00:00 This episode explores the story of Victoria Nearest, a law professor at Georgetown Law Center, who was asked by Joe Biden to do something about women's issues despite not identifying as a feminist.

05:25 Joe Biden was motivated to address violence against women in the US after the 1989 Montreal massacre, leading to landmark legislation and the task of writing it falling to Victoria Nearest, who had to educate herself on the history of violence against women in order to do so.

11:19 Victoria Nearest discovered shocking examples of how rape cases were handled differently than other crimes, such as laws stating that rape could not be considered aggravated if the victim was a voluntary social companion, and realized that federal protections for victims of rape did not exist.

16:41 Victoria Nearest realized that there were no federal laws addressing violence against women, leading her to propose a civil rights remedy called the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that would provide an alternate system for women to seek justice in federal court if the states failed to protect them.

22:01 Victoria Nearest proposed comprehensive federal legislation addressing gender-based violence, leading Sally Goldfarb to become involved in drafting and passing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), despite the negative history of feminism in the Senate.

27:09 Pat, along with a few other women, started a plant sale to raise money for a battered women's shelter, which eventually led to the formation of a coalition that advocated for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and successfully convinced members of Congress to support the bill.

32:19 Survivors of domestic violence share their stories at public hearings to raise awareness and gain bipartisan support for the Violence Against Women Act.

37:23 The Violence Against Women Act faced opposition from unexpected places, including Republican lawmakers, traditional liberal allies, and some women's rights groups who felt it distracted from other important issues, while concerns were also raised about the potential negative effects on Native American communities and the blind spots in protecting marginalized groups, leading to public opposition from feminists and a strong campaign against the bill by federal judges.

42:45 Federal judges opposed the violence against women's civil rights provision, believing it would enable women to manipulate the legal system and fabricate charges of domestic violence in order to gain an advantage in divorce cases, while also demeaning the significance of the problem and perpetuating stereotypes.

48:05 The civil rights provision of the Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994, but was later struck down by the Supreme Court in 2000, which meant that gender-based violence was not recognized as discrimination and survivors of sexual violence lost an avenue for seeking justice.

53:49 The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has been reauthorized multiple times since the Supreme Court struck down the civil rights provision in 2000, but its future remains uncertain as a new version of the bill is currently stalled in the Senate.