TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Alexis Jones: Redefining manhood—one locker room talk at a time

Unscramble the Blue Letters

That's a long walk. I feel like we have to practice with that. So, first off, what an honor, what a privilege to be on this stage, getting to have this conversation with you all. The truth is that I've spent the past three years in collgee locker rooms, having cnotivneaorss with young men about the importance of rcnieepstg wmeon. I was recently invited to a major university, and as I was being "debriefed" on the way in, they were tlielng me what was going on siecipfc to their locker room. I was informed that there was one player who had peuhcnd his baby mama; that there were four other prlaeys that were facing rape allegations with four separate women; that there were another two players who had filmed and watched one of the rapes of an unconscious girl; and knowing all of this, one of the head coaches came in the day after the election, and he started the chant, "We can grab women by the pussy because this is America." Well, that is not the America that I know, and the truth is that sexual assault is but a symptom of the problem. The problem is the msniedt of how these young men are being programmed to think about, to talk about, and to treat women. Before I dive into the whole talk, I feel like I have to preface a few dcsiamilers. Number one: I'm going to mess up. I just accepted that that's going to happen. I'm probably going to blank out at some point, so please be gentle with me. On top of it, there are brilliant people who have dedicated their entire lives to this csotnieorvan, and institutions who have paved the way, so I am but offering my humble two cents. Number two: petetrohcr is but a staitnrg place for us. We recognize that men are also sexually assaulted, one in 16. We know that the LGBT community is also assaulted, and while those communities aotblusely deserve our attention, for the sake of this conversation, I am going to be speaking about "her," because violence against women is a hosue on fire, and I will be spneiakg in heterosexual stereotypes. Number three: ProtectHer is not implying that women are weak and that we can't protect ourselves, so we need men to come and help protect us. ProtectHer is an invitation for all of hmnuatiy to better poririzite the women and girls. Now, what's isnrtietneg is that some schools call me because, you know, at the end of the day, they care about what's going on in their locker rooms. But before I ever started in locker rooms, I weorkd in girl empowerment for a decade. When I was 19 years old, I founded a nonprofit called I AM THAT GIRL. We're basically a bad-ass version of souct girls for college girls. (Laughter) We have about a milloin grlis ionevlvd now, and we just opened up a chapter in our 20th country. So the truth is - thank you, man ! I dig that! (Applause) So, the truth is that I have a name, and a face, and a story for every time someone talks about girls in statistic form. And it wasn't until three years ago that Yogi Roth and Trent difler called me, and they asked me to come and give a talk to the top 18 high school quarterbacks for a TV show called "Elite Eleven." What I didn't realize was that when it aired on ESPN, a week later, everything with Ray Rice would come out. And snedlduy, I was that girl in the lekcor room, having tough love conversations with men about the ipaoctrmne of respecting women. It probably heelpd that I worked at FOX Sports and ESPN, and that I grew up in Texas where fbotoall is a religion, that I grew up with four older brothers. My father's the very best man that I know, my husband was a pnraieofsosl atelthe for nine years. What's interesting is all of a sudden being hired by dovisiin one schools all over the country, that I was invited behind the vevlet curtain to better understand what was going on with them. Like I said, some schools were hiring me because they had an ieindcnt going on in their locker rooms, and other schools were just legitimately concerned, and I had one head coach call me, and he said he was worried because he had a daughter, and the way in which these young men were talking about women, that was so disrespectful. Sure enough, I fly out and I am sitting there, and halfway through my talk - we're sitting in a circle in the locker, you can imagine, the only girl - and halfway through my talk, one of the guys raises his hand and he says: "You know, I get it, it's important to 'respect' cihcks, but it's cool to fuck chicks." You can iingmae, the coach is like, "You gotta be kdindig me." (lgheatur) He is sitting there, shaking his head, looking down at the ground. And so, I look up at this kid, and I said, "Okay, says who?" There is this long pause, and immediately he is looking at his boys left and right who are equally mortified, staring down at the gunrod like, "You