family systems
- Hyper-Masculine Values: Aggression, conquest, and sexual dominance are celebrated
- Institutional Complicity: Religious and political institutions cover up, ignore, or even justify abuse
When a society rewards dominance and excuses abuse, predators don’t have to hide—they’re elevated.
From child marriages in South Asia to Hollywood’s glamorization of teen sexuality, rape-prone traits are alive and reinforced in the modern world. The Catholic Church’s cover-up of clergy sex abuse is a tragic, global example.
David Simon and the Shield of Elite Deviance
Sociologist David Simon explored how elites commit unethical or criminal acts and are protected by the very systems meant to restrain them.
Key components of elite deviance:
- Power-Impunity Feedback Loop: High status reduces legal risk. Affluenza defenses and NDAs abound.
- Institutional Protection Rackets: Lawyers, judges, and media executives collaborate to suppress exposure.
- Social Rationalization: Predatory behavior is reframed as eccentricity, “artistic freedom,” or misunderstood genius.
What we call elite deviance, predators call privilege.
Think of French intellectual Gabriel Matzneff, who openly wrote about relationships with minors and was praised in elite circles for decades. Matzneff stated that whilst in the Philippines he would regularly rape multiple underage boys: “Sometimes, I’ll have as many as four boys—from 8 to 14 years old—in my bed at the same time, and I’ll engage in the most exquisite lovemaking with them.” Worse, Matzneff was praised and protected by the literary world.
Think of Jimmy Savile, who was knighted even as abuse rumors spread for 30 years. “He was also one of the UK’s most prolific sexual predators…He assaulted and raped them in television dressing rooms, hospitals, schools, children’s homes and his caravan.” His victims ranged in ages from 5 to 75!
Jimmy Savile sexually abused underage girls and boys as well as men and women.
Where Culture and Power Collide
These two frameworks—Sanday’s rape culture and Simon’s elite deviance—do not operate in isolation. They fuel each other:
- Cultural Permission normalizes the abuse
- Institutional Protection ensures there are no consequences
- Systemic Silence sustains the cycle
When underage girls are exploited by elites, the question isn’t ‘Why didn’t she speak up?’ But ‘Who would have listened?’
And in cases like Epstein, we now know: nearly no one listened, and those in power are failing to act.
Historical Continuity: This Isn’t New
From Roman emperors to colonial governors to medieval kings, history is filled with examples of powerful men exploiting young girls. Today, these abuses persist in new forms:
- Global Sex Trafficking Rings: Exploiting poverty, war, and systemic injustice
- “Sugar Daddy” Cultures: Cloaked coercion under financial dependency
- Celebrity Grooming: Fame used to manipulate and silence victims
This is not an anomaly—it’s a modern mask for an ancient abuse.
Solutions: What Must Be Done
To stop the exploitation of minors by those in power, we must dismantle the systems that sustain it:
1. Legal and Institutional Reform
- Ban Non-disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in sex abuse cases
- Eliminate statutes of limitations for child sex crimes
- Criminalize enablers and people who engage in cover-ups
2. Cultural Change
- Teach consent, empathy, and gender respect from early education
- Deconstruct toxic masculinity and hyper-sexualized media narratives. ( “Toxic masculinity” does not infer that masculinity in itself is inherently bad.)
- Hold public figures and institutions to account—publicly
3. Victim Empowerment
- Expand access to trauma-informed support services
- Protect whistleblowers
- Elevate survivor voices in media, education, and policy
Final Word: Release the Files, Name the Names
Jeffrey Epstein is dead. But the system that protected him is alive, powerful, and still silent.
Lord Acton was not moralizing when he warned us – he was issuing a prophecy. If we allow unchecked power to go unchallenged, if we continue protecting predators in high places, then exploitation becomes inevitable, and justice impossible.
The Epstein files must be released – not just for transparency, but to dismantle the network of elite protection that has shielded abusers for decades.
This isn’t only about what powerful men have done. It’s about whether we still live in a society where the law applies equally to everyone – or just to the powerless.
Finally for trauma victims of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, the Epstein case and the lack of justice further deepens the pain and rips open the wound of helplessness and powerlessness!
References
- Peggy Sanday, The Socio-Cultural Context of Rape: A Cross-Cultural Study, Journal of Social Issues, 1981.
- David Simon, Elite Deviance, 9th Edition, Pearson Education, 2008.
- Philip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, Random House, 2007.
- Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority, Harper & Row, 1974.
- Julie K. Brown, “Perversion of Justice,” Miami Herald, 2018–2019.
- U.S. DOJ Records: Epstein Plea Deal and Alexander Acosta, 2007–2008.
- Susan Brown Miller, Against Our Will, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1975.
Patrick Wanis, PhD, is a renowned relationship and behavioral expert with over 25 years of experience. Creator of SRTT Therapy (Subconscious Rapid Transformation Technique), he specializes in resolving root causes of trauma and other conditions without reliving pain or retraumatization. He has developed various psychological assessments on emotional intelligence, relationships, self-sabotage, and authenticity, and serves diverse clients from celebrities to teens. A trusted media source, Global media including CNN, BBC, FOX News turn to Wanis for insights into relationships, sexuality, human motivation, trauma, communication, body language, and persuasion.