Former Vice President Joe Biden drew condemnation on Wednesday for remarks many interpreted to “confer” the status” of a sexual object” on a 13-year-old girl.
Biden, the 2020 Democrat frontrunner, purportedly met a voter’s granddaughter in an Iowa coffee shop and, upon learning the girl was 13-years-old, turned to her brothers to tell them their only “job” was to “keep the guys from your sister.” The comments were first reported on social media by The Boston Globe’s Liz Goodwin.
The remarks quickly stirred rebuke from some on the left for what was interpreted as Biden conferring on the girl “her status as a sexual object” to everyone in the room.
“Seriously. Imagine how a female candidate would talk to that 13-year-old girl,” Dana Stevens, a movie critic for Slate, said on social media. “Think what Hillary might have said. This guy hears her age & immediately turns to the men in the room to confer about her status as a sexual object.”
Stevens followed up her original comment by saying if a presidential candidate “talked about her daughter” the same way “he would get a lot more than a finger wagged in his face.”
Others seemed to agree that Biden had strongly overstepped with his remark.
The controversy over Biden’s comments in front of the 13-year-old seems to indicate the former vice president still has issues to face regarding his treatment of women.
Earlier this year, Biden was accused of inappropriate touching by Lucy Flores, the Democrat’s unsuccessful 2014 nominee for lieutenant governor of Nevada. In a widely circulated op-ed, Flores alleged Biden inappropriately touched and kissed her during a campaign event. Following the revelations, seven more women came out to accuse Biden of unsolicited touching.
Despite issuing a public apology and promising to be more “mindful” about respecting the personal space of others, Biden has repeatedly made light of the accusations on the campaign trail.
Flores has said those jokes prove the 76-year-old Biden has “not reflected” on his behavior made women feel.