Donald Trump’s new campaign manager once insisted that rape could be eradicated if women were “as strong as men.”
Kellyanne Conway was discussing the roles of women in the military on a 2013 episode of PBS’ “To the Contrary,” a roundtable discussion show featuring an all-women panel, when she made the baffling, victim-blaming declaration.
“If we were physiologically not mentally, emotionally, professionally equal to men, if we were physiologically as strong as men, rape would not exist,” she said. “You would be able to defend yourself and fight him off.”
Conway and the other panelists had been debating the roles of women in combat and military physical fitness requirements. The Republican campaign manager mentioned that there should be one universal fitness test for all soldiers, not women’s and men’s versions, to ensure we have the “best prepared military regardless of gender.”
Without any prompting from the other women pundits, Conway brought up her point on rape.
Her comment did not appear to take into account male victims of rape and sexual assault. It also seem to place the blame on women who can’t “fight off” their aggressors not the offenders who commit the sex crimes.
Conway was not immediately available to clarify her comments.
Conway took charge of Trump’s presidential campaign earlier this month. The veteran pollster previously worked as a political commutator for CNN and Fox News.