News Desk
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation has reignited scrutiny of America’s hidden crisis: the sexual abuse of underage girls and the persistence of child marriage laws. Her reference to the Epstein scandal underscores how the files now being forced into public view are only the tip of the iceberg.
“Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for,” Greene said.
Her words cut to the heart of a national reckoning. For decades, the United States has struggled to confront the scale of sexual violence against minors. One in four girls and one in thirteen boys experience sexual abuse before the age of 18. Nearly 90 percent of victims know their abuser, often a family member or trusted adult. The trauma is lifelong, with survivors facing higher risks of depression, substance abuse, and suicide attempts.
Alongside abuse, the persistence of child marriage laws reveals another layer of systemic failure. Between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 minors were legally married in the United States, the vast majority of them girls. As of 2025, eleven states have banned child marriage outright, but in most of the country, exceptions remain. In six states, there is no minimum age floor at all, meaning children as young as 10 or 12 can be married with parental or judicial consent. Advocates warn that these marriages often mask abuse, trapping minors in relationships where they cannot legally seek divorce, enter shelters, or access basic protections.
The Epstein files, now mandated for release under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, are expected to contain hundreds of gigabytes of documents, including witness statements, travel logs, and evidence seized from Epstein’s properties. Survivors and lawmakers caution that these disclosures will only scratch the surface of a much deeper crisis. Epstein’s network of exploitation was vast, but it is emblematic of a broader reality: sexual abuse of minors in America is not confined to one man’s crimes but embedded in legal loopholes and cultural silences.
Epstein’s crimes, then, were not aberrations but an extension of a culture that had long normalized the exploitation of minors. That reality is now being confronted not only in courtrooms and congressional hearings but also in literature. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most outspoken survivors, left behind an autobiography, Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, published posthumously in October 2025. Her memoir is not simply a recounting of her ordeal with Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Prince Andrew. It signals the emergence of a new genre of literature that confronts the abuse of minors by powerful elites, blending survivor testimony with investigative detail to expose systemic failures. Giuffre’s narrative joins a growing body of works that reclaim the voices of victims, challenging institutions that long protected perpetrators. This genre is not merely memoir but a form of social indictment, documenting how exploitation thrives in the shadows of wealth and influence. By placing her story in print, Giuffre transformed private trauma into public testimony, ensuring that the crimes she endured are not dismissed as isolated scandals but recognized as part of a broader pattern of abuse embedded in elite networks.
Child abuse as documented in the Epstein files is not an invention of Epstein himself. It has long existed within American society, embedded in cultural silences and legal loopholes that left minors vulnerable. Epstein exploited desires already embedded in society, weaponizing them for the benefit of powerful men who treated young girls as commodities. His crimes were not isolated acts but rather an extension of systemic failures that allowed exploitation to flourish. The files reveal how he capitalized on a preexisting appetite among elites, turning widespread abuse into a network of trafficking that served his masters and exposed the darker truths of a society unwilling to confront its own complicity.
Greene’s resignation speech, framed as a defence of victims, underscores the political volatility of the issue. The Epstein scandal has already destabilized alliances in Washington, but the deeper story is about the children whose lives are altered by abuse and coerced marriage. The statistics are stark. Every year, thousands of minors are married in the United States, and one in five children experiences some form of sexual abuse during childhood.
The files may expose names and institutions, but they will not erase the fact that America has tolerated practices that leave its youngest citizens vulnerable. Greene’s words, however polarizing, point to a truth that transcends party lines: the Epstein case is not an aberration. It is a symptom of a larger crisis that demands transparency, reform, and accountability.
