‘Locker room talk’: male bonding and sexual degradation in drinking stories

Abstract

This paper explores alcohol-related sexual storytelling. In a qualitative study of more than 100 male participants in the night-time economy in Norway, many told animated and cheerful stories laced with erotic excitement. However, a minority of men also told sex stories characterised by aggressive, belittling and degrading language. We propose that this minority of men may employ such locker room talk to: (i) achieve male bonding and intimacy, (ii) explore ambiguous and confusing sexual experiences and/or (iii) excuse sexual events characterised by overt aggression. We draw on theories of masculinity and homosociality and a narrative framework and show that for some men, sexual relationships with women are strongly influenced by their relations with other men. We discuss how these stories reflect degrading attitudes towards women and how they produce and legitimise sexual violence.