There needs to be some discussion around this notion of "locker room talk". First of all Trump wasn't in a locker room. He was wearing a mic on a bus in front of production people, getting ready to do a show and meet a woman he was talking about, as if she was a sex object. He was so arrogant that he thought that he could have on a "hot" mic and say whatever he wanted to say. Now how would he have that idea if this wasn't something that has been deemed as acceptable behavior in some way, by other males on a bus that he doesn't even know? These so called acceptable norms need to be questioned, challenged and changed.
But the real question is why is the talk of sexually assaulting women and a male's success at having done so, considered to be the conversation that males are supposed to be able to be engaged in, in a locker room. So much so that this is the environment that it has been named for. I have pointed out many times in the past that these athletes, pro or college, are always protected, whether it be rapists or perpetrators of other forms of sexual violence or domestic violence, because they play sports. If you remember, Roger Goodell was going to sweep Ray Rice's abuse of his wife in the elevator under the rug, until TMZ got the videotape from the hotel. O.J. was initially consistently protected by the cops because of his heroic football record. Nate Parker was cleared in that rape case and more than likely received the support he did, because he was on the wrestling team and we are now all well aware of Penn State's history of cover ups as a result of the Sandusky case and other rape cases. Mike Tyson raped a woman and was convicted but the black community actually attempted to give him a parade. The long line of basketball players, football players and males in all types of sports who engage in all of these abuses, need to have the spotlight put on them for the climate that is created as a result of all of this so-called "locker room talk". The list is endless when it comes to their abuse and violence against women.
Now according to Trump and his campaign surrogates, this so-called "locker room talk" is supposed to be acceptable in political circles, as a given as well. A presidential candidate has suddenly made all of this permissible because he casually writes it off as "locker room talk" and we are supposed to just accept it as something that's viable. The pain and long term trauma that these women experience is all supposed to suddenly go away because it's just "locker room talk" and therefore it doesn't matter. I have to wonder how Nancy O'dell felt as a married woman who was being pushed up on by him, in his words "like a bitch", as she tried to escape from his advances. How did she feel when she got home to her husband? Did she feel some sense of shame or guilt? He then goes on to talk about her breasts and her looks and degrades her even more, even though he didn't get anywhere with her. But is no one even concerned about the effect this so called "locker room talk" has on these women, married or single and how they are viewed now by others?
Has no one noticed how disgusting they were acting on the bus and how they suddenly changed their demeanor in midstream, as they emerged from it and acted as if they cared about the woman who they were meeting and just talking about "scoring" with? How do you think she felt after hearing this tape? Trump has the nerve to call Hillary the devil but that duplicitous behavior was nothing short of "devilish" itself. He's the one who should be ashamed of himself. He literally confessed to a felony by saying that he sexually assaults women. He is therefore the one who should be locked up as a sexual predator, if this is what he is going around confessing to. Is he now somehow beyond reproach but Cosby isn't, even though both have said from their own mouths what they have engaged in?
It seems at this point that all of this "locker room talk" needs to end, if it has resulted in the assault and sexual abuse and even death of women at the hands of these males who keep "high fiving" each other over it. Males like Trump, who try to justify their insane behavior as if its okay and then say in the same breath that he has "tremendous respect for women" and women have respect for him and that he "hasn't done anything like that", make no sense and are contradictory at best. Why are you even speaking that way if you haven't engaged in it? Why was Billy Bush and the other males on that bus laughing at your talking about abusing women? Does this somehow in your warped mind make you a man by saying these things? Why are you bragging about committing the act? Why are you acting as if this is normal behavior and most importantly, why is it that not one male there opened their mouths to say, "Hey that type of thing isn't cool", "I can't condone that", "I have women friends or daughters or sisters or a mother"?
This is what women have to begin to question and question loudly.
How these sick Trump surrogates, especially those who are women, get on television and try to somehow defend this is just incomprehensible. They have got to be some seriously, sick, twisted and self hating women to even sit there and brush this off as "locker room talk". In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if one of those women from his camp came up with that line for him to say. Do they somehow enjoy the idea of women being abused? What type of woman could even support this type of behavior and defend it and try to write it off as merely "locker room talk" as if that validates it? Is Trump paying you such big bucks that you would actually sit there and try to make it seem as if any of this behavior is justifiable, knowing ful well how this impacts women and girls?
All of this "locker room talk" has to end. All of these males have to be held accountable for what they say and for what they engage in. Not only by women but by the other males in the room who are listening to this "locker room talk". It's time for the men who want to be viewed as men, to become vocal and shut the males down. Where are they? I keep hearing these other males on television, coming forward now saying they never heard that type of talk before in their frats and in locker rooms. But for some reason, it was perfectly acceptable among all of the males on that bus who didn't even know him and no objection was put forward. So somebody is lying here. Trump saying "It's just one of those things" and then deflecting to something else about Hillary, is not an acceptable response and no woman should accept it. Especially from a person who is trying to become the leader of the free world. It's just plain unconscionable.