The term “locker room talk” has been thrown around for generations as a socially acceptable way to excuse mens harmful, degrading, and dehumanizing talk towards women. As of late, this term has been used to excuse our fuck face president’s actions and his sadly famous line “grab em by the pussy”. He got off and was excused from punishment and extreme criticism because he played it off as “locker room talk”, when in actuality it was sexual harassment and hinting at rape and sexual assault.
Locker room talk is not only excusing the actions of these men, but it is feeding and promoting rape culture in America. During “locker room talk”, harmful words are tossed around regarding what they would do to women, such as “I’d hit that” thus implying violence towards women and a male power complex, which are two aspects of rape culture that are also ingrained in our society. Other harmful words such as “grab em by the pussy” have been thrown out in the open, by excusing our fuck face presidents inappropriate words as locker room talk, we are teaching the people in our country that it is okay to do and say these things because there is no punishment for their words or actions.
Other forms of locker room talk are extremely harmful too, and by this I mean the talk of the coaches or other players during pep-talks or scoldings. They tell each other to “take of their skirt and grow a pair”. These are incredibly harmful too, by calling someone a pussy, they are turning a part of the female body into a negative thing and using it as something that makes a man weak, which in turn promotes the idea that women are weak because they have vaginas. Not only is this harmful to women, it also contributes to the power aspect of rape and sexual assault where men feel the need to be dominant and have the power in the situation. Similarly, telling players to “take of their skirt and grow a pair” is equally as harmful. Once again it is using something typically associated with women to tell a man he is weak and that he should “man up” when he is told to grow a pair.
Disclaimer- I am aware that not all rapists and sexual assaulters are men, however in this article I was focusing on the men’s locker room talk that has been contributing to rape culture.
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