By Sheeva Azma
“The women are all weak and a distraction.”
When I read these words from Jeffrey Epstein to his friend, John Brockman whose organization, the Edge Foundation, Epstein funded, every setback I’d experienced in science not only made sense, but all the things I’d been suspecting for years finally had some pretty high-profile and tangible evidence.
It is tough to be a woman in science, and since I’ve started posting about science in the Epstein files on our Instagram, women in STEM have reached out to say that these findings have confirmed their long-time experiences and suspicions about the STEM enterprise.
By the time Epstein had shot off these words into the internet in 2018, he had served jail time for his crimes — only in a county jail, and even though the crimes were found to be with minors, the sentencing did not reflect that. This was all thanks to “cozy” negotiations which meant that his punishment was more lenient and would get less press, per a Miami Herald story, but it would be just a few months until, in December, per PBS, the FBI would start to investigate him again — actually, thanks to that very same series of Miami Herald investigations, which piqued public interest in the Epstein case.
This is the same person who was funding millions and millions of dollars of science funding, taking scientists on lavish trips to his island and inviting them to his ranch, having conversations about science with them and shaping their research directions, helping them get jobs, visiting various universities and participating in their philanthropy programs, and even having an office space right in Harvard square where he could invite researchers and others.
In case you’re interested in reading more about how Epstein’s involvement in science shaped sexism in the academic science enterprise, I recommend reading this amazing article by the wonderful people at the 19th.
I’ve previously written about various aspects of science in the Epstein files. In fact, I predicted professors at MIT and Harvard would be embroiled in it all, and they were. I later published a (non-comprehensive) list of scientists I found in the Epstein files.
The thing is that Jeffrey Epstein loved to fund science. In his attempt to clear his name, he connected with others who were just as toxic as him, who now, for the most part, just claim they didn’t know what he was doing was that bad. At the time this was all happening, though, academics rallied around him — even visiting him in jail.
People Epstein affiliated with in science were the worst of the worst in terms of their their tendency to commit misconduct of various types. Others were luminaries we all admired. An alarming number had important positions in academia and also faced claims of sexual assault or are revealed in the Epstein files to have visited the Epstein ranch, which is under criminal investigation by the State of New Mexico.
Regardless of whether or not the academics who knew Epstein really knew what he was up to, academia’s Epstein legacy is clear. Academic papers in high-profile journals such as Nature thank a convicted trafficker. Sadly, it is just another huge red flag for women in science.
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