Feminists flip out over self-defense advice

If you’re still not convinced that our culture is rapidly declining and common sense is becoming a scarce commodity, you might change your mind after reading this. At Sunday’s Miss USA pageant, contestant Nia Sanchez (Miss Nevada), who won the title, was asked about sexual assaults on college campuses. A fourth-degree black belt in tae kwon do, Sanchez said it’s important to make people more aware of the issue so women “can learn how to protect themselves. … [Y]ou need to be confident and be able to defend yourself.”

That’s common-sense advice. Generally, men are larger and stronger than women. If a man is ready to attack a woman, she has few defensive options, unless she has a gun. Go for vulnerable areas, such as the eyes and testicles. Any other skills a woman has would help, as well as strong legs so she can run. I’ve given my teenage niece the “vulnerable areas” lecture many times. I’ve told her to fight like a wild animal if a stranger tried to get her into a car.

Ladies, have I offended you with my self-defense tips? Have I excused male aggressors? If you’re not offended, congratulations. You’re not feminists with First World problems. Feminists exploded in unrighteous indignation on social media after Sanchez’s remarks. I thought they were joking, but they were deadly serious. Mandy Velez, an associate editor at the Huffington Post, tweeted, “Let’s hope Nevada uses [Sanchez’s] media tour to reiterate that teaching girls self defense is NOT the best way to protect against assault.”

Did Velez mean that women shouldn’t defend themselves against rape? That doesn’t sound very feminist. She clarified. Self-defense is only a short-term solution. We “need to fix the problem b4 it occurs, not while its[sic] happening.”

So how do “we” stop rapists before they’ve raped—a Minority Report–style pre-crime law enforcement unit? If Velez has a long-term plan for eradicating rape, I’d love to hear it. A short-term solution is better than no solution. Criminals commit crimes, regardless of the laws against those crimes. That’s why we have cops and courts and prisons.

College student Anna Garcia tweeted this idealistic advice: “Miss Nevada was asked about rape at colleges and answered that women need to learn to defend themselves… OR MEN COULD JUST NOT RAPE.”

If only people could JUST NOT MURDER, what a wonderful world it would be! Feminist Anna Beth West tweeted, “Women shouldn’t need to learn to protect themselves against rape…educate and respect yourself as a woman #rapeculture.”

Let’s turn this around: Men shouldn’t need to learn to protect themselves against false rape accusations. Men, educate and respect yourselves as men #falserapeculture.

These are only a few of the silly remarks made after a woman trained in self-defense gave sound advice to other women: Start from a position of strength and protect yourselves from men who obviously know that rape is against the law but do it anyway. Absurdity abounds in a fat and well-fed culture. As the decline continues, common sense will seem quaint.