Vice President Biden released a new Web video Tuesday condemning sexual violence against women, specifically focusing on school and college campuses.
The video represents a renewed personal push started earlier this year by the vice president to confront the trend of sexual violence, an issue he pursued vigorously in the Senate.
Biden has recently begun promoting his campaign against sexual violence through social media. His first official tweet
in July was on this topic, and in the video Biden also promoted the
Twitter hashtag #1is2many as a way to send ideas for making schools and
campuses safer for women. Biden also helped launch a development
challenge called “Apps Against Abuse" in July to create an interactive
software application.
"Since I wrote the Violence Against Women Act way back in 1990, violence against women has gone down by 50 percent, but it's gone up lately in the category of teens and college women," Biden said.
"One in five young women will be a victim of sexual assault while they're at college, one in 10 teens will be hurt on purpose by someone they are dating, and one in nine teen girls will be forced to have sex," Biden reported. "You don't know these women as statistics. You know them as friends, as sisters."
In April, the administration announced guidelines to help schools respond to campus sexual assault.
Biden spoke directly to men in much of the video, warning them that "no means no" when it comes to sexual activity. Biden concluded the video with a call to action for the "guys" to intervene if they see an act of violence against women.
"If you know somebody's being abused, or see somebody being abused, be a man. Step up. It could be your sister. It's your obligation," he said.
