Just Locker Room Talk

Once again, we have Trump making headlines over the way he treats women. Many would say they aren’t surprised by his male chauvinist behavior or more so, that at this point, this behavior is almost expected. For those who want to shrug this story off as being non essential to the election, I want to argue why you might want to take a second to look and think about the implications this has for his campaign, us as U.S. citizens and in general, women’s role in the future.

Whether or not you believe that Trump’s personal views on women affect his ability to be a successful president is still a valid argument for his constituency. However, what is no longer arguable in the wake of these remarks and his apologia statements is his character. Donald Trump has quite simply proven himself to be a male chauvinist pig that finds women’s value in their appearance as sexual objects. Not only is it not arguable that he said these vulgar derogatory remarks but it is also not agreeable that his apologia statement did not affectively display remorse for what was said nor proved that he didn’t believe in what was said. In fact his apology statement did quite the opposite. It reaffirmed his belief in a society dominated by hegemonic masculinity through dismissing his comments as “locker room talk”. The sports world is widely considered a male dominated realm of society. Trumps use of sport as a scapegoat for his vulgar misogynistic behavior, only reaffirms his belief that patriarchal constructs exist as pillars of our society and furthermore, that these views are justified in the arena of sport. Trump excusing his comments as nothing but “locker room talk” suggests that although these ideas might be “politically incorrect” and taboo to admit publicly, they are still valued by men and are acceptable to be discussed behind closed doors, in a male dominated setting. Even then, his attempt to justify his comments as “locker room talk” seems to be outdated. According to the Red and Black, the University of Georgia’s student newspaper, athletes “believe that Trump’s comments are misrepresentative of themselves and the behavior in locker rooms”. The article noted that Chris Conley, former UGA football player, tweeted “The guys I know and respect don’t talk like that. They talk about girls but not like that. Period”. Another former UGA football player, Rennie Curran said, “I’ve never heard any conversation like that.” A.J. McDonald, also a football player admitted to stories being told involving women “but it wouldn’t be used to ‘down-grade a woman.” These young athletes found this comparison frustrating “that they associate that with locker rooms” and that “it makes us look bad” agreeing that the sports world is trying and has made strides away from its hegemonic past, one that Donald Trump is clearly still stuck in.

Source:

Giambavio, Emily. “Former Georgia Athletes Respond to Donald Trump’s Lewd Comments.” The Red & Black [Athens] 13 Oct. 2016: n. pag. Print.