Mariska Hargitay Speaks at The National Press Club - March 13, 2013

good afternoon and welcome to the National Press Club my name is Angela grayling keen and I'm a reporter for Bloomberg News I'm 160 president of the National Press Club we are the world's leading professional organization for journalists committed to our professions future through programming with events such as this while fostering a free press worldwide for more information about the National Press Club please visit our website at www.breckwell.com or backslash Institute on behalf of our members worldwide I'd like to welcome our speaker and those of you who are here in our audience today our head table includes guests of our speaker as well as working journalists who are club members if you hear applause in our audience we'd note that members of the general public are also attending so it's not necessarily a lack of journalistic objectivity I'd like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences as well our luncheons are also featured on our member produced weekly podcast from the National Press Club available on iTunes you can also follow the action on twitter using the hashtag npc lunch after our guest speech concludes we'll have question and answer I will ask as many questions as time permits now it's time to introduce our head table guests I'd like each of you here to stand up briefly when your name is announced from your right Dan Friedman national editor for the Washington bureau of Hearst Newspapers Emily Gooden features editor for the hill newspaper alexandria Baca a graduate student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a reporter at the Dallas Morning News Washington bureau Kim worthy the Wayne County Michigan prosecutor Kathleen Parker a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post writers group Sarah Tofte the director of policy and advocacy for the joyful heart foundation skipping over the podium Alison Fitz Jerald a freelance journalist and speakers committee chair skipping over the speaker for just a moment we'll get back to you Danny selnick who is the vice president for public policy group a division of business wire and the speaker's committee who organized today's event Thank You Danny dave Shepherdson the Detroit News Washington bureau chief natalie de blasio a reporter for USA Today Pablo Sanchez Washington correspondent and producer for Univision news and Chris Rose the deputy director of the National Institute of justice our guest today is an actress who you might easily recognize as detective Olivia Benson Mariska Hargitay has played the role for 14 seasons on televisions Law & Order Special Victims Unit the show deals with sex crimes and the detectives who solve the cases with more than a dozen years on the show and Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for her work our speaker is also known for her work outside of television the content of the scripts as well as the work she did to prepare for the role opened her eyes to the epidemics of sexual assault domestic violence and child abuse what she learned was staggering one in three women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point during their lives every two minutes in the United States someone is sexually assaulted nearly four children die every day in this country as a result of child abuse and neglect and up to ten million children a witness domestic violence each year it wasn't the facts alone that led ms Hargitay to act and then in avoid that she wasn't just plain apart what really opened her eyes was the fan mail she received the letters didn't just say I love your show can you send me an autographed picture they'd say I was raped when I was 15 I'm 40 now and I've never told anyone victims were disclosed in their stories to her all of this inspired her to become an advocate for survivors of violence and abuse by creating the joyful Heart Foundation whose mission is to heal educate and empower survivors of sexual assault domestic violence and child abuse and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues this year alone the foundation will serve more than 2,000 survivors and the professionals that care for them today's speaker has been out in front of related issues testifying before Congress to highlight the need to get rid of the backlog of completed rape kits saying she's received thousands of letters from rape victims about how isolated they feel after completed rape kits and police reports appear to fall on deaf ears in spite of Misurata advocacy law and order SVU drew criticism last month when it hosted Mike Tyson as a guest star in addition to being a former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson served three years in prison following a 1992 rape conviction even though the part he played on the show was as an abuse survivor according to the Washington Post the episode drew the smallest audience in the blockbuster show's history the daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield and miss mr. universe Mickey Hargitay our speaker made her film debut in the 1985 horror comedy film Ghoulies and her major television debut in the 1986 adventure drama series downtown she appeared in numerous roles in film and television throughout the late 1980s and 90s before being cast as we know her today as Olivia Benson please join me in giving a big National Press Club welcome to Mariska Hargitay so I am so truly honored and thrilled to be here today so thank you and so uh reminding me of the old days