At one level, the phenomenon is unsurprising. Jeffrey Epstein has become the ultimate symbol of elite impunity. A wealthy man with extraordinary social connections exploited vulnerable girls for years whilst apparently evading meaningful accountability. For those who view society primarily through the lens of class struggle, Epstein represents the corrupting influence of wealth. The “Epstein class” becomes shorthand for a system in which billionaires, politicians and those with access to power operate according to different rules from everyone else.

Yet the prominence of Epstein within these movements raises an uncomfortable question. Why has this particular scandal become such a potent symbol of evil, whilst Britain’s own grooming gang scandals occupy a markedly different place within the moral imagination of the same activist spaces?

The contrast is striking. By conservative estimates, the number of identified victims connected to Epstein’s offending network stands at around one thousand. Rotherham alone is estimated to have involved approximately 1,400 victims between 1997 and 2013. Rotherham was far from unique. Similar scandals emerged in Rochdale, Telford, Oxford, Oldham and elsewhere, suggesting that the number of victims affected by Britain’s grooming gang scandals runs into several thousands. Yet these scandals have not generated anything approaching the same symbolic importance within Britain’s protest culture.

Nor were the experiences of victims necessarily comparable. The exploitation associated with Epstein was devastating and lifelong in its effects. However, many victims of Britain’s grooming gang scandals were subjected to abuse by multiple perpetrators over prolonged periods. Some were trafficked between locations and effectively passed from offender to offender. Others were threatened with violence or physically assaulted if they attempted to escape. Many encountered institutions that dismissed them as troublesome adolescents making “lifestyle choices” rather than recognising them as children being systematically raped and exploited. Research into child sexual exploitation consistently identifies repeated abuse by multiple perpetrators, trafficking, prolonged victimisation and institutional betrayal as factors associated with more severe and enduring psychological harm. By those measures, many victims of Britain’s grooming gang scandals suffered extraordinarily complex trauma.

This disparity in emphasis raises difficult questions. Why has one scandal become a recurring motif within contemporary protest movements, whilst the other often occupies a more ambiguous and politically awkward position?

Part of the answer may lie in the ideological frameworks through which many activist movements increasingly understand the world. Society becomes divided into categories of oppressor and oppressed. Israel becomes a settler-colonial state. Zionists become representatives of imperial power. The West becomes a force for exploitation.........

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