“I am so very exhausted. My body feels so tired. Will I ever be free?”
This is a de-coded quote from the diary of a teenager trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Along with references to being raped by numerous powerful people, the survivor describes being forcibly impregnated multiple times by Epstein, referencing “painful procedures” related to the pregnancy, a miscarriage and death of a newborn child. She describes the experience as “Nazi-like,” because Epstein and Maxwell thought she could produce a child with elite genetics due to her blue eyes, blonde hair and skill at playing the piano.
The journal is written in code, accompanied by numerous collages of magazine clippings and hand-drawn artwork. Although the Department of Justice offers no interpretation of the documents, speculation about the journal suggests she wrote in this way to conceal it from her captors if found.
Among those referenced in the journal seem to be Harvey Weinstein, Larry Summers, Dan Snyder, George Mitchell, a “royal” Andrew, the “old president” who “should have been thinking of Chelsea!” and various other politicians, athletes and wealthy people. She says they sexually abused her and other girls in multiple locations, including on planes.
One location mentioned in the journal is Mar-a-Lago. And there is only one redacted name in the journal:
(Redacted) should not brag because that was yucky! Does this lady know you can’t have any dignity if you’ve been with him? I know I have none.”
Notably, these sentences are next to a magazine cutout which says, “Ivana Trump, Entrepreneur: She once asked me how I handled the press during my divorce. She said, ‘You came out of your divorce with dignity and pride, and that’s how I would like to come out of mine.’”
But while it is vague, the journal explicitly shows the turmoil she endured while living in captivity.
“I feel broken and exhausted.”
On missing the normal life of middle and high school, she writes: “To send you away and take away your life. Ticking time with shortened schedules and waiving all my absent days to fit the scheduling of vile men! Was it worth it? No, don’t answer that. I know I never have been … I feel broken and exhausted. I am so fucking tired of this sick and twisted ‘game’ that is causing such physical and emotional pain!”
And this journal is just one girl’s experience.
The files also include thousands of email and text exchanges between Epstein and people like Deepak Chopra, Elon Musk and other heavily redacted names. Along with child sex trafficking, there also are references to other forms of abuse.
For instance, this email exchange between Epstein and a redacted recipient says, “I loved the torture video.” And this email to Epstein from a redacted sender seemingly references a pre-pubescent child: “New Brazilian just arrived, sexy and cute, =9yo.”
There are also thousands of images, court documents and spreadsheets, many of which are filled with redactions.
This offers us a glimpse — albeit heavily redacted — into the world of human trafficking these children endured. But what does this mean for everyday readers? What is our connection to this story? What do we learn from this?
Human trafficking is modern-day enslavement
Before we answer those questions, we need to fully understand human trafficking beyond the sensationalized headlines about the sex abuse in the files.
Essentially, human trafficking is modern-day enslavement.
Between 2023 and 2024, I copyedited a textbook titled Ancient Slavery And Its New Testament Contexts, compiled by authors and biblical scholars Christy Cobb and Katherine Shaner. Although the book focuses on enslavement in antiquity, the final chapter teaches readers why this topic is important to a modern audience.
“Human trafficking is modern-day enslavement.”
Enslavement is still happening.
By definition, human trafficking is qualified by the economic exploitation of a person being threatened by another person with power, therefore causing the exploited one to lack the ability to consent. This is often thought of in sexual terms but can include any kind of forced labor.
This has occurred throughout history in numerous cultures. If one person or community has economic power over another, they have the capability of enslaving them.
And as the textbook notes, this is markedly different from legal definitions of labor — including prostitution. Consensual labor can be stopped by the laborer at any time, without threat of violence, manipulation, blackmail or abuse. Trafficking victims, however, are being threatened, forced or coerced in some way that strips them of the freedom to leave.
So, it is no coincidence that many of the teenagers referenced in the Epstein Files describe their experiences as enslavement. And while some criticize the women who have come forward by saying they were simply prostitutes gaining financial compensation for sex work, this is categorically false.
Even the women who remained in service to Epstein and his associates after turning 18 meet the threshold of human trafficking.
