Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez won the 2014 Miss USA pageant last night, but it was her answer to a question from celebrity judge Rumer Willis that generated a little controversy:
“Recently, Time magazine revealed that 19% of U.S. undergraduate women are victims of sexual assault in college. Why has such a horrific epidemic been swept under the rug so long, and what can colleges do to combat this?”
Sanchez, who is a fourth-degree black belt in Taekwondo, answered thus:
“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. 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.”
Makes sense, no?
Well, not to feminists who expressed their displeasure of Miss Nevada’s answer on Twitter, but to most sane people it makes sense.