During Wednesday night’s fifth Democratic Debate, ten candidates gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, to talk about some of the most pressing voter issues. Given that the Me Too movement has shifted the cultural conversation to be more inclusive and expansive when it comes to sexual violence, it’s nice to see the subject highlighted on the debate stage. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s answer, however, has gotten some serious criticism for what is pretty inarguably a poor choice of words.
Moderator Kristen Welker asked Biden how he would address sexual violence and sexual harassment as president.
"We, in fact, have to fundamentally change the culture, the culture of how women are treated,” Biden stated in response. “No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman in anger other than in self-defense, and that rarely ever occurs. So we have to just change the culture, period, and keep punching at it and punching at it. ... No, I really mean it. It's a gigantic issue, and we have to make it clear from the top, from the president on down that we will not tolerate it. We will not tolerate this culture."
Here’s a clip that shows both the question and Biden’s full response.
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As you can hear, awkward laughter floated in the room after Biden chose astoundingly poor words by repeating that we must keep “punching” at our culture that permits domestic violence. In terms of record, Biden has long championed the Violence Against Women Act, as he points out himself. The college campus program he references is the It’s On Us initiative, a campaign aimed at men on college campuses. He launched this campaign as vice president. Biden isn’t wrong, either, in that to prevent domestic violence (as well as sexual violence, harassment, revenge porn, etc.) men need to be involved. Preventing violence is not only a woman’s burden.
Terribly unfortunate choice of language aside, though, Biden didn’t really address Me Too in his response. Certainly, it’s important to talk about domestic violence, however, attempts to curb domestic violence do not necessarily translate into attempts to curb sexual harassment in the workplace, sexual assault, stalking, or the like. Biden’s fumble away from a direct answer just makes his unfortunate “punching” imagery even worse.
One error in Biden’s response, to be fair, is one that candidates frequently make. When talking about domestic violence or violence against women (which, though the terms are often used interchangeably, are, again, not the same issue), the discussion centers on language rooted in heterosexuality. The binary language of “men” abusing “women” alienates a lot of people. For example, people in same-sex relationships can also be abused by their partners. Or people who identify as nonbinary may be survivors of abuse. While less discussed, men with female partners can absolutely be survivors of domestic violence. In part of changing this “culture,” as Biden puts it, it’s important to look ahead and use language that broadly encompasses all people and identities.