This article originally appeared in the Orientation print issue, in stands May 2025. It has not been updated and some information may be out of date.

The Elizabeth Smart Foundation seeks “to bring hope, empowerment and change in the fight against sexual violence.” As part of this mission, the foundation has implemented self-defense and sexual violence awareness courses to nearly every public college and university in the state of Utah, including the University of Utah.

The Chronicle sat down with Smart Defense Program Director Miyo Strong and men’s program lead instructor Marcus Johnson to discuss the new courses at the U.

Overview of the programs

There are two courses through the Exercise and Sport Science Fitness (ESSF) department, listed in the course catalog as ESSF 1400. Both are 100-minute, one-credit classes that take place once a week for seven weeks.

The course catalog explains how the self-defense course is geared towards “those interested in learning life-saving self-defense techniques and preventative measures from physical/sexual assault.”

Strong said the majority of participants in the self-defense class are women, and “90% of them say they feel unsafe on campus.” To cater to this safety element, Johnson said the class looks at “defense tactics, keeping yourself safe and fighting off an attacker.” This female-focused class also covers internet safety, including navigating dating apps and revenge pornography.

The second program focuses on bystander awareness intervention and allyship. It is geared towards men, as 93.6% of sexual abuse offenders were men in 2021, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

“How do I recognize things happening around me, and if I see something happen around me, how do I intervene to stop it?” Johnson said.  

Johnson and Strong noted that the physical moves taught in the allyship program are de-escalatory, whereas the self-defense class focuses more heavily on individual safety and survival.

Why the men’s program?

“I heard all of these stories of violence and abuse,” Johnson said. “It came to the point where I began to be disgusted with men, so I was like ‘Wait a minute, I’m a guy. I know a lot of guys, a lot of good guys, so how do we change this paradigm of men being douchebags?’”

Johnson said the allyship program got its start a few years ago when he met fellow educator and trainer Martin Liccardo.

“His job was in the men’s space, so that’s where we started to come up with this idea of a bystander awareness program because men are the main perpetrators,” Johnson said. “Ninety-eight percent of violence is done at the hands of males, but 98% of men aren’t bad, so where’s the disconnect?”

Johnson said the men’s program is about educating men about rape culture and sexual assault, “and having a lot of conversations about what it looks like to be a good man.”

Strong, the director of the foundation, said that in her experience, men lack awareness of  definitions and examples of “rape culture.” The term “rape culture” can be defined as “an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture.”

Both Strong and Johnson said one prominent “why” behind the men’s program is getting the discussion of sexual violence and assault into the minds of men.

“We don’t think about it,” Johnson said. “We don’t talk about it because it’s never really directly impacted us, even though 1 in 6 men experience sexual violence of their own, but we don’t talk about it.”

Smart said that Johnson also helps men consider specific situations and “changes the way they feel like they should intervene.”

“Marcus gives them the tools to really run scenarios like if you’re at a party and you see this happen, or you hear this happen,” Smart said.

A deeper look into the allyship curriculum

Johnson said he first tries to bring awareness to people in his class about the prevalence of sexual assault.

“The biggest thing I talk about at the very beginning of the very first class is a lot of statistics of sexual assault in society,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said a large part of his pedagogy is building better, stronger and safer communities through awareness and appropriate levels of physicality.

He said that most of the time, the defense is actually thinking, “Am I present? Am I aware? Am I using my voice? Do I see something? Can I stop whatever’s happening with the least amount of effort possible?”

As part of this approach, Johnson said he always poses two questions in the first class that help the men start thinking about sexual assault: What steps have you taken today to prevent yourself from being sexually assaulted? Do you ever fear for your safety on a first date?

Johnson said most of the participants say something to the effect of “That never crossed my mind,” or “I never even thought about it.” He said the class addresses the bystander mentality by providing a space for men to recognize and consider sexual assault in their daily lives.

Johnson said he begins each class with a discussion about topics such as defining consent and setting boundaries before training the physical movements.

The physical moves address intervention while maintaining personal safety and the safety of others.

“We do a lot of jiu jitsu, some muay Thai, and then a little bit of krav maga,” Johnson said. “So it’s using the practical martial arts in a real situation.”

Johnson said the class looks at the pragmatic application of physical moves to real-life scenarios. 

As part of his class, Johnson plays videos showing scenarios where bystanders do not intervene. He said the common reaction from the male participants is “Oh, I would have just taken them out.”

“That’s great with a stranger, but what if it’s your roommate, right?” Johnson said. “What if it’s your bro? Can you call them out if you see something is off?”

Strong said that for men and women, people may feel that something “is off,” but do not feel confident speaking up because they don’t want to be the target.  As a result, a substantial portion of the training in both the allyship and self-defense courses is providing scripts for these situations.

The impact of the course

Johnson shared an example of how the program has had success on other campuses. The Elizabeth Smart Foundation’s Instagram page posted a reel of Snow College’s Bully Beatdown. The self-defense participants pressure test their skills against the coaches, who wear head-to-toe protective gear.

Johnson said after seeing the reel, a member of Snow College’s male wrestling team posted a comment claiming he could “beat everybody up in that class,” which inspired other members of the team to comment on similar sentiments.

Strong, the director of the foundation, got involved and called the president of the college. Johnson gave a seminar the next week for the wrestling team, educating them about sexual assault and rape culture.

According to Johnson, the member of the team who started the comment thread talked to him after and said, “I’m so thankful you shared what you shared because I had no idea what I said could have the impact that it did. Now, I can keep my boys in line.” 

“The biggest thing is guys, we say things, we do things, and act out in ways that are benign to us but can have a real impact on the women around us,” Johnson said.

He said much of his goal with the men’s program is to teach men about the impact that their actions have, and how they can be resources in the community to combat rape culture and sexual assault.