Joe Biden Pushed Policies That Deprived Men of Due Process in Campus Sexual Misconduct Disputes
Biden has arguably failed to live up to the affirmative consent standard he sounded so fond of.
I've cautioned that we need to be more careful about how we discuss the various accusations of inappropriate touching against former Vice President Joe Biden—some of which have been mischaracterized in the media. (The viral photo of Biden touching the shoulders of Stephanie Carter actually depicts a comforting moment that Carter considered fully consensual.)
But this involves cutting Biden a level of slack that the former vice president was himself unwilling to grant to men accused of impropriety—particularly on college campuses.
As the journalist Emily Yoffe notes in a terrific piece for POLITICO, Biden was at the forefront of the Obama administration's efforts to compel colleges to adjudicate sexual misconduct under new standards that were horridly unfriendly to the accused. He was a leading spokesperson for the White House mission of changing the culture around consent norms. Yoffe highlights a now quite hypocritical interview he gave to Teen Vogue:
Biden continues to insist that male college students are crude brutes, ever ready to attack their female classmates. In an April 2017 interview in Teen Vogue, he said that when he explains consent to male students, they are astounded: "I've had young men on campuses say to me, 'I've never thought of it that way. … As long as she wasn't screaming and kicking me and yelling help, then it was probably OK.' It's not OK. It's not OK unless she can affirmatively consent." In that same interview, he explained what he believes consent entails. "We're trying to let young men understand that without consent, meaning saying, 'Yes, it is OK to touch me' … then it is not consent," he said. Biden also seems to have no recognition that campus encounters can be filled with ambiguity and mixed signals. In an April 2016 speech at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, he mocked the idea that sexual assault allegations might be "complicated," and told the assembled students that they should "ostracize the abusers" and "make them the pariah on campus."
This is a standard of consent that Biden himself has arguably failed to live up to, given that several women now claim he touched them without their permission.
Some of the bad guidance issued under the Obama administrastion has been reined in by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has made it a priority to ensure that students accused of sexual misconduct under Title IX receive fair hearings and a presumption of innocence. Biden has argued vehemently against these changes, and even referred to supporters of DeVos as "culturally Neanderthals," during a conference call, according to the historian KC Johnson.
If Biden does decide to enter the 2020 presidential race, perhaps this experience will make him a little more sympathetic to accused men. I worry, though, that it will only push him further in the opposite direction: Biden might "get tough" on affirmative consent as a means of deflecting criticism from #MeToo advocates.
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Look, when you’ve been a legislator as long as Biden, you’re going to have been party to some very bad policies that have wrecked numerous lives. But if you believe as I do in possibility of redemption, you will extend this man’s power over us by another four to eight years. He’s bound to get something right.
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How many years was Biden in the Senate? How many years in the White House? Why talk about this now?
The media masters have spoken, Biden must be eliminated. And Robby knows how to carry that water.
Stopped reading right there.
that first paragraph is borderline OBL except I know OBL hates Creeper Joe and wouldn’t defend him
First
Word is Buttigieg said “all lives matter” in 2015. It is so much fun watching these people eat their own.
It’s over for him then. I’ll bet he’s the kind of monster oppressor who’s said “America is the land of opportunity.”
Maybe he’s even vile enough to have said “It’s okay to be white.”, amirite? I mean it’s right next to “All lives matter.” and we KNOW that “All lives matter.” is White Supremacy-adjacent. Case. Closed.
Kudos to Robby – a column free of virtue signaling.
To be sure…
“Biden has arguably failed to live up to the affirmative consent standard he sounded so fond of.”
Well that’s different.
Biden is a notorious unrepentant proggie, and we all know proggies have a different set of rules from the rest of us.
Don’t forget: Proggies are so much better than all of us little people.
“We’re trying to let young men understand that without consent, meaning saying, ‘Yes, it is OK to touch me’ ? then it is not consent,” he said. … This is a standard of consent that Biden himself has arguably failed to live up to
A-HEM. Uncle Joe said “*young* men”.
OF COURSE he’s going to go hard in the other direction. Didn’t we already see him throwing OTHER “white men” and “white men’s culture” under the bus? He’s going to use the old “But I’m one of the good ones.” Exception. The asshole.
He’s got a classic case of “one good man” syndrome. Goes like this: “Those men over there (or back then) are the bad men, but I’m a good man. Maybe the ONLY good man.”
What I find amazing is that in 1990, during his first go-round with the Violence Against Women Act, he said (paraphrasing from memory), “growing up with two brothers and a sister, it was absolutely forbidden, like you got a nuclear sanction, if for any reason, even self defence, you ever touched our sister. My sister had absolute impunity. And I’ve got the bruises to prove it.” The men on the committee had a good chuckle over it.
