Joe Biden Is on a Mission to Change Sexual Assault Culture

Vice President Joe Biden is on a mission to end the malarkey behind weak sexual assault protocols and beliefs. During an interview on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Biden expressed his disdain for rape, sexual assault, and what we can do to help make college campuses safer. Earlier this week, Biden appeared in an episode of Law & Order: SVU in which he spoke out about the backlog of rape kits at police departments.

“We can change the culture here. No means no,” Biden said during the interview. “If a woman can’t respond because she’s inebriated or under the influence, then it’s rape.” Biden noted that violent crime against women is down, but nothing has changed for women between the ages of 18-24: “They were being as brutalized as they were before.”

The interview comes two years after the White House launched It’s On Us, an initiative dedicated to ending sexual assault on college campuses.

During the interview, Biden also said men who commit sexual acts of violence against women are “cowards.” He explained: “Any man who takes a drunk woman up the stairs of a fraternity house is a damn coward. There’s nothing manly about this.”

Biden said that he and his staff did research through town hall events and learned that the best way to end these harrowing cases is for men to get involved. “I’m convinced the vast majority of men understand and it’s about time we speak up and we intervene when we see it,” he said.

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While sexual assault prevention remains a priority for Vice President Biden, so does family. Fallon brought up a note that the vice president wrote to his staff in 2014, which Fallon called “unbelievable.” Biden wrote, “I do not expect nor do I want any of you to miss or sacrifice important obligations for work.” He said this was “very important” to him. In fact, so important that, “I will go so far as to say that if I find out that you are working with me while missing important family responsibilities, it will disappoint me greatly.” He explained to Fallon that the rationalization people make for missing family events but thinking “he’ll understand” is truly “a bunch of malarkey.”