Former Vice President Joe Biden was peak Uncle Joe when giving a speech to college men at George Mason University on Wednesday (April 26).
He was speaking on behalf of his organization, It’s On Us, which asks its supporters to sign a pact to intervene in non-consensual situations, recognize non-consensual sex as assault, and create an environment that supports survivors, among other things.
“Guys, a woman who’s dead drunk cannot consent,” he announced, point-blank, to the crowd. “You are raping her.”
He then began addressing locker room etiquette, likely in reference to the president’s remarks on assaulting women.
“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,'” he said. “The guys who usually say that are usually the ugliest sons of bi— guns in the room.”
He then propelled the laughter that followed his joke onto a more serious note. “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 what’s about to happen. You know!”
His speech is especially significant because while drunken college hook-ups can seem like the norm, that laissez-faire culture can easily lead to a lax attitude towards sexual assault. If someone of any gender is, to quote Joe Biden, “dead drunk,” it isn’t “fuzzy,” it isn’t “maybe,” it isn’t “we were both drinking” — it’s rape.
It’s important college men recognize that, and Joe Biden’s activism to end rape culture is applaudable.
Barry would be proud.