*Disclaimer* The following contains language not suitable for the American electorate.
Every two minutes, a sexual assault happens. Every two minutes, someone's basic human rights are violated at the hands of another. Every two minutes, there's a person who's so disrespectful, they will act on an urge and not even feel bad about it.
Recently, French TV Presenter Cyril Hanouna was attempting to break the national record for longest time on air, which was 35 hours. Hanouna is known for doing shameless gags as well as family-friendly content.
While attempting to break this record, Hanouna set up a game that imitated the recent Kim Kardashian robbery, where she was tied, gagged, held at gunpoint and then robbed. In the segment, panelist Jean-Michel Maire played a locksmith who had to 'save' the Kardashian impersonator, Soraya.
After Maire won the game, Hanouna congratulated Maire and said that he deserved a kiss from Soraya. Soraya, who was obviously uncomfortable with the gesture, said no. Twice. Hanouna eventually got Soraya to compromise and allow Maire to give her a kiss on the cheek.
However, Maire didn't kiss her on the cheek. He goes to kiss her on the cheek, psychs her out, and instead kisses her breast.
If she's not okay with kissing him on the lips, what makes him think that it's okay to kiss her chest? Soraya uncomfortably agreed to let him kiss her cheek, and he took it further than she agreed to.
They had tried to pressure her into kissing Maire after she explicitly said no. Hanouna tried to play it off that a kiss is the least Jean-Micheal deserved after 'saving' her. Instead of respecting her, and her boundaries, he kissed her breast.
And to make things worse, Jean-Micheal Maire and Cyril Hanouna laughed it off. They laughed because Jean-Micheal stole a kiss and violated Soraya.
Because, after all, sexually assaulting women is funny and expected out of men.
Now Jean-Micheal Maire can go into a room full of his buddies, swap stories and tell them all about the time he tricked this woman into thinking he was going to kiss her on the cheek, but he went for her cleavage instead.
He'll brag about it, his friends will praise him, and learn that sexually assaulting women is perfectly fine and even praised. Men will brag about these things that they may or may not have done to women, just to get the approval from those around them.
They'll mean every word they say at the moment, but the second someone calls them out and tells them it's not okay, they'll just call it, "locker room talk."
"Locker room talk" perpetuates the notion that sexual assault is okay.
It tells a guy at a party, that the absence of 'no' means yes.
It tells the guy that lived in my building that I overreacted when I told him never to touch me again after he grabbed my ass.
It tells men it's okay to grab a woman and kiss her without her consent.
It tells men that women want it and "they let you do it. You can do anything, grab them by the pussy."
Talking about women in such a vulgar way normalizes sexual assault. Most of the men that participate in "locker room talk" will never act upon sexually assault women. But them joining the conversation and letting the one guy in the room that will sexually assaulting a woman is not only okay but praiseworthy is just as bad as the action.
It's not just "locker room talk." It's a mentality that perpetuates rape culture and the disrespect of women.
