Locker Room Talk

‘Locker Room Talk’ according to the One Love Foundation stems from the idea that the way men talk to each other in an all-male environment is different than the way they speak in a mixed-gender environment. Locker Room Talk normally consists of vulgar and sexually charged language. And in some ways, anybody, who has experienced a sexual encounter, and wants to speak about can participate in locker room talk.

However, the locker room talk I'm discussing today is very different from casual conversations about weekend hookups. 

Toxic locker room talk refers to women's bodies as objects and is rooted in homophobia and rape culture. 

The classic high school male friend group will most likely engage in this toxic locker room talk at one point or another. 

This is not an assumption, at least in my personal experience, this is a fact. 

I go to an art school so locker rooms aren't really a thing. That means these kinds of conversations - the toxic locker room talk kind. Take place in public, for anyone with a knack of eavesdropping to hear. 

Firsthand I have heard conversations that discuss getting girls drunk and then having sex with them. The thing is, there is nothing wrong with embracing your sexuality and your sexual history, however, when someone is intoxicated, it is almost always impossible for them to consent, as they are not coherent enough to make such any decision. And so bragging about getting a girl drunk and then coercing her into having sex with you and having all of your friends congratulate you for it really shows how rape culture and toxic masculinity intertwine. It is seen as cool or, at least acceptable, for these boys to do this in their friend groups. And THAT is where locker room talk becomes toxic.   

Homophobia and heteronormativity are also engrained in locker room talk, as the definition itself assumes that all men have sexual encounters with women, which, of course, is not the case. And to diverge, for a moment, from the topic of sexual locker room talk, homophobic locker room talk is also very present. Calling your friends “gay” or “s*s” for something they are doing or saying implies the idea that being gay is a bad thing. 

Donald Trump himself has discussed locker room talk. Stating that his objectifying and disgusting discussions regarding women's bodies is just locker room talk. And the issue is, he is not wrong. But that doesn't make what he is saying any better, it only makes my understanding of what locker room talk is much more terrifying. 

All of the above proves one thing and one thing only, toxic masculinity has roots that run deep and wide.