Justice

Everyone Needs To Hear What Joe Biden Just Said About Consent

April 27th 2017

Joe Biden just made a powerful statement about sexual assault.

On Wednesday night, the former vice president spoke at George Mason University on behalf of It's On Us, a campaign he launched under the Obama administration to put an end to sexual assault. Alisha Boe, of the Netflix show "13 Reasons Why," which explores the issue of rape, was also in attendance. During his remarks, Biden issued not only a call to end sexual assault on campuses, but an emphatic reminder of what consent means. 

"Guys, a woman who’s dead drunk cannot consent. You are raping her. You are raping her."

Biden was not shy about using the word rape, and continued to drive his message home, adding, "If you cannot say 'it's okay' ... I mean this, we've got to talk about this. Consent requires affirmative consent. And if you're too drunk to be able to consent, it is not consent." 

Biden further explained how it's up to students on college campuses to stop sexual assault, saying, "Guys, you gotta speak up." He continues (as transcribed by Indy100):

"When you see something, if you're a fraternity brother and you see a young freshman co-ed in the second week dead drunk, and him walking her up the stairs, you gotta go up to him and say, 'Hey, not in my house, Jack. Not in my house.' Because if you don't, you are an accomplice. You know."

Biden also addressed the familiar refrain of "locker room talk".

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump defended his infamous comments about grabbing women that were made public by a leaked audio tape as "locker room talk." 

The former vice president offered a different viewpoint:

"I've been in a lot of locker rooms. I don't know where in locker rooms where it is acceptable to talk about, 'Man, I was out this weekend and boy, I got a piece of her, and I did this and I did that.' ... Here's the deal guys, you gotta speak up. You cannot let that kind of talk be bred on a college campus."

According to RAINN, "sexual violence is more prevalent at college, compared to other crimes" and reports "about 1 in 6 college-aged female survivors received assistance from a victim services agency."

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