I am it my heart's beating and it is such an honor and a thrill to be here for so many reasons I just came from standing with the vice president and Attorney General Holder at a press conference to highlight the dire and immediate need to reduce domestic violence homicides and here I am now with all of you in Washington DC very exciting day the kind of day that you that makes your diary burst into flames when you write about it that night I mean I have to tell you that I whipped out my cell phone and took a selfie with the VP when I met up you understand so I understand that I owe the honor of being here today to a very sweet Alina selnick where are you hiding where are you there you are beauty I do I want to point that out to everybody who is Danny selmak daughter and I want to thank you for throwing my name into the ring and I understand that you're a fan of the show but I also understand that you want to be a prosecutor when you grow up so I thank you in advance for everything that you are going to do with your life the website for the National Press Club describes this as a place where news breaks out and flows out into the world where a journalist trained to become the next generation of storytellers and all of that serves to reinforce not only what a huge and great honor this is to be here but also the scope of this opportunity and the importance of this moment and of this day you also say on the website the website that the stakes couldn't be higher so I would like to say I could not agree with you more when I was thinking about what I wanted to say here today in this place where news flows out into the world I thought about my first encounter with the statistics of sexual assault and domestic violence and child abuse and it was almost 15 years ago I hate to say I was doing research for my role on this video and there they were and if you'll bear with me I would like to repeat them although angela has already said them because I think they are worth repeating and repeating and repeating in this country one in three women experienced physical or sexual abuse by an intimate partner in her lifetime one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused by the age of 18 every two minutes in the United States somebody's sexually assaulted every nine seconds a woman is beaten every day more than three women are killed by an intimate partner and everyday five children die of abuse and neglect so the statistics went on and then the letters came and at first they were a few and then there were more and there were hundreds and since then of course there have been thousands sadly so the women and men that were writing these letters to me they didn't ask for an autograph they didn't ask for a headshot they disclosed their stories of abuse to me and a majority of them had some version of the phrase I've never told this to anyone so there I was holding in my hands the stories behind the statistics that I had just learned there was at work every day having these issues pressed into my soul pressed into my consciousness and they were imprinted on me they were they changed my thinking so I educated myself I trained to become a rape crisis advocate I joined a few boards I got involved and I was so proud and still I am so proud to be on a show that was brave enough to go into a territory that nobody else was talking about obviously I had my role to play on television but after learning what I learned and after hearing the statistics and receiving these letters I knew that I wanted to do more and I wanted to play a larger role in helping survivors heal and reclaim their lives so in 2004 I started the joyful Heart Foundation our mission as Angela said is to heal empower and educate survivors of sexual assault domestic violence and child abuse and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues so under the amazing leadership look at you because I get emotional of our CEO Miley Zen Bhutto we've raised more than 10 million dollars thank you okay let me try that Egypt anyway we've raised over ten million dollars in private funds and served directly over 10,000 survivors and the professionals who care for them we've connected with over 1 million individuals through our education and awareness initiatives and have championed crucial legislation and policy reforms which again I'm very proud of Sarah Tofte to get justice for survivors so well I'm not an expert on these issues I proudly claim the title of advocate in the literal sense of the word one who calls out to you that's my inner self clapping for myself to do that okay let the emotion pass here we are okay so one who calls out for you on behalf of the thousands of survivors whose voices whose courage whose hope that I am honored to bring into this room with me today so today I want to talk about gardening how about that for a left turn when you buy a plant comes with instructions right it says requires watering daily thrives in sunlight if the issues of domestic violence sexual assault and child abuse came with a label on them to how they make them grow in society it would say requires a darkness thrives in darkness of silence fear shame and isolation silence allows criminals to thrive so think about how helpful it is for each one of us I'll think about how helpful it is to a criminal if we're not willing to talk about these crimes and this is not about the victims who refuse to come forward I'm not I'm talking about everybody else I'm talking about all of us here in this room think about