4th degree black belt in Taekwondo Nia Sanchez was asked during the 2014 Miss Nevada contest about the high rate of sexual assault on college campuses.
Recently ‘Time Magazine’ said 19% of U.S. undergraduate women are victims of sexual assault in college,” began judge Rumer Willis. “Why has such a horrific epidemic been swept under the rug for so long and what can colleges do to combat this?”
Sanchez replied in part that learning self-defense was a useful preventive measure.
I believe that some colleges may potentially be afraid of having a bad reputation and that would be a reason it could be swept under the rug, because they don’t want that to come out into the public, said Sanchez. But I think more awareness is very important, so women can learn how to protect themselves. Myself, as a fourth-degree black belt, I learned from a young age that you need to be confident and be able to defend yourself. And I think that’s something that we should start to really implement for a lot of women.
Ms. Sanchez was then subjected to months of criticism, accusing her of blaming the victim.
Sage |-/ @SassySage_
If Miss Nevada wins this, I quit. You CANNOT say teaching women how to protect themselves is a way to combat rape.
Bergen N. Baucom @BergenNBaucom
Miss Iowa says today’s youth are narcissistic followed by Miss Nevada who wants to end rape with self defense classes Really? Sick #MissUSA
Elisabeth Jasina @jasinae
Miss Nevada might be gorgeous, but needs to realize teaching self defense to women isn’t the solution for ending sexual assault #YesAllWomen
Elisa Benson @elisabenson
I get that the college sexual assault problem can’t be solved in 30 secs but still icky to pretend like self defense is the answer. #MissUSA
The criticism was not isolated to well-meaning cranks on Twitter. University of Miami law professor Mary Anne Franks spoke with HuffPost Live’s Ricky Camilleri.
“The problem with sexual assault is … it’s not going to be something that will be recognized as a moment when you have an antagonist,” said Ms. Franks. “People in most sexual assault contexts are dealing with familiar people — acquaintances, loved ones, people you trust, people you allow yourself to be vulnerable with. And the fact of the matter is, that’s not the mindset for self-defense.”
The criticism of Ms. Sanchez is not rational. At no point did she say or imply that self defense skills are the only solution, or that male rapists are not to blame. Criticizing her for what she said makes no more sense than criticizing someone for suggesting that martial arts classes for a child can useful as an aid against bullying. Or criticizing someone for suggesting that keeping a firearm in the home is a good practice, given how much violence there is in our world.
The story has a happy ending. Sanchez went on to win the contest, win Miss USA, get 1st runner up in Miss Universe, get engaged, work with the poor internationally, and generally win at life.
