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TX Coach's 'Knock Them In The Face' Response To Campus Rape Ignores Reality

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Baylor University women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey's stepped in a mess on Saturday night.

After she won a game for the 500th time in her career, the 54-year-old went on a mini rant against a negative perception of Baylor, in relation to the university's high profile rape cases.

She said,

If somebody around you and they ever say, 'I will never send my daughter to Baylor.' You knock them right in the face... it's the damn best school in America.

Video of speech, and the literal mic drop that followed, can be seen in the clip below.

Kim Mulkey sounds off on recent national scrutiny about #Baylor and female student safety on campus after Lady Bears' win. pic.twitter.com/Jy8YUDhtBW — John Elizondo (@JohnElizondo25) February 25, 2017

To be fair, Mulkey backtracked on Sunday afternoon, when she told espnW,

I hate that I used the remark about punching them in the face.

She also added,

My point was, 'Please don't paint, with a broad brush, the women at Baylor.' I didn't think about what I was going to say. I looked at my players, and the little girls and the women who are cheering for them. And I spoke with a lot of emotion.
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So, yeah, it's worth noting that she apologized, but it's worth even more to note that what she said, apology included, is legitimately one of the worst ways you could possibly respond to sexual assault.

By making this speech, she took a conversation that should be all about helping rape victims, and inserted the subject of school pride as a sort of mask.

If anything, it was selfish.

At a time when Baylor is defending itself against a lawsuit that alleges over 52 rapes by football players over four years, and when former players have gone to jail for cases of sexual assault, it's clear the university has a problem.

When it comes to what's going on at Baylor, there's only one subject worth discussing: Why does this problem exist and how can it be fixed?

Everything not related to answering that question is irrelevant, including who feels offended by being painted by a "broad brush."

Being generalized may sting a little, but it's surely nothing compared to being punched in the head and choked by an athlete.

To be clear, there's no need to pile on Mulkey, either.

In fact, that would be the easy way out. What's much more difficult to admit is many of us are guilty of a Mulkey-like speech when we discuss similar serious subjects.

There can never be a mature discussion about racism because of the needless pause to add, "not all" Americans are racist.

There can never be a mature discussion about sexism because, "not all" men are against women. Too often, the irrelevant caveat of "not all" is the point at which meaningful and needed conversations die.

But no matter how many people throw their fragile sense of identity into conversations where they don't belong, never forget: Nothing is as important as discussing the human lives who are in danger.