how helpful it is for a rapist if we consider rape an unseemly topic one that is too frightening one of that is too complex one that is too murky or too difficult to prosecute or simply not worth it what kind of society do we end up with we end up with the society where after 40 years plus you can still count on one hand the number of corporations funding these issues in any significant way no so many of you are here today so I want to say thank you for that we end up with a society where schools and institutions settle cases of sexual violence with as little transparent see as little accountability and as little exposure as possible a society where it is so hard for the anti violence movement to come together because in order to compete for limited funding organizations must stand out which means by definition they must stand alone we end up with society where although thank God Congress recently reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act thank God but but we end up right with the society where 22 senators and 138 congressman voted against it it's unconscionable and I it's unconscionable we end up with in a society where after a victim has been raped or beaten at the hand of a spouse after the devastation of the trauma she has to live through the trauma of how society it receives her she has to survive the trauma of we don't want to talk about that we don't want to deal with that we don't want to deal with that she has to deal with the trauma she has to live through the trauma of what was she wearing why was she dancing like that why was she out so late well what did she expect she was asking for it I'm sure he didn't mean it but he's such a nice guy why didn't she just leave so to me one of the most shocking demonstrations of how we regard crimes right in our society is the backlog of untested sexual assault evidence kits known as rape kits which are sitting in police storage facilities across the country now both because I feel compelled to talk about it every chance I get and because it is such a clear and concrete example please allow me to dig down into this issue for a second so every day in the United States individuals take the enormous ly courageous step of reporting their rape to the police now because of what these individuals have suffered their bodies are a living breathing feeling crime scene from which donors which doctors and nurses collect a rape kit right this process of evidence collection typically takes between four and six hours now one would assume that if somebody endures a four to six hour invasive exam that evidence would be handled with care and immediately tested when tested rape kit evidence can identify an unknown assailant confirm the presence of a known suspect it can affirm the survivors attack of the story discredit the attacker connect the suspect to other crimes I want to say that one again connect the suspect to other crimes I should say it a third time really because we got to get this fund it can also exonerate the innocent so the bottom line here is a rape kit can bring justice often an integral part of a healer of a survivors healing and it is vital in keeping rapists off the street and yet federal authorities estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits across the country hundreds of thousands I don't get it Poli posten a leading sexual violence advocate so perfectly summed this up when she said if you have stacks of physical evidence of a crime and you're not doing everything you can with this evidence then you must be making a decision that this isn't a very serious crime here's the good news jurisdictions have started to see the results of testing every single rape kit New York City cleared its backlog of 17,000 kits and now tests every single kit that comes in and the proof of the value of testing every kit their arrest rape the rest rate for rape jumped from 40% to 70% compared right Cheers compared with only twenty four percent nationally can't fight with statistics within the past two years Los Angeles has also cleared its backlog of 12 thousand six hundred and sixty nine kits and then there's a Detroit and the unbelievable unstoppable Wayne County prosecutor Miss Kym worthy who is here with me who is here with me on the dais and by the way Kim I really want to be you when I grow up you know it takes us eight days to shoot an episode her office handles seventy thousand cases a year twenty-five thousand of them are felonies and she didn't have a full-time designated unit to prosecute sex crimes until just under two years ago and now only has six assistant prosecutors three investigators and one victim advocate for 70,000 cases a year and she's a mother of two just sayin in 2009 Kim's office discovered that there were more than 11,000 rape kits rotting literally in a storage room in the Detroit Police Department the National Institute of Justice Lynn Rosenthal and Chris Rose who's also with me today here on the dais address the address the backlog thank God so we at joyful heart are so proud to partner with Kim and to NIJ for this work and just weeks ago this is very exciting when the first 400 kits were tested and entered into CODIS the national DNA database law enforcement were able to identify 29 serial rapists it's huge and that's you know that's only out of the first 400 we're talking about hundreds of thousands so that just goes to show you and makes you think about what could have not been so one of the kits in Detroit belonged to a young mother who was raped