00:00 Victoria Neuris, a law professor at Georgetown Law Center, was asked by Joe Biden to do something about women's issues after being pointed out in a room full of male lawyers, leading her to write landmark legislation on violence against women.

05:27 Sexual assault is a widespread issue in the US, with one in four women experiencing severe physical abuse and a woman being shot to death by her partner every 16 hours, and the history of violence against women dates back centuries, with laws allowing men to use violence against their wives in certain situations.

10:54 The laws surrounding rape, including date rape and spousal rape, were heavily biased in favor of the defendant, leading to a denial of justice for many victims and a realization that federal protections for women did not exist.

16:11 The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was created to address the lack of federal laws protecting women from violence and provide a civil rights remedy for survivors.

21:35 Sally Goldfarb, a law professor, met with Victoria Nourse to discuss comprehensive federal legislation addressing gender-based violence, which was groundbreaking at the time due to the negative climate towards feminists in the Senate during the 1980s.

27:06 Pat, after witnessing her friend being beaten by her husband and finding no resources available to help her, started a small plant sale to raise money for a women's resource center and a shelter for battered women, which eventually grew into a coalition that advocated for the Violence Against Women Act.

32:05 Survivors of domestic violence, including Marla Hansen and Sarah Buell, testified in a public hearing to raise awareness about the difficulties faced by victims and the need for support and resources.

37:01 Despite facing opposition from Republican lawmakers, traditional liberal allies, and some women's rights groups, the Violence Against Women Act gained bipartisan support in the Senate and overcame obstacles to move forward.

42:30 Federal judges opposed the Violence Against Women Act, believing that it would enable women to manipulate the legal system and fabricate charges of domestic violence to gain an advantage in divorce cases, while also demeaning the significance of the issue and perpetuating stereotypes.

47:47 In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which included the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), but during the signing ceremony, VAWA was never mentioned, and in 2000, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Christy Brancala that Congress had no power to enact the civil rights remedy, effectively removing the constitutional protection against gender-based violence.

53:26 After the Me Too movement, the heart of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) died for the wrong reasons, and despite revisions and reauthorizations, VAWA sits in purgatory with an uncertain future, highlighting the need for a national reckoning around sex and power.