The U.S. Men's Hockey Team Failed the Locker Room Test

[Nevilledog]

https://jessica.substack.com/p/mens-hockey-locker-room

I want to talk about locker rooms.

The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team was in theirs on Sunday, yukking it up on the phone with Donald Trump just minutes after their gold medal win. The president invited the team to the White House, but ‘joked’ that he’d “have to” invite the gold medal-winning Women’s Hockey Team, as well.

“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team. You do know that? I do believe I probably would be impeached [if not].”

With one or two exceptions, the men erupted in laughter.

There’s been a national backlash since—but also a defense. American women are being told that Trump’s comments and the team’s reaction were all in good fun. That it was just boys being boys. That it was locker room talk.

The last time we heard that excuse was in 2016, when Trump’s “pussy-grabbing” tape dropped. And while there’s certainly a difference between ‘joking’ about sexually assaulting a woman and ‘joking’ about being forced to treat a women’s sports team equally—they have something in common: commiseration over women’s humiliation.

Men regularly bond over shitting on women, and it’s hard to describe just how painful that can be.

When that Access Hollywood tape was leaked, I wrote at The Guardian that the worst part wasn’t actually the vulgar language. The real stomach-dropping moment came when Trump and host Billy Bush met Arianne Zucker—the actress they had just been saying disgusting things about minutes earlier:

“It’s painful to watch not just because Zucker doesn’t know what was said about her, but because this is what women are afraid of. That the men we know, the men we work with—or even love—say horrible things about us. That despite assurances that they respect us and consider us equals, men are secretly winking behind our backs.”

*snip*