Joe Biden to College Men: 'A Woman Who’s Dead Drunk Cannot Consent. You Are Raping Her'

Joe Biden isn't trying to mince words here.

Joe Biden delivers speech.
Image via USA Today Sports/Robert Deutsch
Joe Biden delivers speech.

As part of a campus sexual assault awareness event at George Mason University on Wednesday, former Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the crowd, offering up some pointed remarks to the men in the room. "Guys, a woman who’s dead drunk cannot consent. You are raping her,” Biden said, emphatically.

The event was sponsored by the organization It's On Us, which was founded by Biden and former president Barack Obama and meant to address the issue of sexual violence on college campuses. One portion of the It’s On Us pledge urges students to "intervene instead of being a bystander."

Biden also had direct words with anyone who encountered a situation where they needed to step up and take action. "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,'" he said. "Because if you don't, you are an accomplice. You know what's about to happen. You know!"

It's really quite simple: If you want to be a man, act like one. “I say to you guys, please, please act like men," Biden said. "Rape and sexual assault are not about sex, it’s about power. If you want to be a man, stand up, man.”

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