Vice President Joe Biden deployed some colorful imagery at the United State of Women Summit on Tuesday, saying even a woman who walked "stark naked" to the U.S. Capitol had no right to receive unwanted touches from a man.
Biden said the Violence Against Women Act, which he drafted as a U.S. senator, articulated the fundamental right of women to live their lives free of abuse.
"I remember when we did the act, when we were debating it, I said if a woman in this audience got up, stripped down, stark naked, and walked over to the United States Capitol, she has a right to be arrested for indecent exposure, but no man, even in that circumstance, has a right to touch her," he said. "No man has a right to touch her! Period! Period! Period!
"This abuse is not a personal matter. It's not a family issue. It's not a misunderstanding of something she had coming. Violence against women is a crime, pure and simple, deserving of our nation's legal and moral disapprobation."
Biden: If a woman strips down walks naked to the US Capitol "no man has a right to touch her. Period, period, period."
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 14, 2016
If a woman walks naked to the US Capitol, says @VP, "no man has a right to touch her. Period. Period. Period." pic.twitter.com/Nxq5R8HR1t
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 14, 2016
Biden has described the VAWA as his proudest legislative achievement. The legislation was reauthorized in 2000, 2005, and 2013, although not without partisan disputes. He has spoken out strongly about domestic abuse and sexual assault, calling violence against women "a stain on the moral character of a society."