President Obama has made sexual assault awareness and prevention a key part of his presidency, and a powerful new White House PSA takes things to the next level. In the latest video from the "It's On Us" campaign, a White House PSA against rape is the latest step in Obama and Vice President Joe Biden's quest to end sexual assault. It's a reminder that until the number of sexual assaults is zero, it's our responsibility to help prevent sexual violence.
Obama and Biden started the campaign last September, and the new video, titled "The One Thing," features celebrities explaining the one element that's truly necessary in a sexual relationship: consent. In the video, Josh Hutcherson, Zoe Saldana, Matt McGorry, and John Cho (along with other celebrities) emphasize why "it's on us" to stop sexual assault. "If you don't get it [consent], you don't get it [sex]," Saldana says in the video. A Facebook post from the campaign reads, "Sex without consent isn't sex. It's rape."
The video's release Tuesday comes as college students head back to campus, and the PSA calls on viewers to sign the "It's On Us" campaign pledge to stop sexual assaults on college campuses. September often signals the start of the "red zone," a term that represents the first few months of each college year until Thanksgiving break, a time frame The New York Times refers to as "a period of vulnerability for sexual assaults." Robert S. Flowers, vice president of student affairs at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, tells the Times that during the so-called "red zone," students get to campus with certain "expectations" for what the college year will entail.
The "It's On Us" PSA is only the latest in a string of steps Obama has taken against sexual assault. Since Obama and Biden launched the campaign a year ago, 300 schools have hosted more than 650 awareness events, according to a White House press release. The video is the campaign's third PSA about sexual violence.
Hearing Hutcherson come right out and say "it's rape" in the video may seem shocking, but Obama has been quite vocal about rape in the past. At a White House press conference in July, Obama explicitly used the word "rape" when asked a question about the allegations against comedian Bill Cosby. More than 30 women have accused Cosby of drugging and raping them, which led to a petition for Obama to strip Cosby of his U.S. Medal of Freedom.
After telling reporters there is "no precedent" to revoke Cosby's medal, Obama went on to say, "If you give a woman — or a man, for that matter — without his or her knowledge a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape. And I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape."
Obama has also been vocal about the popular statistic that one in five women on college campuses has been a victim of sexual assault. The "It's On Us" campaign cites the statistic as well, calling for an end to campus sexual violence. While people from both sides of the aisle have debated that figure — it stems from a survey of students at just two colleges — we should praise any attempt to lower the number of campus sexual assaults. Experts and politicians may debate the national average for how many students are assaulted on campus each year, but until that statistic is zero, there's still work to be done.
The "It's On Us" Facebook page explains that the campaign is "a rallying cry inviting everyone to step up and realize that the solution begins with us. It's a declaration that sexual assault is not only a crime committed by a perpetrator against a victim, but a societal problem in which all of us have a role to play." We can all play a role in preventing sexual assault, and the "It's On Us" video is a good place to start.
Image: It's On Us/YouTube
