Weekend Hot Takes: The "Epstein List”

Swop Behind Bars
Jul 21
5 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

The sex worker rights movement has long explored how the public—and too often, the courts—struggle to grasp the realities of exploitation, especially when it hides behind wealth, consent, or celebrity. We’ve written about coercion, manipulation, and the blurry gray lines that survivors are expected to define in black and white.

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But there’s something else we need to talk about.Something that resurfaces every few months like clockwork: The Epstein “client list.”

Where is it?

Who’s on it?

When will it be released?

Trump Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

This week, former President Trump dismissed calls—even from his own party—to release Epstein-related documents, calling those pushing for transparency “stupid Republicans” and mocking his supporters as “weaklings.” Allies like Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene distanced themselves, insisting the public deserves answers.

Meanwhile, the DOJ and FBI continue to deny the existence of any formal “client list,” brushing off the growing demand for accountability as conspiracy-fueled nonsense.

But Trump’s comments made one thing clear:This isn’t about justice. It’s about control.

Trump has always played to his base with a simple formula: give them enemies, feed them outrage, pretend to be one of them. But this time, he didn’t just downplay Epstein—he insulted the people demanding answers.

That doesn’t sit well with:

QAnon loyalists, who see Epstein as their deep state linchpin,
Evangelicals, who’ve built entire movements around saving children, and
Mainstream voters, who may not fully understand trafficking, but feel righteous about fighting it.

This wasn’t a dog whistle—it was a slap in the face.Trump didn’t imply anything. He said it out loud: “You’re the problem.”

The reaction? Fractured.Some are defending him. Others are furious. A few are finally asking, “Was he ever really on our side?”

Will it matter? Only if the betrayal feels personal enough to break through the constant noise.

Is This About Trafficking—or Just Another Moral Panic?

Let’s be honest: America doesn’t hate trafficking because it cares about survivors.It hates trafficking because it makes a perfect villain.

It’s visceral. It’s cinematic. It’s bipartisan clickbait.

But dig deeper and you find most people don’t understand what trafficking actually is. They conflate it with consensual sex work, immigration, poverty, or teen rebellion.

And when real survivors show up—messy, complicated, and inconvenient—they’re often ignored or punished.

So no, this uproar isn’t about the horror of trafficking.It’s about the threat to moral superiority.

Trump didn’t just reject transparency.He reminded everyone that the system isn’t built to deliver justice—it’s built to protect power.And in American politics, you can survive almost anything. Except ruining the fantasy.

Let’s Talk About Lists—And the Women Who Kept Them

Sometimes a list really is just... a list. A name in a busted-up Gen 1 iPhone. A scribbled note with bad spelling. Not necessarily a salacious blackmail manifesto—just a bunch of names and numbers.

But when those names belong to the rich, powerful, or politically untouchable? Even a cocktail napkin becomes a loaded weapon.

Let’s be clear: what happened in Epstein’s orbit was not sex work.This wasn’t about adult, consensual exchanges.This was trafficking—in the clearest and most brutal definition of the word.We’re talking force, fraud, and coercion.We’re talking girls as young as 14, recruited, groomed, and raped—repeatedly, and with full knowledge of the adults around them.Internationally. Across borders.In mansions. On private jets. On an island built for exploitation.In public view.

And worst of all? The survivors told us. They told the FBI. They told prosecutors. They told journalists. And no one believed them. Not for months. Not for years. Not until it was politically inconvenient not to believe them. By then, Epstein had already cut a sweetheart deal, served a joke of a sentence, and walked free while his victims were still being called liars, prostitutes, or just plain crazy.

So when people obsess over “the list,” it’s not really about the truth.It’s about the fantasy of a reckoning.

But we already have flight logs, phone records, and witness statements. No one’s confused about who Epstein was. They just want to know: who did it with him? And maybe more importantly—who knew, and looked away?

Because in America, guilt by association is real.But consequences for the powerful? Not so much.

And sex workers have always understood that dynamic.We’ve seen how information becomes currency, and how quickly it can be turned against us.

A list isn’t just a document. It’s leverage. It's a liability. It’s a loaded gun.

And the government knows it too.That’s why they want it. Not to protect survivors, but to protect themselves—to preserve control over who gets punished, who gets protected, and who disappears from the narrative entirely.

Some of the most infamous madams in U.S. history weren’t taken down for trafficking or violence.They were taken down for what—and who—they knew:

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the “DC Madam,” handed over 46 pounds of phone records in 2007. Her clients included Pentagon officials and senators. She died under “suspicious circumstances” before trial. The list didn’t save her—it likely sealed her fate.
Sydney Biddle Barrows, the “Mayflower Madam,” pled guilty in 1984 and kept her list. Prosecutors gave it back—unredacted. Once they had the names, no one followed up. No clients were ever charged.
Heidi Fleiss wasn’t punished for exploitation. She was punished for the possibility of exposure. The men in her black book vanished into silence. The women were left to clean up the fallout.
Jody “Babydol” Gibson had a list too. It was used in court—not to hold her clients accountable, but to discredit her.

And here’s the part they never say out loud:

Those lists? They’re often dangled as bargaining chips.“Cooperate and give us the names,” they say.But the follow-through? Rare.The indictments? Almost nonexistent.

Because the goal was never to stop abuse.It was to neutralize the woman holding the truth.

And the survivors? They were never supposed to be heard in the first place.

What They Want Isn’t Justice—It’s Control

If Epstein’s client list really mattered to law enforcement, there would be indictments. There aren’t.

Because the system doesn’t want to bring down powerful abusers. It wants to keep access to them.

Trump’s comments weren’t a fluke. They were a reminder: if your outrage threatens the elite, you’ll be left twisting in the wind.

And if you’re a sex worker, a survivor, or someone deemed disposable? You’ll be the first target.

Because you had the list. You saw the faces. You know the stories. And your memory is more dangerous than any courtroom testimony.

Exploitation Isn’t a List—It’s a System

Just like in the Combs case, the public wants a storybook narrative: A perfect villain. A perfect victim. A clean conclusion.

But exploitation doesn’t come with act breaks. It’s a system:

A system that punishes sex workers for defending themselves.
A system that silences survivors who don’t fit the rescue script.
A system that only weaponizes information if it threatens the wrong people.

We don’t need another headline.

We need a public that actually understands what trafficking is—and what it isn’t. We need people to stop obsessing over lists and start asking better questions: