The problem is far bigger than Jeffrey Epstein | Rebecca Solnit

Treating the scandal as an aberration misunderstands the global epidemic of violence against women

On 2 July, the jury delivered a guilty verdict on some of the charges against the music mogul Sean Combs, accused of horrific sexual abuse of women with the help of his extensive staff and deep pockets. He's also accused in many civil suits of sexual abuse of adults and minors. It seems like everyone promptly forgot about Combs when the facts about the financier Jeffrey Epstein's decades of horrific sexual abuse of at least a 100 girls and women, with the help of his extensive staff, deep pockets, banks, and elite connections became the next front-page ruckus.

In June, the movie producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty in a New York retrial for some of his decades of horrific sexual abuse of women, with the help of his extensive staff, top lawyers, the film industry, some ex-Mossad agents and of course his deep pockets. In February a federal appeals court upheld the convictions and 30-year prison sentence of the singer R Kelly for racketeering and sex trafficking; last year his other 20-year sentence was also upheld, for producing child abuse images and enticement of children for sex. Of course his deep pockets and extensive assistance had also been factors in how he too was able to abuse girls for so long.

Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of No Straight Road Takes You There and Orwell's Roses