Fight One In Four

So I'm  back from the big apple and exhausted. I promise to share my adventures tomorrow, but today I want to share someone and something that is near and dear to my heart. Today is a guess blog from my Miss Texas titleholder.

Meet Anna Combrink, Miss McKinney 2012. Anna is a sophomore psychology major at UTA. As part of the Miss Texas Pageant, each titleholder must have a platform. This is an issue they are passionate about and speak on. Anna's platform is Fight One in Four: Sexual Assualt Awareness. So, without further ado, here's Anna!

Hi, I’m Anna, Miss McKinney 2012 and blogger at Owls and Lace. I like to wear many hats. But my favorite hat to wear is probably the one that has to do with my platform, Fight One in Four. That’s the one where I get to advocate for a cause that means so much to me.

In America, a fourth of all girls are sexually assaulted by the age of eighteen. It’s also been estimated that 17.7 million women in the United States will become a victim of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault in their lifetimes. This is ridiculous. Especially when you realize that the majority of those women know their attackers.

This is where my platform, Fight One in Four, comes in. My sophomore year of high school someone really close to me was assaulted. And I didn’t know how to handle it at all. So I got on the computer and did what I do best, I googled. But it’s not something people really talk about.  So I decided I would become the resource, any way possible.

I talked to counselors at the women’s shelter, read books, got in contact with RAINN and learned everything I could about how different victims responded. And then I created an advocacy group that not only raised awareness for the prevalence of sexual assault in America, but also taught other people what to do if someone they knew was assaulted. Like always listening and being supportive, not casting blame on the victim in any way (For example saying “Well, were you wearing something that made him think you were interested?”) and how to deal with your own emotions. Something most people don’t know is that in rape there is more than one victim. Secondary victims are the family and friends of the primary victim, and they often deal with just as many emotions as the primary does, however they feel like it’s not a justified emotion since it didn’t directly happen to them. But you handle them the exact same way. Just like it’s not the victim’s fault, it’s not the family or friends fault. No one is to blame but the assaulter who made the chose to ignore her lack of consent.

Another thing I do is support victims who are dealing with their case. I’m not a licensed therapist, so I obviously can’t counsel them, but I can be a friend, and sometimes that’s what they need. Whether it’s bringing them a little present on the day of their testimony or just staying up talking to them when they’re being chased by bad memories.  

If you want to find out more about Fight One in Four or just helping out with the cause you can find me here or learn more at RAINN.org.