gotta be kidding me. We're for sure running sprints now." (Laughter) And so, after a minute of awawkrd silence goes by, I look up and I say, "Here is the thing, I am not necessarily disagreeing, I'm just saying you made a really opinionated statement, you said, 'It's cool to fuck girls,' I'm just saying, 'Says who?'" And finally, he looks up at me and he says, "I don't know." And I said, "Yeah, that's the problem: you're on autopilot and you've been programmed to think that way; you were handed a script; someone gave you a definition of cool that's not even yours, and you have the audacity to pawn it off as though you're being original." motehr, father, peracehr, teacher, I'm not here to tell you how to live your life, I am simply iiinnvtg you to be brave enough to author your own life, to come up with your own definitions, and to think for yourself. He came up to me after the talk, and he gave me a really awkward hug, and he said, "Thank you," and I lkoeod at him, and I said, "For what?" And he said, "No one has ever asked me to think for myself. I want to thank you for the invitation." Now, I have a thousand stories of adventures, being the only girl in the locker room. I have stories that would make you laugh, and make you cry, and they would make you cringe, and they would break your heart. But more than anything else, they would leave you hopeful. You see, I was put on the panelt to empower women. I was made known of that at a really young age, but it wasn't until I sootd in a room full of alpha dedus that I realized that I'd been missing the point, only preaching to half the sky. That violence against women is not a women's issue, although we are icbeldinry capable creatures. voceilne against women is a human issue, and it requires all of us pitncaatipirg. And the truth is, the majority of these young men feel that they have never been invited to sit at our table. And because I'm not Santa, and I can't fly to every single school - although Lord knows I have tried, I have spent 220 days a year on the road for the past three years. So, we ceaetrd the first ever ProtectHer program, that can be integrated into college locker rmoos, to invite young men to broaden their definition of manhood. Because we believe that in order to protect the dorm rooms, that we have to activate the hearts and the minds of the locker rooms. A few things that I have learned being in the trenches with these guys is first and foremost, we have to make them aware of their programming. We have to get the most distracted generation in history to pause long enough to be introspective, to ask the hard questions: "Says who?" We know that they consume ten huors of mdeia a day. Media that grieliofs violence against women, that's ielhennrty disrespectful, that's hyper sexualizing and objectifying. We know that they consume 3,000 brand images every day, spoon-feeding them a definition of mhoanod that's been hijacked by a cheap cologne-wearing Ken doll, lacking a moral constitution, self-respect, and authentic confidence. We know that the majority of these young men learn about sex through porn. So, maybe we can stop being so shocked because they're doing exactly what we, as a society, are programming them to do, and they're doing it very well. So maybe, as a society, we can better educate them on sex and healthy relationships. We need to have a conversation about identity. We have to broaden their definition of manhood because the consensus in the locker room, right now, is very easy and pretty achievable. It's be as rich as you can, be as famous as you can, and bang as many girls as you can. Now, it's interesting, because my husband had a blnriliat idea, he said, "What we have to do" - and my husband is here, he is a 6'9" poster boy of feminism - (Laughter) (Applause) And his brilliant sogstguien was, "We have to get these young men to stop viewing women just as sexual objects, but to remind them that women are human bngies, too." He said, "So honestly, if I were you, I would just pull pictures of their girlfriends, and sisters, and moms from social media. I'd put it in your presentation." That's my husband voice, by the way. (Laughter) It was this brilliant idea. So, for the first talk that I ever gave for eilte Eleven, I pulled pictures of all the women that they love, and I put up a sidle, and it says, "One in four girls will be sexually assaulted on a college cmupas." And of course, their eyes glazed over, like,

Open Cloze

