Full Contact: Sexual Assault, Combat Sports, and the Myth of Self-Defense

Abstract

The essay considers the unique rhetorical dimensions of sexual assault in the combat sports setting, centering on three central arguments. The first is that traditional recommendations for self-defense that advocate combat sports as a means of protection are rooted in a Burkean victimage ritual that places the obligation for the assault on the survivor. The second examines the role that hegemonic masculinity and hierarchy play in perpetuating this system, particularly the ways in which these presumptions empower assailants and disenfranchise survivors as well as enable the combat sports orientation to appear helpless in the face of accusations. The third explores how Burkean notions of action and motion are being used as tools for progressive change by those seeking to refashion the orientation and put the responsibility for the assaults on those at the top of the combat sports hierarchy.