“There’s no emphasis on the men, and the male behavior. Where is their sexual history, where is their history of violence against women, were they drinking, were they stalking, have they been in jail for this before? The emphasis is that she deserved it, because she enjoyed or had pleasure from sex,” Van Pelt added.
“We’ve been told for millennia that we should be silent, we shouldn’t speak, we should submit, we’re not that smart,” said Toni Van Pelt, president of the National Organization for Women, the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States. “That long history adds to women thinking that they are not entitled to the vote or that they don’t need to make time for it. It’s really important for us to say to other women, ‘We want to hear what you have to say. We need your vote. We need to know what your opinion is.’ ”
“The only person who is responsible for a sexual assault is the perpetrator. Period.”
“The victory in Virginia means that we have reached the most important ratification goal post,” Toni Van Pelt, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), told Supermajority News. “But we will not stop until the Virginia ratification vote, and the recent votes of Illinois and Nevada are certified by the Archivist of the United States and officially become part of the U.S. Constitution. Hopefully, both the U.S. House and Senate will pass the deadline removal legislation—though Constitutional scholars believe that is not necessary and we will have to work with the president to sign the legislation. In a crucial election year, he may well want to do that.”
Christian Nunes, national vice president of the National Organization for Women, speaks during a rally supporting the Equal Rights Amendment on the steps of the state Capitol in Salt Lake City on Monday, Jan.