at gunpoint in her bed while her two young children were sleeping next to her immediately following the attack she bravely called the police and she went to the hospital where evidence was collected from her body and in her words said I have no choice the only way that I had of getting this person on the street was to go the rape kit was tested 14 years later 14 years and when a prosecutor finally told her that they had identified the rapist she courageously moved forward with the prostitute with the prosecution her attacker was found guilty and was sentenced up to 60 years in prison that's the happy ending of that story Detroit has nearly 10,000 untested rape kits remaining and the city's financial woes are making national headlines joyful heart is also working with Kim's office to explore how to raise the 12 to 15 million dollars that it will take just to clear the backlog but not to mention following up on the investigative leads and moving cases forward the Detroit Crime Commission has also set up a fund to which individuals from all over the country have already given $40,000 many in donations of 10 and 20 dollar increments from survivors in Detroit that want to help people who just want justice people who want their rapists off the street people who want to send a message to rapists that that they will be accountable for their crimes so where does that leave us does it lead us hopeless does it leave us defeated no it leaves us with where we are today as a society and today as a society we say no more everyone say it with me so for the first time nearly every organization that's working to change the haunting statistics behind these preventable crimes whether the organization's focus is on women and girls men and boys teens children rural or urban communities is coming together in a movement united under one symbol right no more peace has its peace sign and the red ribbon demands action for AIDS and the pink ribbon has changed the way we think about breast cancer and now our collective commitment commitment is to end sexual assault and domestic violence it now has its own symbol it's sign it's it's beacon so no more is not an initiative it's not a campaign it's not a it's a call to action it's a movement to stand up and to speak out for every woman for every man for every child who is suffering from this violence you know in a movement for every victim struggling to find their voice perpetrators have relied on the fact that the movement to stop them wouldn't come together they've relied on fragmentation they depend on fear and silence to keep doing what they're doing no more seeks to remove that shame and that stigma around surviving these issues to make these issues easier for people to talk about what we're doing here today and to empower bystanders in every community to get involved in preventing them you know that's the thing that you think like oh what am I gonna do how am I gonna get involved how am I gonna get involved people think wonder so am I going to get involved and and that's what this is if it's for everybody to get involved no more no more leaving it to for others to find the answers no more blaming survivors Noble no more standing by and doing nothing no more has been years in the making what began is an idea three years ago today has become a reality and as people align themselves with this movement and and the cause gains visibility policymakers will take notice leading to a stronger leading to stronger public policies and more funding for prevention of services and this means more funding for places like Wayne County and Kym worthy who need it more funding for survivors to have their reaps kits tested together we can end domestic violence and sexual assault together so today you have the opportunity to play roll and it's in its simple really each of you has been given a pin displaying this no more symbol and I'm asking you to wear it as he's simple and as profound as the Hat it's just it's just wear it I'm asking you to share it and I know that you know there are at least some of you in this room who question whether this will work understandably and the closest you know corollary that I can give you is is the AIDS ribbon right AIDS was an issue that nobody wanted to talk about it's concerned sexually concerned sexual behavior and drug abuse and you know people blamed and there was a lot of stigma around it but then when people started wearing the AIDS ribbon it moved the issue out into the open right it encouraged people it encouraged the conversation discussion and and ultimately it contributed to a better place for policies for progress and for most importantly combating the illness so it's also helped change social norms making aids related discrimination less acceptable so that's our wish for no more and it begins here today in this room in this room here today so it's a moment it's a big one that's a big chance so anyway we all have a role to play in this and I deeply encourage you to play yours to end domestic violence and sexual assault and it may not happen in my lifetime but I am committed to doing my part in bringing that about and conversation like this are happening all over the city today on Capitol Hill on Twitter and speaking of playing a role the Wizards are playing the Milwaukee Bucks in a game that's dedicated to no more tonight and so this is what a day looks like when these issues are pressed the way they ought to be pressed and I obviously use that word deliberately because I believe that that