I've been in 100 different locker rooms. The three main topics inside my locker rooms were sports, school and girls. When we weren't bashing our heads together on the field, working hard in the classroom and studying at home we talked about the girls we know. We talked about how hot they are, how slutty they are, how crazy they are, how smart they are, how much better they look on Instagram, how much we would love to have sex with them how big their ass is, who they have been with and how they were in bed.
We NEVER bragged about sexually assaulting a girl or raping someone.
"Locker room talk" isn't a myth. All over the country, different groups of people of all ages commit "locker room talk." From the varsity football team to the country club your dad is apart of, "locker room talk" happens and it's not going away. "Locker room talk" is not mutually exclusive to men. I have overheard women speak about men in the same way we used to in our locker rooms. Men and women bond with their respective gender over the language they use to describe the other physically and sexually. Most men and women have been involved in a conversation regarding someone else's physical appearance or sexual performance. This furthers the point that "locker room talk" is real and not going away.
I am not immune to this kind of talk. I have participated in it and will probably do it again in the future. I have matured a lot over the past few years and this kind of talk has decreased but sometimes I speak about girls based only on their physical appearance and I admit that it is one of my flaws. But I will NEVER speak of sexual assault or rape in a joking matter.
Sexual assault and rape is not "only locker room talk." I have never heard someone brag about it in my locker room. If I do come across this kind of talk I would be the first one to silence it and reprimand the person speaking. There is a huge difference between "I want to have sex with her" and "I held her down while she screamed to stop." I am in no way promoting this kind of "locker room talk" but it does not involve bragging about sexual assault and rape, period.
Sexual assault and rape is real. It happens every day and women and men are both victims of it. Groping someone without consent is sexual assault. Dismissing it because it happens everywhere and you were drunk still means it's sexual assault. I will not tolerate this behavior and it is time for everyone to join together and stop this.
The victims of sexual assault and rape need our support, compassion, and voices. Join me in taking a stand to stop the normalization of sexual assault, change the language we use to describe each other physically, and rid the world of the evil known as sexual assault.
