What to Know
There’s a lot about the Jeffrey Epstein case, the files of which have caused controversy and questions years after Epstein’s death, that baffles people.
The one thing everyone knows is that there were children involved, as young as 14 according to the Department of Justice, but potentially as young as 11 as depicted in one lawsuit, per Al Jazeera.
What a lot of people tend to say when they speak about the case is that the girls were “underage.”
According to one user on TikTok, though, “underage girls” don’t exist in this context. But don’t worry, because his message is actually as un-problematic as you can get.
He explains in a video that to describe the girls as such even places some of the blame on them for the sexual abuse that some later testified about as adults.
As if Epstein didn’t leave a black cloud over the lives of the survivors enough, being referred to as anything other than children is what they still have to contend with.
So, yeah, not cool.
@ytpjason Language is important #politics #scandal #maga ♬ original sound – YTPJason
The right word is “children,” point blank period.
The TikTok user who posted about what Epstein’s survivors should be referred to as in their age when the abuse happened, he says that “there is no such thing as underage girls.”
He also says multiple times that what the survivors should be referred to as, in reference to what happened to them, is children and nothing less.
“That’s what we need to keep in mind when we’re talking about this Epstein scandal,” he says. “Because the word ‘underage’ makes it sound like a technicality. Or, even worse, it makes it sound like the kid was the one doing something sneaking, like underage drinking. Children. That’s the word we need to be using.”
Fair enough.
The girls who were trafficked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell ranged in age from young teens to under 18, though women were also sexually abused, per USA Today.
The girls who were abused as children, teenagers, minors, were just that. They were kids who did not know any better and who were taken advantage of in a way that undermines any loopholes some might see by calling them “underage.”
Other adults and some parents commented on the TikTok to share their thoughts on calling the Epstein survivors children when referring to the case rather than underage girls.
And, wouldn’t you know, they are all in agreement that these are children we are talking about.
“I took my 14-year-old daughter to the PEDIATRICIAN this week,” one parent commented. “PEDIATRICIAN.”
Another pointed out, in reference to the case, “They keep saying ‘young women.’ They were NOT women. They were CHILDREN.”
Someone else wrote, “Yeah. I believe the terminology is intentional to soften or minimize the act against a child.”
If that’s the case, it adds a whole other layer of filth over the case, even with Epstein’s 2019 death having happened years ago. Because the case, and what happened to the present day women as children, did not go away just because Epstein was found dead in his cell before he could make it to trial.
Someone else in the comments under the TikTok pointed out that “the only time someone is under age is when that CHILD is doing something that requires an age limit that they don’t meet yet.”
Say it for the pedos, I mean people, in the back.