is our job right yours and mine to press we must press things out into the light we must our fingers on the button of the bullhorn to make the world listen so as members of the National Press Club I urge you please to press on and indeed teach the next generation to do the same you know I just want to say that when I started out on his journey I was an actress and very happy that I just landed a gig on a TV show truly and and and I didn't know that I would start a foundation I I didn't know that joyful heart would have a place in the you know first ever White House roundtable on sexual violence I did not know that I would testify before Congress I did not know that I would ever get to meet the President and stand with Joe Biden my hero who wrote the original vowel legislation I did not know that that I would have the privilege of seeing survivors take the courageous steps toward healing and reclaiming their lives and in short I didn't know I'd be here today so as I watch my diary burst into flames tonight I will celebrate all of these things and perhaps most of all I will celebrate those things that we all don't know yet but are within reach so if we persevere if we press on again in the National Press club's very wise words the stakes couldn't be higher thank you very much we have of course a lot of questions on several different topics so catch your breath just gonna get a drink of water and come on back up sorry enough who wants to talk about like makeup there's no oh darn it okay lots about the cop show yes will will share the microphone up here first question are asked there's there's many causes out there lots of good ones so of all the causes that you could choose to put your name behind why the no more movement live no more movement you know I think that we're stronger in numbers were more powerful in numbers education illumination learning about how a through my job what I've learned and how these issues have as I said pressed into me I've seen as I started the joyful Heart Foundation I've seen so many different organizations as I said vying for the same things and I think that dilutes and it's about unity and coming together and I've seen the way coming together and rallying around a cause and a survivor makes change and when a group of like-minded people come together the change is made where did you learn about the rape kick pit Bala you talked a lot about him about what it is why it matters but how did you learn about that initially and why did you pick that as one thing to focus on then one follow-up on that where besides Detroit this progress still need to be made on that front okay that's a that's a two two-parter the first part is where I learned about the to the brave kit backlog was Miley you know the CEO of joyful heart had just come back with meeting with Sarah Tofte who was an expert on it who I'm gonna throw this question to in a minute and when I learned about as I said in my speech one assumes that if somebody gets the evidence that can then seek justice you assume and I was so horrified and mortified and and truly in disbelief and immense pain for everyone knowing that this justice wasn't being served in this way and I thought as I said it's a perfect microcosm of how these issues are regarded so Kim and Sarah Kim can speak and Sarah can speak about where the other places are like Detroit if I may invite you up to answer that thank you that's a great question where else what other cities are struggling with untested rape kits and the backlog the big answer is we're not sure because we only have estimates at the moment like Marishka said earlier you know hundreds of thousands of untested kits perhaps in police storage facilities across the country but the fact is very few only two states actually track what happens to rape kits when once they're collected from victims that would be the state of Illinois in the state of Texas in very few other cities so we're not sure and one of our big reform pushes is to get the federal government and other states to actually require that police report out publicly what they're actually doing with rape kits because in our experience once a city announces a rape kit backlog we can find the resources and the political will and the public outrage to make the changes that are needed I can say that every city we've ever looked at any city we've ever asked or pressed for numbers has ended up with backlogs you know at a minimum of a thousand or so but usually in the multiple thousands you know ten thousand or so lots of cities are struggling with this but again those have it acknowledged it like Los Angeles or New York or Cleveland or Detroit or Houston or Dallas those are cities that have publicly acknowledged backlogs they're all actively taking steps now to fix it because it's just too embarrassing not to I'm Kym worthy I'm the Wayne County prosecutor I don't have much to add but you're assuming that the city's report when they find them and so I don't think there's any other way to really know there was a study done about five years ago by CBS News where they found untested backlog great kids in 49 of the 50 states and I'm sure was in the 50th state as well but the biggest problem is getting people to acknowledge the problem many people like Detroit tried to sweep it under the rug once they found them our next questions may be for the subject matter experts as well so feel free to to throw it back what does it cost to test a single rape kit and what exactly is involved in the testing