Locker Room Talk

EXTENDED COMMENTS:

Traditionally, the boys’ locker room is a secret kept place only for young men. Women have no access to these locker rooms, and are unaware of the many ways they are mentioned and described to other young men in the walls of their own schools. In Alexis Jones’ Ted Talk about Locker Rooms, she identifies a problem which is the mindset that programs and teaches young boys to think about, treat, and speak about women, calling them “auto-pilot” where they are given little to no reason to things, but still believe “that’s the way things are “. But says who?

 I decided to discuss some of the main points Emily mentioned in her blog post. I chose Emily’s post because I can relate and agree with multiple points she discusses in her blog. Emily explained her frustration with knowing little to no information about the world we live in and not letting teens speak for themselves, and I agree with both statements. We are just set to live in these preconditions of life that can only be defended by “that’s the way it is”. Teenagers are also silenced in the larger world around them, the world that secures their voice in society to a minimum. Emily mentions that It is easy to be influenced by other people because we are so used to being in the norms and wanting to be like others instead of creating our own opinion. In many ways, this is true because before we form our own opinion, we learn information. The information we receive can easily effect our opinions on certain aspects in life. Emily also mentions that schools should be implicated in the emotional life of teenagers. In the Ted talk, Alexis explained examples such as not allowing participation of coaches with any history of sexual assault, or attending a prevention program before they can attend college.

I personally understand when Alexis says that sexual assault is not a woman’s issue, but instead a human’s issue. One point that I could not quite understand was how society can simply undo this programming by educating boys on how to treat woman and reframe the issue to make it personal to them. One of the ideologies behind manhood is their perception of being ABOVE woman, they will not accept a woman is right and they are wrong. Alexis also expresses that young men feel that they have never been invited to sit at “our” table, but do they want to?

• I actually found a connection between the film Misrepresentation and Alexis's Ted Talk that I found pretty interesting:

In the movie Misrepresentation, I remember a young woman running for office competed against two males in the final round, but still felt dominated by the men around her and lost. Alexis also explains to some extent this same feeling being in a room full of men. Men are the problem with violence against woman from a greater view, but they are also the cure as Alexis says. Woman continue to be stigmatized in men's vocabulary in society and might be embarrassed at some of the ways they are talked about in the locker room. If men are the antidote, Are they willing to cure society collectively even women?