Where Patriarchy Has No Gender

‘Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption’

Wes Fesler

Every year we celebrate Women's Day with women across the globe, speaking of Equality, advocating for Freedom or organizing rallies and marches. Every year we try to turn the 8th of March into a pressure for change. But this year all the Women and the Men should have a lot more soul searching to do.

Take the recent event. When Iran was bombed in the name of liberating women, the world finally understood that it is always the ones with the dirty hands that point fingers at others. When an entire young generation of girls in a school was eliminated by those whose names appear in the Epstein Files, we saw the intense contradiction between public moral lecturing and private unethical behavior.

Let us for a moment forget about the ongoing war and concentrate on the deadly ‘Files’ that eventually triggered it. No, it isn’t about the Kashmir or the Bengal Files- the propaganda movies that presented a misleading and dangerously one sided narrative, exaggerating figures, ignoring conflicting information and obscuring inconvenient truths to push a blatantly politicized agenda. It is about another set of Files, where a routine display of a deafening silence and an unspoken indifference feels almost chilling.

Even if some might be tempted to dismiss the sordid ‘Files’ as just evidence of the extreme behaviour of a prolific sex offender, it is not. I don’t know what happened behind closed doors in exotic Islands and glamorous Hotels but what I do know is that this isn’t just a political tale of entitled leaders, spiritual gurus and influential people being toppled from power. Rather it is a very personal story of how powerless nameless women, were habitually used and abused, bought and sold, raped and assaulted, and used as playthings by men so wealthy, who truly believed they were untouchable.

These ‘Files’ reveal a male chauvinism and sexism in action, in a world where the men are rich and powerful and the women are not. In this sordid pit of information you also learn valuable lessons about how this modern global patriarchy operates: through flattery and exchange of favours, where rich men are cultivated and women are treated like slaves providing services. Occasionally there are curt reminders of Who owes What to Whom.

For the women, these files also offer an unprecedented chance to eavesdrop on conversations from which the fair sex is usually excluded. They provide salutary insights into what a set of distinguished global figures think and say about women when they assume they aren’t listening. The emails showcase the private behaviour of a male ruling class, as they network, joke and trade unchecked information, with plenty of examples of sniggering disdain for women. But strip away the lewd and crude content, and it also reveals how a patriarchal mindset works on a day to day basis.

There are actually three groups of people that feature in the ‘Files’:

The Billionaires, Tech entrepreneurs, Bankers, Statespeople, Politicians, Leaders, and even Spiritul Gurus, all people who need to be cultivated because they offer Epstein ways to strengthen his network of influence.

The ‘under-aged’ women are doled out money for providing services. Often they just feature as objects and performers who are later used for blackmail.

And then there are some women like Jeffrey’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell who prove that Patriarchy has no gender. Women can also sometimes perpetuate the same patriarchal values that marginalize them. This is a toxic tragedy beyond the power of language to convey, when what has been imposed on women by force becomes a standard of freedom for women.

But what is truly sickening is this- Even when the Files of some of the most influential leaders and businessmen living on this planet are somehow revealed, most people are either distracted by other news or are conveniently made to look the other way. Seriously? These Files reveal a deep loving, financially entangled relationship with a convicted sex offender for God sakes. He is a monster accused of human trafficking. That alone demands a conversation! It requires heated debates and prime time discussions. And we’re not having it.

But they are watching- ALL the real girls, the real women whose lives intersected with these men’s orbits. All of them- even the ‘under-aged women’ who people don’t even have the guts to call ‘children’ are watching. They are all waiting to see if anyone in an influential position will say that their suffering matters. But guess what? All the people with the biggest megaphones in the world of healing and leading and guiding and politicking, have just given them one word- Silence!

Why is it that we can’t say that the sexual abuse of children is wrong without hedging, without disclaiming, without waiting to see which side the wind blows? Earlier womanhood rested on four pillars- Piety, Purity, Domesticity and Submissiveness.

But now in the modern land of the Hypocrites, the demands of the WWF- (World Women's Forum) are simple. We want for everyone to at least accept and acknowledge the fact that prejudice is deeply pervasive; that bigotry is entrenched in every corner of the world and that chauvinism is universal and systemic.

So this year on Women’s Day, we want some fresh assurances. We want a sense of security and a confirmation that all women and children are safe from the cruel clutches of an Epsteinien world. We want World Peace and a forever Peace of Mind. But more than anything else, we also want that each and every person named in the Epstein Files is held accountable. Happy Women's Day!

Nargis Natarajan is a columnist and a writer of satire. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.