Does the phrase "locker room talk" have precedent?
Locker-room is used as an adjective to refer to explicit sexual talk. This usage appears to be from the '40s.
- of, characteristic of, or suitable to conversation in a locker room; earthy or sexually explicit: locker-room humor.
Ngram shows usages of the expression "locker-room talk" from recent decades:
From The New York Times:
- 28 mag 1982 - The hero (Russ Thacker) finally learns that sex isn't just locker-room talk but a means ''to create another human life.'' The heroine (Maureen Moore), prodded on by a spiritual adviser akin to the Mother Superior in '' The Sound of Music,'' decides to join a convent. The finale is titled ''Thank God.'' It would be unfair to say that ...
From The Gender Line 1998:
- The do-me feminists are choosing locker room talk to shift discussion from the failures of men to the failures of feminism, from the paradigm of sexual abuse to the paradigm of sexual pleasure.
From Merriam-Webster: (https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/locker-room-20161009)
"'Locker-Room' 'Locker-room talk' has been with us for a while
Locker rooms have been with us since the middle of the 19th century, when they referred simply to rooms which had lockers and in which people changed their clothes. However, the word has also been used, for a considerable length of time, as an adjective, denoting things (especially talk) of a coarse or offensive nature.
Lookups for 'locker-room' spiked after Trump said comments which seemed to described sexual assault as "locker-room talk."
Trump repeated his apology but downplayed the seriousness of his comments. "This was locker-room talk," he said. -Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2016
The adjectival use of locker-room has been combined with talk since at least 1921:
In the July issue of the magazine Mr. Richards has two articles: one on the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, in which he sketches accurately and in a delightfully humorous way some of the locker-room talk that may be heard at any country club. -Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), 4 Sept.1921."
Here is the 'Ngram Viewer' graph of 'Locker room talk':