Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Americans have started to “change the culture” of sexual assault but that “everyone has a responsibility” to help stem violence against women.
“We have a long history in our culture of basically, in many cases, equating women with being chattel. That they’re somehow owned,” Biden said before a listening session with student groups as part of a new White House Campus Sexual Assault Task Force.
Biden, who authored the Violence Against Women Act as a senator, said the country has “come a long way” but that violence against women must be aggressively addressed, particularly on college campuses.
“I would argue that the real measure of a man’s manhood is whether or not they are willing to intervene, whether or not they are determined to be a part of the solution,” he said. “Looking the other way is wrong. Simply wrong.”
"No means no, means no, whenever it is uttered," he said.
