Biden to Students: ‘No Means No, No Matter What’

[Kadie]

Biden to Students: ‘No Means No, No Matter What’
Posted Tuesday, September 13, 2011 in Reporting by Emily Wood

Vice President Joe Biden wants to make one thing clear: No means no.

The longtime champion of women’s rights released a video message on Tuesday, calling on young people nationwide to help bring an end to violence against women. He speaks directly to viewers in the video, giving them a “very simple rule”:

No means no. No means no if she’s drunk or sober. No means no if she’s in the dorm room or on the street. No means no even if she said yes first and changed her mind. No means no—no matter what. I’m asking all of you, all of you to help get this message out.

Biden, who drafted the landmark Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA), which is up for reauthorization this year, released the video on the 17th anniversary of the passage of the landmark legislation.

“There is no such thing as an innocent bystander when it comes to the abuse of a woman,” Biden tells viewers. Condemning perpetrators, he looks into the camera and boldly asserts that “rape is rape is rape. And it’s a crime.”

more and video at...
http://campusprogress.org/articles/biden_to_students_no_means_no_no_matter_what/

[The Traveler]

1. This is just common sense and simple decency

and yet I feel I have to applaud it. Statements of this sort seem rare from the leadership class these days ... a measure of how far we as a culture have deteriorated, methinks.

Trav

[Kadie]

3. It is rare.

VP Biden deserves a very big hand of applause and our thanks.

[elleng]

2. BRAVO, Mr. Vice President!