is it DNA testing or is there more to it than that in terms of what it actually means the tested kit I think the general cost is roughly so you hear lots of different estimates between 1000 and 1500 that's a general estimate so it's expensive but we've also you know our experience has been that it's not just about the resources once a community commits to and prioritizes testing they find a way to find the money I'm Chris Rose deputy director at the National Institute of Justice which is the research arm of the US Department of Justice and Sarah's right the testing of a rape kit or DNA testing can cost anywhere between a thousand and fifteen hundred dollars I would say and we at the National Institute of justice I'm going to give us a little bit of a plug our work working toward faster and cheaper ways of doing that because I think once you can get that kind of thing in place along with an number of other things because this is a multi-faceted problem then we can really truly make some progress and move things along a little bit quicker Thank You attorney now to to the show this questioner says your TV character influenced your thinking and now your advocacy how much do you influence your character and the content of your show I like the question I'd say it's 5050 well you know I think that this has been I used to when I used to talk about uh Olivia Benson I would say you know I've learned so much from her because she is she has we can still be polite um well she you know she that's that sort of her motto was fearlessness it's not that she doesn't have the fear it's that she does it anyway because it's not about her it's about you know she's mama bear she's a lioness and what's been so exciting about about this process and about me needing to do something from my outrage and and if I could just you know to say to Sarah and Kim for me you know I was a civilian I learned about the rape kit backlog I was like what I couldn't believe it and everyone that I've told about it has responded the same way because as I said we assumed we just assumed if you got a rape kit done you assume that it gets tested so when you learn about all these things and why they don't it it's a call to action if it pushes you into action so in terms of Olivia what's been exciting is that first I wanted to do something and that she influenced me and now with my stellar a team behind me of joyful heart and you know the the reach that I have to the experts which is such a gift to me they've helped infuse the show and now you know our our showrunner Warren light who's you know such an incredibly bright man and understands the value and the platform of the knowledge that we have access to and because of that we have done shows about it so there will be times when I you know will read a script and I say hey wait a minute this is an opportunity or what would say well let me have our expert on that or you know Kim can you help me out with these statistics and we actually did a show on the rape kit backlog we did a show on that we've done shows so much about you know survivor and what happens and this process and the answer to your question of what what is you know what is a rape kit what does that entail I mean we showed it because people just don't know so there's been many places where now joyful heart is aiding the show and supporting the show and originally Neil bare our original executive producer and showrunner was also a board member so he - I mean I think people with this whole and that are bright like these men understand the platform we have and and the power in educating yes given your advocacy and your position with with the the important topic how did you respond to having Mike Tyson guest star on the show and what was it like to have him on the set with you well you know ultimately I think that the episode was a very powerful episode and my response was I didn't know I I didn't know that they had cast Mike Tyson originally initially and what Mike where my concern lied with was how survivors would respond and my concern was I understood their confusion and why they would be hurt and confused by this choice so that's what I that's what I wanted to take care of is survivors who often in the past haven't had a voice and I wanted to make sure that they have one and that's why we stood up at joyful heart and and made the statement that we did again you know life is complex and I don't know all the pieces of all the moving parts but as I said I thought that the episode was compelling and powerful and at the end of the day told told a beautiful story are there any other shows in Hollywood that you think are doing a good job shining light on this subject they are also on TV now that's a great question I have 14 children so I don't really watch TV and that's the truth I'm trying to think I can't nothing comes to mind right now but that's but if I think of something I'll let you know TV often lacks the nuance and detail of real life what do you think is the most unrealistic part of the portrayal with sexual assault or domestic violence on SVU either in what you show or in what you don't show what is the most unrealistic part Sara okay yeah okay I'll say it yeah um I think that Olivia Benson and and the members of the Special Victims Unit on on SVU are extremely compassionate and well-versed in these issues and knowledgeable and empathetic and maybe some maybe sometimes not every survivor a victim is met with the compassion and the respect that they should be met with there's