Gloria Allred recently held a press conference with her client, Alicia Arden, who is a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. Here is the PBS News Hour clip:
https://youtu.be/UmJoLyxG2H4?feature=shared
In this clip, the pain Alicia Arden is currently experiencing can be seen. It made my chest hurt, as I watched Alicia speak. She cannot escape her personal trauma being devoured by the masses on every media platform. And the only person doing time for crimes against Alicia and other survivors is about to be pardoned by the leader of our country.
I have experienced the jarring sensation of seeing my old predator sda school principal show up in a friend's social media post, or discovering that old principal once belonged to a Facebook group for sexual abuse survivors, where he was offering comfort to teen girls in crisis, just as he had once done to me. It does something internally, to see one's abuser freely grooming and abusing others, while they never had to answer for what they have already been doing for decades. It hurts in ways that are hard to put into words.
I am currently reminded of the young crew member from the set of Delores Roach a few summers back. Marc Maron indecently exposed his genitals to this young crew member. (https://sighlentz.blogspot.com/2023/04/a-real-predator.html) Maron is currently on a publicity tour for a number of things he is featured in, which means he pops up all over the place online. That crew member will see him, and each time she does, she will relive the fact that this entertainer knew he could illegally commit a sex crime against her, and there was nothing she could do about it. He continues on with his life, being marketed to children in some of his work, and she has to live with the knowledge that nobody will protect her, or anyone like her, from this man. He is free to break the law, and she must live with it, while being forced to see him publicly speak on programs like Fresh Air and morning news shows or late night programing. That is how predators in a patriarchy leave their victims feeling: powerless. Those who are exploited by celebrity predators, must experience the pain of seeing their perpetrators in media, which makes it that much worse.
My chest hurts when I think of the pain Alicia Arden, and all of Epstein/Maxwell's living survivors are currently experiencing. And my chest hurts for those who have been exploited by Marc Maron, and are being reminded of him during his current publicity cycle.
