Question 1:

A safe emoji in this sense would be equivalent to a safe word. Since they are into sadomasochistic sexting, any attempt to show signs of stopping or ‘no’ is understood as to increase pleasure.

In this case, emojis displaying facial expressions and exclamation mark and the water droplets are ruled out as they may have been used to depict the emotions felt at that time. Phallic emojis such as the cucumber, pills, and microphone could be different variations to mean the penis or even a vibrator. Emojis displaying metallic objects such as the chain and the key may have been used to refer to the playroom most couples partaking in BDSM may have. The emojis displaying hand gestures may have been used to mean spanking to a reference to the vagina, both of which is very normal in sadomasochistic sex.

As such, the only two emojis left are the toilet bowl and the shit emoji. While the shit emoji could have been their safe emoji since the smiley face on the shit itself is jarring, it could have also have been used as a reaction, a replacement to the word ‘shit’ itself. As such, we are left with the toilet bowl emoji which is also another jarring object and is not synonymous with ‘no’. Another possibility is that while toilet bowl emoji can be their ‘safe emoji’, it could by also have represented a location in which they might have sex. As this may be unlikely, I believe, the toilet bowl is their safe emoji.

Question 2:

The first definition defines ‘Locker Room Talk'(LRT) as ‘exist(ing) solely for the purpose of the male comedy and is not meant to be taken seriously’. This aligns with the role of LRT in establishing solidarity among the men. Its social function is to help in creating bonds and establishing boundaries between the in-group and the out-group. Such a crude form of social bonding is required for a large scale of men inorder to avoid homosexual panic. This is demonstrated in Trump’s choice of engaging the LRT only with his group of men instead of with every group of men.

The second definition is similarly the same however the nature of the locker room talk of being crude and vulgar is downplayed to ‘sexually charged language, situations and innuendos’. Even so, this definition highlights how men utilise the locker room talk to affirm dominance and control in the group of men and not necessarily trying to objectify or sexualise women. This is demonstrated in Trump’s locker room talk as he tries to one-up the next men by glorifying his achievements. However, there were also instances of self-deprecating talk as well. In this case, while he over-glorifies his achievements, he also inserts some of his failures since such failures ‘only men understand’.

The third definition is very vague but certainly highlights the main gist of locker room talk. However, while there are instances of racist, sexist, and crude language used towards the immigrants, minorities and women, the main idea of locker room banter is to assert dominance and feed off of each other’s masculinity. As demonstrated by Trump, while there were many instances of him representing himself as an Alpha male and women as victims, most of the conversations held revolved primarily around men and not the lowering of women or immigrants.

When combined, the definitions depict a better understanding of the LRT. Individually, however, they only focus on a specific aspect of LRT. Regardless, it is undeniable that such talks are crude, vulgar and offensive even if its main aim is  not intended to lower women or immigrants. However, these definitions missed out on some of the features of LRT:

There is no mention of these talks having similar features with women’s language. LRT is ‘rapport talk‘ which basically means gossiping, but for men. Hence, there are many similarities in the way they use language mainly in purpose and subject matter. As seen above, the subject matter is includes men too. The definitions failed to specify or include these men talking about other men as they would women. In this case, locker room talk lowers not only women but also other men that were perceived to be part of the out-group.

As such, we can see from the above that Trump utilises the locker room talk (LRT) to perform his masculinity and as a platform for male bonding, playing on elements of competition while establishing solidarity as well.

References:

Cameron, D., & Kulick, D. (2003). Language and sexuality: Cambridge University Press.