Thing is, the VAWA is based on the Duluth model, which presupposes the exact opposite of this scenario is the cultural norm. He might as well have said, “the girls and women get beat up by the men and boys ALL the time in every OTHER American family, but MY family was different.”
Uh… no, Joe. Your family wasn’t different, other than perhaps other people’s parents wouldn’t have allowed their daughter to physically abuse her brothers with “absolute impunity.”
A study done in 2006 found that fewer than 2% of Americans believe it’s ever okay for a man to hit his female partner to “keep her in line”. In contrast, 6% of Americans sincerely believe they’ve been abducted by UFOs. We are not talking about “culturally normative” values, here, but he describes this as the case, and himself as the exception.
Good points. These past quotes are an excellent window into Biden’s character or lack thereof. He seems willing to do anything to gain elected office. The 2006 opinion poll is very interesting. It puts the lie to the “rape culture” myths propagated by modern feminists and the Left in general.
A good rule of thumb (and no, not the imaginary rule of thumb that the historically illiterate Biden referred to in his recent “white men’s culture” diatribe, but the actual rule that existed, that carpenters once used when eyeballing their measurements) is to take anything a feminist says or supports and assume the exact opposite is the reality.
Interesting to note, re the 2006 study (Simon et al). More than twice as many men and women (nearly 5%) said it was okay for a woman to hit her male partner to “keep him in line” as the reverse. Of course, Duluth describes women who do this as engaging in “preemptive self defence” or “violent resistance” against male coercive control.
Because women are superior moral beings, hovering above the rest of you male plebes, and they never have anger management problems or personality/conduct disorders.
Even in a dem field competing in a giant pander-off his “rape is white man’s culture” comment sticks-out. No, it’s just your culture Joe.
Keep this in mind about Biden
Joe Biden coined the term ‘Drug Czar’ after watching ‘Reefer Madness.’
According to Biden, the movie set him on a path to have the government warn the nation’s youth about the dangerous marijuana plant.
Biden is in constant contact with past and present Drug Czars, who say that the current marijuana is much more powerful than the hippie weed. So much so, that it’s now considered to be not only highly addictive, but a gateway drug to LSD.
Unnamed sources say Biden was maneuvered to be Obama’s Vice President so Biden could keep an eye on president pot head. There was a feeling that Obama would start smoking marijuana again, even though he swore he was off the stuff. So Biden was placed there to make sure Obama behaved and did not reclassify marijuana.
So Biden is just another pandering hack. What a frigging surprise. At the same time women coming out now against uncle Joe are not the strong feminist types we long to see. They had no backbone or the balls to tell him to screw off 5-10-15 years ago. They were so frightened and harmed at the time!
My 12 year daughter punched an 18 year old in the nuts. Don’t take any crap!
We always knew this about “Amtrak Joe.”
While reading this story, I am reminded of Robespierre being sent to the guillotine by his former allies.
A Trotsky moment in Mexico.
“As long as she wasn’t screaming and kicking me and yelling help, then it was probably OK.”
If she isn’t screaming and kicking and yelling help, Crusty just isn’t aroused enough.
Where is he keeping himself these days? I’ve heard something about a chinchilla cage in the back of a pet shop…
From my experience, the schools should be teaching more about basic societal values of Western civilization like “innocent until proven guilty.”
It’s great to see the PoundMeToo movement eating its own.
In one word in one sentence, you nailed (pun intended) what the #metoo movement is all about.
Good job.
In one word in one sentence, you nailed (pun intended) what the #metoo movement is all about.
Good job.
In one word in one sentence, you nailed (pun intended) what the #metoo movement is all about.
Good job.
You’re one of the few journalists worth reading anymore. Hopefully Reason can find more like you.
Biden is an absolute scumbag. He attacked Robert Bork for not believing in natural law and attacked Clarence Thomas FOR believing in natural law. Remember how the Republicans were going to “put y’all back in chains”?
I don’t care how many women felt “uncomfortable” when he touched them if they weren’t uncomfortable with his saying anything if it would advance the statist goal of the moment.
If Biden’s ambitions are crushed by lies about him as he used lies to destroy his political enemies, justice would be served and balance would be restored to the universe.
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“Biden continues to insist that male college students are crude brutes, ever ready to attack their female classmates.”
Takes one to know one.
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When you let the mob run wild, and furthermore incite them into action, you need to remember, sooner or later they may turn on you. It is ironic and hilarious what is happening to Biden. The Democrats are eating their own, veering harder and harder to the left, and driving off all the centrist voters. I say this as a Centrist voter, who hates Trump cuz he is an asshole, not that I hate many of his decisions, but at this point, knows I am not voting Democrat in 2020. I really regret not voting for Gary Johnson and was really annoyed at how the Press characterized him and his candidacy. My favorite former Democrat was Senator Al Frankin,who was crucified over BS, and I feel no sympathy for these guys who sat back as it was happening and said nothing.