'I’m sick of being a victim': Elizabeth Smart launches self-defense program after sexual assault

SALT LAKE CITY — Elizabeth Smart is a soft-spoken, calm and measured woman. When she speaks, her words come with the deliberateness of someone whose most traumatic and private moments have been broadcast to the world.

But there’s a moment, as she speaks of her most recent brush with sexual assault, that her voice becomes louder, her words more forceful.

“I’m sick of being a victim, and I’m sick of everyone else being a victim,” she said, as she detailed a new self-defense program she’s launching Friday in Salt Lake City.

Smart Defense, as the program is aptly named, will teach women and girls the confidence and self-defense skills needed to prevent, ward off and fight back against sexual assault, said Smart — who became a household name at 14 years old when she was abducted from her Salt Lake home and held captive for nine months by a Utah man and his wife.

Smart was galvanized into taking action on the new initiative — and even refocused the direction of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation — after a man sexually assaulted her on an airplane in July.

Smart said she had been upgraded to first-class on a flight back home to Salt Lake and immediately fell asleep in her seat as others began to board. She woke up when she felt the man sitting next to her rubbing her inner thigh.

“When I jerked awake, he didn’t move his hand. He left it on my leg. He didn’t say sorry. He didn’t give me an excuse as to why he was touching me. He didn’t say anything. He just left his hand on my leg and looked at me. And honestly, I froze,” she said.

Smart eventually picked up his hand and moved it back to his side of the armrest, then spent the next 45 minutes of the flight wondering what had just happened, why it had happened (again), and what she should do.

“If I start screaming, everyone’s going to look at me, and this guy could just say, ‘Oh I didn’t touch her. She’s crazy!’ And what will happen to me?” she said, adding that it would have been perfectly fine to scream, but she didn't know what to do in the moment.

“I had all these thoughts going through my mind: I should do something. I should know what to do. I’m Elizabeth Smart. I should know what to do.”

Elizabeth Smart says she was sexually assaulted on a plane

Elizabeth Smart has revealed she was sexually assaulted on an airline flight last year.

But it’s one thing to talk about what to do in a certain moment, and quite another to do it, she admitted. When a person is attacked, they either fight, flee or freeze.

“Clearly, my natural reaction is to freeze. I mean, I froze the night I woke up to Brian Mitchell holding a knife on my neck, and I froze again on the airplane,” she said, noting that she wants other victims to know that if they freeze during an attack, that’s a completely natural reaction.

She called her husband after the flight and angrily told him about the experience, wondering aloud if she had the word “victim” stamped on her forehead. He was “shocked, appalled, disgusted,” she said, but then suggested that perhaps she take some self-defense classes with a friend of theirs who had extensive experience in various martial arts.

Doing so made her realize “how vulnerable we really are,” so she began putting together a self-defense curriculum with experts in various martial arts, and others with extensive experience in law enforcement.

“Truthfully, I wasn’t in a rush to speak out (about this latest incident). I mean, believe it or not, I don't always like having my life put up for public display,” she said.

But she does things for a reason, she explained, and she knew telling her story could bring attention to the classes. It was the catalyst, after all, she said.

The full course consists of 10 classes, but Smart hopes the program will also create a community among participants and that the foundation can remain in contact with those who have taken the class in order to continue teaching them other skills — like what to do in certain situations that may catch them by surprise.

“I have gone through (self-defense) trainings before and … I mean, I froze yet again. And so what sets us apart is that we are trying to maintain those relationships. We’re trying to build a community so that we can have ongoing communication with these participants,” Smart explained.

Those interested in the program can sign up on the foundation website, and they’ll receive more information about the classes or will be notified when the program comes to their area — though it’s still unclear what that timeline will be. The first class begins Friday evening in Salt Lake.

“What I really, really loved (about the pilot programs) was being able to hold those pads as (the women) were practicing hitting the pads or kicking pads. And I could feel the force from behind each woman, and it just made me so proud,” Smart said.

She does recognize, however, that nothing, including self-defense training, is infallible. Some even warn that being trained in self-defense offers a false sense of security that can cause people to put themselves in harm's way because they believe they can protect themselves.

“There’s nothing in this world that will protect you fully from that (harm), except maybe death,” she said. “It may not guarantee anything, but it can only help. And if it gives you that little boost of confidence … isn’t that what you want?”

Smart said the foundation also plans to launch “Smart Talks” sometime later this year, which will include podcasts, social media and live events that will talk about sensitive issues like guilt, PTSD and the definition of sexual violence. She hopes this will also help put the onus back on the perpetrators and educate young men about the issue, as well.

Smart eventually reported the sexual assault to Delta, who passed the information along to the FBI. She knows the man who touched her has since been identified, though she’s unsure what stage the investigation has reached.

And though Smart was not eager to share her story, she wanted to take a more proactive role in helping others protect themselves, she said.

“I want (victims) to know they did nothing wrong. It’s not their fault for whatever's happened,” she said. “At the heart of everything, they never asked for whatever it is they’ve experienced. ... It was never their fault to begin with.”

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