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| Trump’s banter: what is locker room chat really like? Trump’s banter: what is locker room chat really like? | |
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| If there were an international association for the advancement of locker rooms, it would be in full PR crisis mode by now. Donald Trump has spent a whole weekend traducing gyms and sports clubs everywhere by associating them with his boasts about sexually assaulting women. | If there were an international association for the advancement of locker rooms, it would be in full PR crisis mode by now. Donald Trump has spent a whole weekend traducing gyms and sports clubs everywhere by associating them with his boasts about sexually assaulting women. |
| “Yes, I’m very embarrassed by it. I hate it. But it’s locker room talk, and it’s one of those things,” Donald Trump said during the second presidential debate when challenged about comments he made while at work, on a bus, in a conversation with a journalist. | “Yes, I’m very embarrassed by it. I hate it. But it’s locker room talk, and it’s one of those things,” Donald Trump said during the second presidential debate when challenged about comments he made while at work, on a bus, in a conversation with a journalist. |
| Trump used the “locker room talk” defence five times in all, but what does locker room talk mean to people who spend a lot of time in them – and is violent misogyny a requirement for entry? | Trump used the “locker room talk” defence five times in all, but what does locker room talk mean to people who spend a lot of time in them – and is violent misogyny a requirement for entry? |
| “I’ve had more conversations about politics, about racism and the tax advantages of living in Florida than I have conversations that even approached what Donald Trump said,” says John Amaechi, the former NBA basketball player, who lives in Britain. | “I’ve had more conversations about politics, about racism and the tax advantages of living in Florida than I have conversations that even approached what Donald Trump said,” says John Amaechi, the former NBA basketball player, who lives in Britain. |
| “Everything I heard last night was part of some fantasy stereotype about what locker rooms are like, this somehow sterile environment where man-children blab about non-consensual sexual contact with women. That’s not the locker room I know, even when the locker room I know let me down at times.” | “Everything I heard last night was part of some fantasy stereotype about what locker rooms are like, this somehow sterile environment where man-children blab about non-consensual sexual contact with women. That’s not the locker room I know, even when the locker room I know let me down at times.” |
| Amaechi is referring to the homophobic abuse he heard before he came out, as he documented in his 2007 book, Man in the Middle. One player said he would kick his son out of his house if he came out (he later apologised to Amaechi). “And although I’ve also heard people use words for women that I would not approve of or use, I’ve never ever heard anybody in a locker room speak of a non-consensual sexual act,” he says. “There is such a gulf between the two.” | Amaechi is referring to the homophobic abuse he heard before he came out, as he documented in his 2007 book, Man in the Middle. One player said he would kick his son out of his house if he came out (he later apologised to Amaechi). “And although I’ve also heard people use words for women that I would not approve of or use, I’ve never ever heard anybody in a locker room speak of a non-consensual sexual act,” he says. “There is such a gulf between the two.” |
| Matt Miller, a London-based American former college football player and bodybuilder, is voting for Hillary but doesn’t identify Trump’s bragging as aggressive. “You talk candidly about issues and you’re a man, so you brag about sexual exploits being bigger than they were,” he says. “Tell me you’ve never done that.” | Matt Miller, a London-based American former college football player and bodybuilder, is voting for Hillary but doesn’t identify Trump’s bragging as aggressive. “You talk candidly about issues and you’re a man, so you brag about sexual exploits being bigger than they were,” he says. “Tell me you’ve never done that.” |
| Martin Gritton, who hung out in dressing rooms in Plymouth, Grimsby, Macclesfield and Stockport during a 14-year football career, says that locker room chat only qualifies when it’s funny. “Somehow I didn’t detect the humour in Trump’s delivery, it was just sinister,” he says. “There were personal attacks and it can get explicit at times, but it was always important that the person you’re talking about is in the room. It had to be inclusive.” | Martin Gritton, who hung out in dressing rooms in Plymouth, Grimsby, Macclesfield and Stockport during a 14-year football career, says that locker room chat only qualifies when it’s funny. “Somehow I didn’t detect the humour in Trump’s delivery, it was just sinister,” he says. “There were personal attacks and it can get explicit at times, but it was always important that the person you’re talking about is in the room. It had to be inclusive.” |
| Amaechi, who is now an occupational psychologist, is angry partly because he believes the locker room has a valuable role. “It is one of the last bastions of straight male intimacy, one of the last places men can cry, can touch each other, where they can emotionally connect,” he says. “They are places of safety, or resilience. They are not places where at least the strong men I know go to talk about abusing women.” | Amaechi, who is now an occupational psychologist, is angry partly because he believes the locker room has a valuable role. “It is one of the last bastions of straight male intimacy, one of the last places men can cry, can touch each other, where they can emotionally connect,” he says. “They are places of safety, or resilience. They are not places where at least the strong men I know go to talk about abusing women.” |