They Call It “Locker Room Talk.” We Call It a System Built to Silence Us — and Bury the 28th Amendment.
It Started With “Locker Room Talk.”
You know the phrase. It was the excuse offered after a recording surfaced of a man describing groping women without consent. It was “just locker room talk.” Boys will be boys—nothing to see here.
But it didn’t stop there. The same people who excuse — and use — words like “grabbed her by the p*ssy,”” quiet piggy”, “Jezebel spirit”, “your body my choice”, “childless cat lady,” “nasty woman”, and “f*cking b*tch”. Said publicly. Said on record. Said about women in positions of power, women doing their jobs, women asking questions, women simply existing in public life.
And every time, the response was the same: it’s a joke. It’s sarcasm. It’s just talk. It is not just talk.
Donald Trump — 2005 / 2016 U.S. Presidential Debate “Grab ’em by the p*ssy. You can do anything.” Recorded on the Access Hollywood tape in 2005, released during the 2016 presidential race. Trump dismissed the remarks at the presidential debate as “locker room talk.” In a 2023 E. Jean Carroll deposition, he described famous men [like himself] groping without consent , as , “historically true.”
Pastor Doug Wilson — Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho (ongoing, 2020–2025) “Harridans, termagants, harpies, crones, and small-breasted biddies.” One of many documented phrases Wilson used in published writings to describe women he disagrees with.
Donald Trump — Third Presidential Debate, October 2016 “Such a nasty woman.” Said under his breath into his microphone while Hillary Clinton was speaking about Social Security during the final presidential debate.
Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) — U.S. Capitol Steps, July 2020 “F*cking b*tch.” Said to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in front of reporters. No House Republican issued a public condemnation.
JD Vance, U.S. Vice President — Fox News, 2021 “Childless cat ladies” Vance stated the country was run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.” He fundraised off the remarks. When pressed, he called it sarcasm. No apology was issued.
Tucker Carlson — Fox News, July 2022 “A lot of young men in America are going nuts. Are you surprised?” Said while blaming women “lecturing” men for mass shootings. Carlson framed feminist culture as responsible for gun violence, with no acknowledgment of guns or systemic factors.
Lance Wallnau — 2024 U.S. Presidential Election “Jezebel spirit” Christian nationalist leader Lance Wallnau applied the term to Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. Scholars at the University of Pennsylvania describe it as “coded language to communicate that the person — a woman, usually a Democrat, Black or person of color — is not an acceptable candidate.” Indiana’s Republican lieutenant governor candidate used the same language the same election cycle.
Elon Musk — X (Twitter), September 2024 “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.” Posted in response to Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, in which Swift signed herself “childless cat lady.” Musk reduced her political statement to a sexual proposition. Separately, Musk’s America PAC ran an ad calling Harris a “c-word” during the 2024 campaign, later deleted with no explanation or apology.
Nick Fuentes — Post-Election, November 2024 “Your body, my choice.” Posted by Groyper Nick Fuentes on election night 2024 as a direct inversion of the reproductive rights slogan. The phrase spread widely on social media, with women reporting rape threats in their comments.
Andrew Tate — Social media / interviews, 2021–2024 “It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up b*tch.” (on women who accuse men of cheating) — “Rape victims should bear responsibility for being attacked.” (The Guardian, 2022) — “Women shouldn’t vote because they don’t care about issues outside of how THEY feel.” (September 2024) Tate and his brother were arrested in Romania in December 2022 on charges of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized crime group — charges that expanded in 2024 to include trafficking of minors. Ms. Magazine Despite this, the Trump administration intervened with Romanian officials to have the brothers’ passports returned. Human Rights Watch On February 27, 2025, they flew to Florida on a private jet.
Donald Trump — Air Force One, November 2025 “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.” Said to Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey when she asked about the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump has used similar language toward Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado (1996) and Rosie O’Donnell (2006).
“Because all of us have had to deal with this in some form, some way, some shape, at some point in our lives.” — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, House floor speech, July 2020
This Is Part of the Same System.
The language and the legislation come from the same place. When powerful people publicly reduce women to their bodies, their fertility, and to silence — and they face no consequences — it becomes easier to pass laws that do exactly the same thing. Their words clear the path for the policy. Words normalize. Laws codify. They are two steps in the same direction.
The same people who excuse this language are the same people who have spent decades trying to ensure that women’s equality is never a part of the Constitution. They are not unrelated issues. They are the same issue. They support the same political structure that does not value women or LGBTQ+people.
And as proof, they have worked hardest to bury: the Equal Rights Amendment — which is already, right now, the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Main Story: The ERA Is Already the 28th Amendment.
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress in 1972. It required ratification by 38 states. Nevada ratified in 2017. Illinois in 2018. Virginia became the 38th and final required state on January 27, 2020.
The requirements of Article V of the Constitution were met. The process that the Constitution itself lays out was followed. On January 17, 2025, outgoing President Biden declared that the ERA had cleared all necessary hurdles to be added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment.
The American Bar Association agrees. The League of Women Voters agrees. Leading constitutional scholars agree.
And yet — the Archivist has not certified it. Congress has blocked it. The courts have dismissed challenges. The current administration has no interest in it.
They know exactly what the law says. They are hiding behind a procedural argument — that the ERA expired, that the deadline passed, that it’s too late. It isn’t. And they are counting on you not to know that.
The war on equality is real. It shows up in the deliberate dismantling of our rights. It shows up in the words they use to shame us. It shows up in the survivors they ignore. And it shows up every time they pretend the 28th Amendment does not exist.
We fight back with truth. We fight back by refusing to be quiet. We fight back by sharing what they’re trying to hide. And we fight at the ballot box — by making it very clear that anyone who stands against the 28th Amendment will be voted out.
Share this. Talk about it. Tell everybody you know.
The ERA is the 28th Amendment. Spread the word. And get ready to vote.