Photo: Getty Images.A new Miss USA was crowned yesterday, and she's not your average beauty pageant contestant. The top prize went to Nia Sanchez, the 24-year-old Miss Nevada. Sanchez holds a fourth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. And, she brought up her martial arts experience during the question-and-answer portion of the evening.
All the contestants had to address the same topic —what's to be done about the epidemic of sexual assaults on college campuses. Sanchez started off by saying that "more awareness is needed, so that women can learn to protect themselves." She then added that as a black belt, she's learned "you need to be confident and be able to defend yourself...that's something we need to start to implement for a lot of women."
Confidence is certainly key, but perhaps it should be college men who should be held accountable for their actions, instead of female students being forced to fight them off. Awareness isn't just a female issue when it comes to campus assault. Undoubtedly, Sanchez will face this question more than once in her year wearing the crown; let's hope she works to bring awareness not just to women, but men as well. Students shouldn't have to have a black belt in order to feel safe. (Jezebel)