Trump's trash talk, disrespecting and demeaning women, is NOT "Locker Room Banter". In High School, I played first string Football. I was on the Swim Team and the Track Team, never missed a practice and took part in every game or event. I spent a lot of time in Locker Rooms.
Locker Room Banter was about who could jump the highest, run or swim the fastest. Since I was one of the shortest of each team, I would sometimes be teased about how short my legs were. I wasn't teased much in the Football locker room, since I made about 80% of the tackles in every game, according to the coach.
Teasing was good-natured and rare. Most of the 'Locker Room Banter" was about how we could do better the next time. Sometimes it was heated, sometimes friendly, but never mean-spirited or negative. The idea was to show appreciation (in a "guy" way) for the effort of each, and was to help us do better as a team next time.
I was also in the Marine Corps. Due to some SNAFU at the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Center, our platoon (385) had our date for start of training delayed a week. We sat on our upside down buckets in our Quonset Huts, talking most of the day - in between marching to meals and standing at attention. That was the D.I.'s favorite way to deal with us. Standing at attention for an hour or so can be pretty boring, so we were all ready to sit on our buckets and talk. We were told to "sit and wait" and that's what we did. For a week.
There we were, about 30-40 guys in one hut (our 75 man platoon required 2 huts) - one big space, with 30 or 40 guys aching to talk about anything, after standing still and silent for hours each day. What was our "Quonset-hut Banter" like? We talked about where we were from, sports we liked, and why we were in the Marine Corps. After a week, we really got to know each other. Nobody talked about their girl friend, unless asked, and then the response was more likely to be, "What's it to you?" than an exaggerated tour of somebody's body. In those days (the '50s) girl friends were respected and potential marriage partners.
Mail call was the most exciting moment of each day. I got a letter from Patricia, the daughter of a Doctor in San Francisco, every mail call. I was the envy of every guy there, due to her consistency. When asked what she was like, I just replied, "Pretty and Smart" - which drew approval and smiles. Nobody poked for sordid details. That would have been creepy.
"Locker Room Banter" is not what it's Trumped up to be. Normal, decent men don't talk about the girls that they love as if they were an animal. In fact, if anyone talked about abusing even an animal the way that some people these days talk about abusing women, they would have been "pillowcased" (a pillowcase is thrown over the head of the guilty party to provide anonymity for the participants) and beaten to a pulp!
The notion of Locker Room Banter being about physical and emotional abuse of another human being is a sick lie - and it makes me sick to think that anyone would believe that normal men behave that way. Every locker room and every Marine Corps conversation that I ever heard was about winning, playing by the rules, and respecting ourselves and others.
What kind of a room would you have to be in, to hear men talk about women as objects? It turns my stomach to even think about it. It also makes me want to find a pillowcase.
Have you ever been in a locker room after or before a game? If so, you know what I'm talking about. Don't be fooled by liars.
Talking about women as objects is "Porn Room" banter - period.
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