Last week, Omny Miranda Martone, Founder and CEO of the Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA), joined President Joe Biden and multiple members of Congress at the White House, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
In 1990, then-Senator Joe Biden introduced the Violence Against Women Act in the United States Congress. VAWA was signed into law in 1994, marking the first comprehensive federal legislation designed to address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. It’s been reauthorized four times since then, most recently in 2022, expanding each time to better meet the needs of survivors, focus more on prevention, rely less on law enforcement, and ensure VAWA’s protections reach all individuals and communities.
Since its passage, the VAWA has reduced barriers for marginalized communities, closed the rape kit backlog, added specific programs for Native and Indigenous Peoples, and included restorative justice options. During the anniversary event, President Biden stated that “Between 1993 and 2022, annual domestic violence rates dropped by 67% and the rate of rapes and sexual assaults declined by 56%”.
President Biden signed the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 into law. This critical expansion of VAWA strengthened access to safety and support for survivors, increased prevention efforts, and established new federal protections against online harassment and abuse. Of the new actions the administration has taken, its commitment to addressing and preventing deepfake pornography is of special importance to the SVPA.
The Biden administration has announced a set of voluntary commitments from AI model developers and data providers to curb the creation of image-based sexual abuse and proactively reduce the risk of new images from being generated without someone’s consent as well as ensure that known, verified instances of image-based sexual abuse are excluded from their products and systems.
This event highlights the great success the VAWA has brought about, while also serving as a reminder that we need to continuously work to prevent sexual violence in all forms.
Image 2: Omny and several colleagues, many from the Reclaim Coalition, including partners at the Joyful Heart Foundation, Panorama Global
Image 3: Omny Miranda Martone and Tarana Burke, Founder of the #MeToo movement
Image 4: Omny Miranda Martone and President Joe Biden
Image 5: VAWA briefing covering the progress of the past 30 years and announcements for new initiatives
Image 6: Omny Miranda Martone and Sophie Compton from My Image My Choice
