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A Love Letter to Survivors

February 24, 2026 • A Collective Letter to Survivors Amid of the Ongoing Release of the Epstein Files, from the Survivor Justice Network + Allies

Dear Survivors, 

Over the past year, people around the globe have focused on the release of the Epstein files, in part because of the courageous leadership of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s violence. While demanding transparency–and often enduring hard information delivered in needlessly hard ways–we have held all the survivors in our hearts. We see you and we’re inspired by you. 

In this moment when your names, experiences, and trauma have become fodder for news cycles and political theater; we see you. Not as characters in a true crime saga. Not as data points in someone else’s political calculations. We see you as whole human beings who have carried an impossible weight and survived attempts to silence you. We see you as those who have spoken truth into a void that too often refuses to hear.  And we honor those of you who have remained silent, making the decision to heal in private.

You do not owe the world your story. 

You do not owe anyone your testimony, tears, or forgiveness. You are not required to be the “perfect victim” or the “triumphant survivor.” The fact that you are here, breathing, has always been enough. 

And to all the survivors watching this unfold: we know what this has felt like, and we will carry the burden with you. It has meant subjecting yourself to an onslaught of triggering details delivered without care or context. 

We know that beneath the salacious headlines and breathless commentary, there is a profound absence of education about sexual and gender-based violence as a structural problem. Instead, it has been treated as lurid entertainment.

We know that you have been navigating this barrage while holding down jobs, supporting families, showing up for communities, and doing the sacred work of living. We know that the world has not paused to consider what it means to flood the collective consciousness with details of sexual violence and then wonder why we don’t talk about the “real issues.”

This issue is real. You are real. Your experience is real. And you are not alone.

We know healing is not linear. There are good days, bad days, and days when you don’t know how to feel. There are days when you feel powerful and days when you feel hollow. There are days when the world’s cruelty and callousness threatens to undo you. All of these days are valid. You are navigating an ongoing harm in a world that has not yet learned how to hold you with the tenderness you deserve.

We are building toward something different. A world where sexual violence is recognized not as an inevitable feature of human society but as a structural problem with structural solutions. A world where survivors are met with belief, support, and resources rather than scrutiny, blame, and retraumatization. A world where your dignity is non-negotiable and your healing is held as sacred.

This work takes all of us – survivors and allies, activists and healers, those who speak publicly and those who do their work in silence. 

If you need resources, we have gathered them for you. If you need fighters, we have your back. If you need community, we are here. If you need to be left alone, we will honor that. There is no right way to move through this moment. There is only your way.

You have never been alone. We are a movement, and you are part of it, whether you claim that mantle publicly or hold it privately in your heart.

We see you. We love you. We honor you. And we will continue to stand in the gap.

With boundless solidarity, fierce protection, and revolutionary grace.

Signed,

Tarana Burke and Dani Ayers, me too. International 

Fatima Goss Graves, National Women’s Law Center and TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund

Mónica Ramírez, Justice for Migrant Women

The Survivor Justice Network: Collective Threads Initiative, EducateUS, Equal Rights Advocates, Esperanza United, Girls for Gender Equity, Justice for Migrant Women, me too. International, Monsoon Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, National Organization of API Ending Sexual Violence, National Women’s Law Center, SafeBAE, SWOP Behind Bars Inc., Tewa Women United, UltraViolet

World Without Exploitation, AAPI Women Lead, Alliance for Girls, American Association of University Women (AAUW), Anthem of Us, Autistic People of Color Fund, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, BKForge: Brooklyn for Reproductive & Gender Equity, Black Feminist Future, Battered Women’s Justice Project (BWJP), Center for Story & Witness (formerly The Voices & Faces Project), Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues, Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Family Values@Work Action, Feminist Majority Foundation, Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, FreeFrom, Gender Justice, Harassment-Free New York, Hope Rise Thrive, Human Rights Campaign, Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault, Jewish Women International, Justice and Joy National Collaborative, Maine Women’s Lobby, MANA-A National Latina Organization, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Model Alliance, National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), National Black Worker Center, National Domestic Violence Hotline, National Network to End Domestic Violence, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Political Caucus, New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, Ohio Alliance To End Sexual Violence, Respect Together, Saving Ourselves Foundation Inc., Sexual Violence Prevention Association, Tahirih Justice Center, Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, ValorUS, Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Violence Intervention Program, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services, Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Women Employed, Women’s March, Women’s Media Center, Worksafe (California), YWCA USA

For Healing and Support Resources, check out the following:

 

About the Survivor Justice Network

The Survivor Justice Network (SJN), formerly the Survivors’ Agenda, anchored by me too. International, National Women’s Law Center, and Justice for Migrant Women is a collective of organizations who believe that survivors should be shaping the national conversation on sexual violence. Our work is survivor-centered and survivor-led.