Article March 16, 2020 Issue

Silencing “locker room talk”

Thomas Mitchinson

Years ago, I swam a mile every day early in the morning. The gym was always very busy with swimmers, basketball players, and weight lifters, both men and women. One day, while getting dressed after my swim I heard another man talking about women with degrading and obscene sexual language. He was a few locker rows over, and I just tuned him out. 

At that moment, one of his friends came over to me, introduced himself, and asked what I did for a living. I replied, “I am a Christian Science practitioner and devote my life to helping others through prayer.” He mentioned that his grandmother had been a Christian Scientist, adding that he had respect for what I did. At that point, the whole locker room became quiet. And as I was getting ready to leave, the first man came over to me, apologized for what he had said about women, and told me he wouldn’t speak that way again. 

Something about my stand for Christianity and prayer must have touched him. I saw him in the locker room many times after that, and he never used profane or derogatory language again when I was around. This has meant more to me in recent years, as the use of “locker room talk”—sexually based jokes and stories that often degrade women—has come under increased scrutiny. It is no longer accepted or tolerated as just a typical part of men’s conversations with one another.

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