Epstein, Wexner and who how we relate to our bodies.

I find it striking that Epstein’s most important financial client was one of the most influential figures in the American fashion industry: Leslie Wexner, who built a vast retail empire around fashion and lingerie, including Victoria’s Secret. Through Wexner, Jeffrey Epstein gained access to immense wealth and social legitimacy.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Victoria’s Secret had enormous influence over mainstream beauty ideals. The brand aggressively marketed and monetized a very specific image of “sexy femininity”: a sugary, candy-colored aesthetic with angel wings and hyper-sexualized innocence.

When I look at old Victoria’s Secret fashion shows today, I feel deeply uneasy. My protective instincts kick in. Many of the women appear strangely absent — almost untethered.

It does not feel like a celebration of female eroticism.

It feels like something else.

Epstein reportedly presented himself as a recruiter for Victoria’s Secret and groomed young women under the pretense of scouting modeling talent.

One of the properties where, according to survivors, abuse took place originally belonged to Wexner.

In a 1985 New York Magazine profile, journalist Julie Baumgold describes how Leslie Wexner spoke about a demonic presence he experienced within himself.

“He always wakes up worried because of his dybbuk, which pokes and prods and gives him the itchiness of soul that he calls shpilkes. Sometimes he runs away from it on the roads of Columbus, or drives away from it in one of his Porsches, or flies from it in one of his planes (…)”

In Jewish folklore, a dybbuk is a malicious wandering spirit that possesses a living person in order to complete an unfinished task or find peace. Shpilkes is a Yiddish word for intense nervous energy, restlessness, or agitation — something like “having ants in your pants” or “sitting on pins and needles.”

That these men acted in profoundly destructive ways, often appearing entirely detached from empathy, is obvious.

From a shamanic perspective, one might also speak of a kind of “possession.” But not in the conspiratorial sense that locates evil in some secretive ethnic or religious group and weaponizes the narrative with antisemitic resentment. Reducing such cruelty to ethnicity only deepens the very sickness it claims to expose.

The darker truth is more universal.

Many cultures have words for a destructive life harming force that can take hold of human beings.

In some traditions it appears in folklore; in others it is described in the language of psychology or psychiatry. Some Native North American traditions call it Wetiko: a psychic and cultural virus of greed, exploitation, domination, lust for violence, and an insatiable hunger for more.

Culture itself often has elements of abusive consciousness woven into its very fabric, providing a breeding ground for perpetrators.

In some people it turns outward as domination or abuse.

In others it turns inward, appearing as self-destructive patterns: body dysmorphia, eating disorders, cosmetic surgery, self-hatred, or even eroticized attraction to predators.

We are being consumed.

Toxic beauty standards teach us to objectify and even punish our own bodies.

When we internalize and normalize them, the virus (the abusive gaze) begins to live rent-free in our heads, subtly grooming and molding us into roles of prey.

Money and power are among the forces that can dramatically amplify its reach and destructive scale.

To illustrate the scale of the imbalance: Wexner was reportedly furious when Epstein stole 42 million dollars from him — yet, for reasons that remain unclear, he never pursued legal action. That kind of loss surely stings, but for a billionaire it is survivable.

The models, meanwhile, often had to fight for their financial survival while starving their bodies or undergoing invasive treatments just to secure bookings.

Former model Barrett Pall, who himself became a victim of human trafficking within the fashion industry shares revealing insights about this world on his Instagram page (link in the comments). He worked for Abercrombie & Fitch, which is another Wexner brand.

He is also part of documentary „The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool“, that explores allegations of seхual exploitation involving former CEO Mike Jeffries.

He argues that young people between the ages of 10 and 24 are deliberately exploited — both financially and culturally — and used as vehicles to implant destructive beauty standards into the broader population.

He also claims that the modern anti-aging industry is rooted in pedophilic ideals, and that people who speak openly about this often face severe threats and intimidation.

Perhaps the most famous Victoria’s Secret model is Tyra Banks, who later hosted the long-running show America’s Next Top Model. The show was repeatedly criticized for subjecting contestants to bullying, pressuring them to lose weight, and stripping them of autonomy over their own bodies — for example, contestants sometimes had their hair cut against their will.

Ratings were often boosted through voyeuristic humiliation, sometimes at the expense of the women’s dignity and safety. In one instance, even intimate waxing sessions were filmed.

There was essentially only one rule: if a contestant entered a bathroom alone, cameras were not allowed to follow. Everything else could be filmed and exposed to the public eye. Every moment.

In 2004, the show reached a disturbing low point when cameras reportedly kept rolling as one of the models was raped in a swimming pool.

She was also filmed against her will while tearfully calling her partner afterward and having to ask the perpetrator whether he had used protection (she later said she had been unconscious).

In my view, fashion ideals over the past 50 years have increasingly infantilized women. The images I selected actually come from the high-fashion world and from Victoria’s Secret shows. The model on the sofa, for instance, is wearing Versace.

The Twiggy aesthetic already leaned strongly toward a girlish look. Even more troubling was the later trend of heroin chic, popularized by Kate Moss: the sexualization of fragile, “broken” women — the perfect prey.

These are precisely the kinds of girls that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate, is said to have deliberately targeted: young women who were poor, from unstable homes, lacking a strong support system, and often already traumatized.

There is also a documentary exploring the connections between Epstein, Wexner, and Victoria’s Secret: Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons.

Singer Jax captures the issue perfectly in her song Victoria’s Secret, where she speaks about Wexner:

„God, I wish somebody would've told me when I was younger

That all bodies aren't the same

Photoshop, itty-bitty models on magazine covers

Told me I was overweight

I stopped eating, what a bummer

Can't have carbs and a hot girl summer

If I could go back and tell myself when I was younger

I'd say, "Psst"

I know Victoria's Secret

And girl, you wouldn't believe

She's an old man who lives in Ohio

Making money off of girls like me

Cashing in on body issues

Selling skin and bones with big boobs

I know Victoria's Secret

She was made up by a dude“

The secret is out.

The ugliness lies in the open, impossible to deny.

We can imprison perpetrators — and we should. Fuck them. No excuses. Further harm must be prevented. Justice must be served for the victims. No sane mind would doubt that.

But what do we do about the perpetrator’s voice that may still live inside our heads and echo through our everyday culture, shaping how we relate to our bodies, our boundaries, and our emotions?

Perhaps the future begins with the questions we are finally willing to ask and the courage to see clearly through everything we were fed.

Some questions for a future without those little old men living in our heads:

What body ideals did you grow up with?

And who profits when you try to live up to them?

If aging brings wisdom, discernment, and stronger boundaries — why are you taught to be against it?

And what do you want the children of this world to learn about their own bodies?