Why the Ghislaine Maxwell case is so shocking to so many

Ghislaine Maxwell, the woman accused of helping Jeffrey Epstein recruit, groom and sexually abuse girls, some as young as 14, appears in court today charged with perjury and conspiracy. In some cases, she allegedly participated in the abuse herself. Maxwell denies the charges and her attorneys said she “is not Epstein.” She’s not. But many find her equally horrifying, dismaying — and something else, too: confounding. 

The Maxwell case shocks us because it defies stereotypes about predation, gender and class. Many people don’t think of women as perpetrators of sexual violence, especially not women who are part of the British aristocracy. But sexual violence experts say the case underscores how incorrect and incomplete our ideas are about how sexual abuse happens and who commits it. 

“This is not a behavior that we associate with women. There’s this understanding that women would protect other women, or that women would protect children. And that is unfortunately not the case,” said Laura Palumbo, communications director at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. “People from all walks of life commit sexual abuse and harm.”

Research on female perpetrators is limited. The Rape Abuse and Incest National Network said the Maxwell case has prompted the organization to look more deeply at female offenders, but they are difficult to study because they aren’t often caught. 

“Partly as a result of this case, it’s prompted our research team to start going back through our hotline data, to identify cases where there was a female perpetrator and see if they can learn anything or see any patterns,” said RAINN president Scott Berkowitz.

Defying the stereotype of a woman

A 2017 Pew survey found “nurturing” and “empathy” were among the top traits society values most in women. Women are not generally thought of as violent. Shock at Maxwell in part reflects stereotypes about women being gentle, emotional, in need of protection. We don’t expect women to harm, and certainly not with the degree of cruelty Maxwell is accused of. 

Society views men as the perpetrators of violence. Our stereotypical view of masculinity is one where men dominate others and where men are often unable to control their sexual urges.

It’s an erroneous idea that a sexual offender must be a man who is dominant and aggressive, experts say. It’s why we even have trouble seeing stereotypically “good guys” as capable of abuse.

“One of our psychological defenses against feeling vulnerable ourselves is to create this idea that it must take some kind of monster to commit sexual assault or any of these other types of sexual offenses,” said Sherry Hamby, a University of the South psychology professor and founding editor of the American Psychological Association journal Psychology of Violence.

These stereotypes are also why male victims of sexual assault or abuse struggle to come forward, according to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network. Feelings of shame are compounded by the belief they should have been “strong enough” to stop their perpetrator. 

Kristen Houser, a nationally recognized expert in sexual abuse, said the invisibility of female perpetration is a widely recognized problem. Men are more likely to sexually assault and abuse, but that doesn’t mean women don’t. Our understanding of female sexual abusers, however, is often confined to tropes, like a female teacher abusing a teenage male student.

“We often think about it within a teacher-student relationship … but it’s certainly not limited to that just because that’s what we pay the most attention to,” Houser said.

The media may be partly to blame for the public’s confusion around Maxwell. Authors of a 2019 study looking at the “culture of denial” around female sex offenders theorized that media reports reinforce gender stereotypes and limit awareness of sexual offenses committed by women.

A 2017 study analyzing data from four large-scale federal agency surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bureau of Justice Statistics found gender stereotypes can obscure the prevalence of female sexual perpetration and minimize its impact. 

In a 2002 study on lesbian and bisexual victims of female-perpetrated sexual violence, one victim stated: “[W]hen I said to her, ‘You raped me,’ she just laughed at me. She said, ‘That’s impossible.’” The study also found internalized gender bias can lead victims to dismiss abuse, with one victim saying, “The fact that it was from another woman also made me realize how much more I was willing to accept from her in the form of abuse.”

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A 2015 study on the differences between male and female sex offenders found females offended against a victim of the same sex in nearly half of their crimes.

Female offenders offend with male accomplices, as was the alleged case with Maxwell and Epstein, in 30% of their sexual crimes, according to a 2015 study.

Defying the stereotype of a socialite

Maxwell is the daughter of Robert Maxwell, a publishing tycoon and former member of the British Parliament who died in 1991 after falling overboard from his luxury yacht, Lady Ghislaine, named after the youngest of his nine children.

“No one is thinking of a British socialite when they’re thinking about who’s a predator of sexual abuse and violence,” Palumbo said.

But it may be part of how Maxwell allegedly groomed the victims. Court documents describe elaborate schemes in which Maxwell and Epstein allegedly accompanied victims on shopping trips and movie outings, designed to put the girls at ease. 

“Having developed a rapport with a victim, Maxwell would try to normalize sexual abuse … by, among other things, discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the victim, being present when a minor victim was undressed and being present for sex acts involving the minor victim and Epstein,” prosecutors allege.

Maxwell and Epstein enticed and lured victims to Epstein’s homes scattered across the United States and abroad, “which Maxwell knew and intended would result in their grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse,” the federal grand jury indictment charged.

If Maxwell was the one recruiting girls, experts say it was a powerful strategy. A child is much less likely to see a woman as having abusive intentions.

Experts say the issue of class can make it difficult for people to acknowledge victimization can be perpetrated by and happen to the ultra rich.

“That’s part of why her role in this story is so shocking to people, because we let class cloud reality for us,” Houser said. “If you stop and think, we all can probably point to numerous places where wealth and prestige and power contributed to abuse and did not protect against abuse. So let’s just assume that those things exist no matter who you are.”

In cases of men, class is often initially used in their defense, as in “he could get any woman he wants, why would he rape?” or “she’s making it up because he’s rich and she wants money,” even though women who come forward against famous, wealthy men are often met with public condemnation and even death threats.

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Class also matters in how victims are targeted. Perpetrators of sex trafficking often target victims who are poor, lack support networks and are living on the margins of society, experts say. They especially target children with a history of abuse and neglect, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

In 2018, Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown identified 80 victims Epstein abused from 2001 to 2006. The Herald spoke with eight of the accusers and found “most of the girls came from disadvantaged families, single-parent homes or foster care.  … Many of the girls were one step away from homelessness.”

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‘Their stories matter more’

Sexual violence experts are careful not to speculate about Maxwell’s history or intentions, but they do note that sexual violence involves complex dynamics. Sometimes with grooming, for example, the dynamic is one that shifts from someone being victimized to aligning with the victimizer as a way to protect themselves.

It’s unknown whether Maxwell was ever a victim of sexual abuse herself. Research shows female sex offenders have a high incidence of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse in their histories and female juvenile sexual offenders are more likely to have experienced sexual abuse in childhood.

Maxwell remains a mystery. We may never know her motivations, and some would say we don’t have to. But we do have to confront our own biases, experts say, to recognize the harm sexual violence causes regardless of gender or social class. 

“We have so many people who have come forward and provided rather explicit inventories of her role in recruiting, in abusing and making people feel trapped,” Houser said. “Whatever her story was, their stories matter more.”

If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit hotline.rainn.org/online and receive confidential support.

If you’ve seen what could be human trafficking or if you need help, the National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888 is confidential, toll-free and available 24/7 in more than 200 languages. Text: “BeFree” (233733). Chat: humantraffickinghotline.org.

You may also want to read:

• Boy Scouts files bankruptcy in the face of thousands of child abuse allegations
• Sex trafficking, prostitution is anything but a ‘victimless crime,’ experts say
• Why didn’t you report? Shame, shame, shame
• Robert Kraft case highlights risks facing Asian women

Contributing: Kevin Johnson, Kevin McCoy, Kristine Phillips, USA TODAY

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