of course been a lot of attention lately yes yes my first entry well because because because you know that's a that's a big question and there's and there's many issues I mean for example SVU detectives in real life don't deal with homicide that's the first thing so in in the show because we have 40 minutes 42 to tell a story obviously I deal with homicides on the show and they're linked obviously most people know that but if you don't usually if it's a homicide it's a homicide if it's a you know a sexual assault domestic violence is different things so but but but what I want to say is wow I just went off on the tangent not really I want to say ah when I first as I said when I first got this rule you think how can I do research to play this character with the integrity that I wanted to play her so in my doing my research you know going on ride-alongs and hanging out at precincts and sort of modeling myself after a few SVU detectives that I met that I thought were amazing and like Kim they were just powerhouses and doing their job and would never stop anything and I wanted to be like them but in addition the night it was a specific night when I learned these statistics my boss Dick Wolf was being honored by an organization at Mount Sinai called sexual assault violence intervention they had a dinner called the silver whistle dinner and and that's the night that I learned these statistics and then I learned about rape kit rape crisis counselors and rape crisis advocates so I went through that that training to become that and and learning what I learned there and had a deal respectfully and kindly with survivors the way they deserved to be really infused my character so you know so I wish that all cops all detectives all Special Victims Unit detectives or all cops really because the Special Victims Unit are obviously trained in a very specific way that all cops could understand the compassion that you I said one time how would you feel if your bike got stolen if your car got stolen if your house was robbed and the cop dissed you and doubted you and didn't dare treat with respect it's about respect that's an important part violence in the media of course has been in the news a lot in recent months and obviously SVU is I'm assuming not a program that you watch with your children how do you square the personal activism with trying to curb violence in real life with the fact that the show is a violent show on on television well I think that when material is dealt with responsibly and when consequences and accountability are shown it changes when violence is gratuitous and it's out there and yes then people imitate it when there are no consequences then people go yeah yeah video games are you know it gets you into a crazy fervor and then there's you know certain things that are quite irresponsible I think that SVU brings to light so many issues again that people don't talk about and have it talked about and you know you see people taking get it you know having to take accountability I think that's the part that puts it through a different lens is that when you're educating people you're having people talk about issues that they normally don't talk about and then showing perpetrators the consequences and I think the beauty of joyful heart in that way is that you know with Olivia Benson and with the Special Victims lens and with the entertainment component combined with what we are all doing in this room and the power of this unity it's just going to change everything and if we say to perpetrators if we say I will not stand by and watch what you do I will not not tell I am involved I see you I'm watching you and I'm gonna take accountability because it's our problem it's there's no more well Who am I to get involved who are who are you to get involved your human being that is watching violence that is witnessing somebody being hurt it's about accountability it's about connecting to our responsibility as a human being she's mad now okay he's not kidding she means this we have an active online audience today so I'll ask one of the questions that come in while you've been up here via Twitter there's several this person asks what advice do you give to someone who would like to report their rape first of all I would say you are so strong and I admire you so much and there are people that want to help you and you are not alone and I applaud you and you are changing the world and preventing this from happening to other people and we are unifying to do everything we can so this doesn't happen again if you want to add anything Kim or Sarah thank you we're here in Washington of course and you mentioned that the Violence Against Women Act was just of course reauthorized what would you say is the next political priority for you in Washington or in state legislatures for me a lot to be dealt with doesn't turn you know for me we have our focus right now on the on the rape kit backlog so I mean we're gonna stay focused and we're not giving we certainly are very ambitious as you ever you've heard me you know what joyful heart wants to do and how we want to partner with other organizations we're not going to stop until we do so for me right now the most important thing is about is about educating and sort of locking arms with people so they don't say well what can I do I want people to know what they can do and I want people to feel empowered and realize how much power they do have to to say something to speak up for somebody who in the past hasn't and hopefully again