The Truth About “Locker Room Talk”

*Henry Flores calls for a national movement to end “locker room talk.” VL

By Henry Flores, NewsTaco (4 minute read)

Donald Trump’s recent vulgarities, there are so many, about how he talks about women needs addressing for several reasons.  First, it debases women; secondly, it attributes this type of language to “locker rooms.”  There is a third reason that I may not have room to address but it is that his language is an embarrassment and an insult to men as well.

Debasing Women

Women have complained about the way some men have referred to various parts of a woman’s anatomy in crude fashion for a long time.  Some men, and I do mean some, have used this language to describe women since recorded history began.  I personally have heard it in various places, the least of which were locker rooms in gyms, athletic facilities, and military installations where I have showered, shaved and changed clothes after working out throughout my life.  I have heard it more in corporate board rooms, court houses and law firms, on university campuses, on golf courses, restaurants, and civic places.  What I am trying to say is that this type of language is pervasive and remains a thread in the tapestry of “mantalk” in our country.  Don’t get me wrong I have heard this language in other countries and many countries are worse than the United States but I am talking about our country right now because of why this issue warrants immediate attention.

Men talk about women this way for several reasons.  Men feel threatened by women and so have been doing things to women throughout history to keep them subjugated. Men are basically insecure because they have been socialized and they have convinced themselves that they are the superior gender.  So, men go around describing women in insulting and less than flattering terms.  Sometimes men describe women’s bodies as if they are describing some object; they speak of women as less than human.  As a result, sometimes men talk about using women as just that, an object and nothing more.

Of course, men who objectify women never stop and think as to the implications of what they are saying, whether their behavior is appropriate or whether they would talk that way about their mothers, wives, daughters, sisters or other women relatives.  Oh no, men would be horrified if some other guy were to talk about their mother, wife or daughter the way they speak of women!

Well this talk has got to stop!  And, the only way it is going to stop is if men become real men and start throwing this language into the faces of the perpetrators.  Women can stand up for themselves but when a guy gets in the face of a “dirty mouthed” guy who is saying demeaning things about women it carries more weight.  I certainly don’t mince any words when confronting guys like this.  If they’re friends I say something like “Gee Frederico what would your mom or abuela say if they heard you talk that way?”  If they are not friends I say something like “You know, ‘chicks’ refer to animals not women.” Or, “you know that’s pretty ugly language man.  I’m sure your mom didn’t teach you to talk about women that way.”  Or, “you know man that is no way to talk about another person.”  Still I don’t hear enough men standing up and confronting this, this, this disorder.  And, it is a behavioral disorder that needs immediate attention.  Because we have a presidential candidate, the Orange One, who thinks this type of behavior and language, is appropriate!

Locker Room Talk 

Mr. Trump attributes his demeaning language to “locker room talk” or just “guy talk.”  Regardless, it’s inappropriate and crude talk and needs to stop.   Referring to his vulgar language as locker room talk, however, is interesting because in all the years I’ve been using locker rooms I only remember one instance when some guy made a snide remark about a woman and I put him in his place.  Underlying this reference though is something really almost as sinister, racism.  Our image of locker rooms are those occupied by professional and university athletes most of whom are black.  Trump is implying that black men talk like this and sends a signal to white men that lurking in the back of the locker room is the threat of interracial sexual relations.  That black men leer at white women thinking lurid thoughts.

Mr. Trump is a racist, misogynist who needs to be called out.  And, we need a national movement to curtail his type of ugly, vulgar, crude and demeaning language that is intended to objectify more than half of our population.

Henry Flores, PhD, is the Distinguished University Research Professor, Institute of Public Administration and Public Service; Director, Masters in Public Administration (MPA); Professor of International Relations and Political Science at St. Mary’s University. He is the author of Latinos and the Voting Rights Act: The Search for Racial Purpose.