The Epstein Emails Show #MeToo Never Stood a Chance

“J E paid 200.00” (2026) by Jenny Holzer, from her series “Redaction Paintings.”Credit...

Ms. Wilmot is an academic who researches gender and legal systems.

In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Titus Andronicus,” a general’s daughter, Lavinia, is raped by Chiron and Demetrius, two powerful princes. To prevent her from revealing their crime, her assailants carve out her tongue and amputate both her hands.

Lavinia has been on my mind as I’ve combed through countless emails between Jeffrey Epstein and his vast network. In them, tongue-severing swords take the form of threats, settlements and confidentiality agreements. But unlike Chiron and Demetrius, Mr. Epstein seemed to know that even these vows of silence can crack under pressure, that women can still speak out.

The recent release of millions of pages of court filings, correspondence and other records spanning decades show that Mr. Epstein had been developing a playbook on how to silence women since his conviction, in 2008, for soliciting a minor for prostitution (a polite way of describing the crime of paying a teenager in order to sexually assault them). These documents show how he cultivated a climate of skepticism around all women leveling accusations of sexual impropriety, not merely the girls and women he abused.

The mechanics of doubt revealed in the Epstein files — the strategies and tactics deployed by the powerful to erode survivors’ credibility — offer a rare glimpse into what the #MeToo movement was up against when it took off in 2017. The emails make it clear that the movement’s hard-won progress never stood a chance. Mr. Epstein seems to have understood that if he could wield his behind-the-scenes influence to encourage a belief that women and girls were unreliable, that perception was stronger than any nondisclosure agreement. If you can transform a person from a victim into a liar, you can cut out her tongue for good.

During the height of the #MeToo movement, a handful of high-profile men were prosecuted, many more were canceled, and a number of promising legal reforms were passed. In America, statutes of limitations for sex crimes were extended and definitions of harassment were expanded. Nondisclosure agreements intended to silence women were made harder to enforce. Police departments faced pressure to reduce the number of rape cases that are dismissed for lack of evidence.

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