what this symbol is is and I just think that the breast cancer the breast cancer analogy so it's so beautiful to me because when I see you know breast cancer used to be a thing like a breast cancer when I talk about that and now you see people with wearing the pink ribbon and I always feel like like a rock star they're so proud of me and you see somebody who survived breast cancer and you you just want to jump on the bandwagon and support and you look at them differently and admire them and they're so empowered and whether it's breast cancer or all the different things once you've survived it you are empowered so let's unify around these issues and make it something that we all talk about so our kids know how to keep themselves safe so women feel supported so men go you know what that's not okay so we stop blaming other people and taking responsibility you know this morning listening to Vice President Biden you know he said if a woman runs across the field naked you can arrest therefore what's it called indecent exposure but that doesn't give you the right to rape her so the point is let's stop blaming rape victims and putting the blame there and take it on herself and go and teaching you know men women children about the fact people deserve to live a violent free life how about that how about that this questioner says we're seeing more and more celebrities come to Washington to lobby for a cause and while some might think it's publicity oriented why is it important for you to come to the Capitol to talk about a cause and do you worry about celebrity backlash for your issue no I don't worry about that at all I I have I think that I've been given an incredible opportunity as far as I can understand the issues from where I stand from where I stand as an actor and where I've stand as a person in the spot that I am I've I've dealt with these issues I've seen the power of the community and how it affects survivors I've seen lives change I've seen people have their life back I've seen people begin again that moves me deeply the other side of that is I've also seen people after they were victims of sexual assault and domestic violence give up and I used to describe it as I would you see the lights go out for people to think that they're not worthy because somebody did something to them how is that right you're not worthy because somebody did something to you no no they're not worthy not you so to encourage survivors that may have a skewed vision of their beauty and their worth sometimes you need to refocus I'm passionate about refocusing the blame where it needs to be again how convenient is it her perpetrator if we're not talking about it we're saying it's not important go ahead do it again by being in this room today by writing about this by educating people that don't know about it they're not going to that much leeway they're not going to have it so I feel moved by my heroes that are making a difference Kym worthy and Sara and Miley and everyone in joyful heart that has devoted their life and everyone and all of our partners I mean the people that came up with the no more campaign I should actually take credit for that today you know when I thought about when I first came up with this it was funny cuz I love blue but but but they're saying the people that I sit around brainstorming you know this is a train I wanted to get on this is a train that I'm going we're changing people's like you're giving them the lights back so it's a Liberty backlash not so much because I started the joyful Heart Foundation so you know I I'm sort of in for someone asks would you ever run for public office yourself you know I could get used to it up here we are almost out of time unfortunately but before asking the last question we have a couple housekeeping matters to take care of first of all I would like to remind you about our upcoming luncheon speakers on March 15th we have Thomas Drake who is National Security Administration whistleblower and he'll be our sunshine week speaker on March 18th we are having a special speakers breakfast with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus he will talk about the forward strategy of the Republican Party and on March 20th we have Kathy Calvin who is the president and CEO of the United Nations Foundation she will discuss the public charities work in supporting the mission and programs of the United Nations second I would like to present our guest with our traditional National Press Club coffee market we hope to see on the set sometime soon and we always wrap up with one final question there's got to be about the show we want to know will you still be doing as for you next year um will I be doing the show next year I certainly hope so thank you very much for coming today I'd also like to thank National Press Club staff including its journalism Institute and broadcast Center for organizing today's event and finally here's a reminder that you can find more information about the National Press Club on our web site if you'd like to get a copy of today's program please check out the website at www.archives.gov/calendar I just want a second you

Channel: The National Press Club

Views: 43,171

Rating: 4.9305992 out of 5

Keywords: Law & Order, Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU, Joyful Heart Foundation, sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, National Press Club, NPC, NPC Luncheon

Id: uOE4x6hfSxE

Length: 58min 57sec (3537 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 13 2013