This is because threats were often given to the girls, warning that harm — or even murder — would be committed against them and their families if they left or revealed the truth to the public. Often, the men dishing out these threats made it clear they had the wealth and power to carry them out.
These women had no reason to believe these threats would not occur. Or that they had been lifted after their 18th birthdays.
Additionally, many were forced to miss school to be in service to Epstein and his associates, meaning they had no high school diplomas. This made them financially dependent on the money their abusers provided them, since they were ineligible for college or most jobs.
These things created a direct line of psychological, physical and economic power that kept victims connected to their abusers — just like many African Americans in the United States continued working on the plantations where they were formerly enslaved for little or no wages. Despite manumitted status and no desire to maintain a connection with their captors, they typically had no education, and most were not wealthy enough to break ties.
Thus, the horrifying cycle of human trafficking holds its victims captive, in history and today.
Interpreting this information
Now that we have a basic understanding of human trafficking, we can begin to interpret what the Epstein Files mean for everyday readers.
First, and likely most obvious, is the charge to hold everyone involved in this sex-trafficking operation accountable for the roles they played in it. To the fullest extent of the law.
This will require the DOJ and other law enforcement officials to take seriously the content of the files, even though the current administration would prefer to move on. But knowledge is and always has been power.
The more the American people demand justice, and the more exposure we give to the unredacted stories found in the public records, the harder it will be for these people to hide from the truth. There will come a day when other people are in leadership. And when that day comes, the people playing their power cards to escape justice will no longer be able to do so.
“There will come a day when other people are in leadership. And when that day comes, the people playing their power cards to escape justice will no longer be able to do so.”
Second is the charge to believe survivors. And take allegations like this seriously.
Throughout the Epstein Files, there are numerous jokes about the pain and torment victims endured while in captivity. In the journal referenced at the beginning of this article, the teenage writer repeatedly questions how powerful people she thought were “good” could be so evil, how even the ones who did not abuse her stood by and did nothing when they knew crimes were occurring.
But abuse is not a joke. It is not light-hearted. It is not a commodity that wealth or fame affords.
Perhaps because it feels inconvenient to go through the social, financial or legal motions of justice.
So, if the contents of the Epstein Files upsets you, take it as a call to action and accountability. There are survivors out there who are desperate to be heard, abusers out there desperate to stay hidden and people in between whose refusal to act on their knowledge of the truth makes them complicit.
Third is the charge to consider how human trafficking touches your own life. Because it does.
It may or may not be sex trafficking, but there are certainly ways our everyday lives connect us to systems of abuse. Laborers are being exploited everywhere for our gain, especially in agricultural and textile industries.
It is likely the produce in your grocery store was harvested by unpaid or underpaid workers who are being exposed to dangerous pesticides without proper protective gear. Or the shirt you’re wearing was made by women and children working in sweatshops for pennies on the hour, whose bodies are being exploited by abusive bosses.
“If the content of the Epstein Files upsets you, take it as a call to action and accountability.”
And try as we might to research ethical brands, purchasing exclusively from them takes a significant amount of wealth. For virtually everyone, there is not a part of our lives untouched by modern-day enslavement.
But perhaps the Epstein story serves as our reminder to be aware of this.
When we consider the small ways we can make a difference — like buying only the produce we know we will eat, foregoing the new outfit from that sketchy, cheap website or believing the survivor — we make the migrant farm worker, the underpaid child and the sexually exploited our neighbors.
When we write letters to politicians demanding justice, sign petitions to strengthen labor regulations or tell the truth that holds perpetrators accountable, we labor together toward a more just world.
Accountability, belief and connection.
All three of these charges come at a personal, social, and sometimes financial or professional risk. But ignoring them lends itself to a life of captivity — if not for me, for my neighbor.
Freedom is worth the risk.
Mallory Challis
Mallory Challis is a master of divinity student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She is a former BNG Clemons Fellow and creator of the BNG podcast “Non-Disclosure” about child sexual abuse at Kamp Kanankuk.