That's a long walk. I feel like we have to practice with that. So, first off, what an honor, what a privilege to be on this stage, getting to have this conversation with you all. The truth is that I've spent the past three years in _______ locker rooms, having _____________ with young men about the importance of __________ _____. I was recently invited to a major university, and as I was being "debriefed" on the way in, they were _______ me what was going on ________ to their locker room. I was informed that there was one player who had _______ his baby mama; that there were four other _______ that were facing rape allegations with four separate women; that there were another two players who had filmed and watched one of the rapes of an unconscious girl; and knowing all of this, one of the head coaches came in the day after the election, and he started the chant, "We can grab women by the pussy because this is America." Well, that is not the America that I know, and the truth is that sexual assault is but a symptom of the problem. The problem is the _______ of how these young men are being programmed to think about, to talk about, and to treat women. Before I dive into the whole talk, I feel like I have to preface a few ___________. Number one: I'm going to mess up. I just accepted that that's going to happen. I'm probably going to blank out at some point, so please be gentle with me. On top of it, there are brilliant people who have dedicated their entire lives to this ____________, and institutions who have paved the way, so I am but offering my humble two cents. Number two: __________ is but a ________ place for us. We recognize that men are also sexually assaulted, one in 16. We know that the LGBT community is also assaulted, and while those communities __________ deserve our attention, for the sake of this conversation, I am going to be speaking about "her," because violence against women is a _____ on fire, and I will be ________ in heterosexual stereotypes. Number three: ProtectHer is not implying that women are weak and that we can't protect ourselves, so we need men to come and help protect us. ProtectHer is an invitation for all of ________ to better __________ the women and girls. Now, what's ___________ is that some schools call me because, you know, at the end of the day, they care about what's going on in their locker rooms. But before I ever started in locker rooms, I ______ in girl empowerment for a decade. When I was 19 years old, I founded a nonprofit called I AM THAT GIRL. We're basically a bad-ass version of _____ girls for college girls. (Laughter) We have about a _______ _____ ________ now, and we just opened up a chapter in our 20th country. So the truth is - thank you, man ! I dig that! (Applause) So, the truth is that I have a name, and a face, and a story for every time someone talks about girls in statistic form. And it wasn't until three years ago that Yogi Roth and Trent ______ called me, and they asked me to come and give a talk to the top 18 high school quarterbacks for a TV show called "Elite Eleven." What I didn't realize was that when it aired on ESPN, a week later, everything with Ray Rice would come out. And ________, I was that girl in the ______ room, having tough love conversations with men about the __________ of respecting women. It probably ______ that I worked at FOX Sports and ESPN, and that I grew up in Texas where ________ is a religion, that I grew up with four older brothers. My father's the very best man that I know, my husband was a ____________ _______ for nine years. What's interesting is all of a sudden being hired by ________ one schools all over the country, that I was invited behind the ______ curtain to better understand what was going on with them. Like I said, some schools were hiring me because they had an ________ going on in their locker rooms, and other schools were just legitimately concerned, and I had one head coach call me, and he said he was worried because he had a daughter, and the way in which these young men were talking about women, that was so disrespectful. Sure enough, I fly out and I am sitting there, and halfway through my talk - we're sitting in a circle in the locker, you can imagine, the only girl - and halfway through my talk, one of the guys raises his hand and he says: "You know, I get it, it's important to 'respect' ______, but it's cool to fuck chicks." You can _______, the coach is like, "You gotta be _______ me." (________) He is sitting there, shaking his head, looking down at the ground. And so, I look up at this kid, and I said, "Okay, says who?" There is this long pause, and immediately he is looking at his boys left and right who are equally mortified, staring down at the ______ like, "You gotta be kidding me. We're for sure running sprints now." (Laughter) And so, after a minute of _______ silence goes by, I look up and I say, "Here is the thing, I am not necessarily disagreeing, I'm just saying you made a really opinionated statement, you said, 'It's cool to fuck girls,' I'm just saying, 'Says who?'" And finally, he looks up at me and he says, "I don't know." And I said, "Yeah, that's the problem: you're on autopilot and you've been programmed to think that way; you were handed a script; someone gave you a definition of cool that's not even yours, and you have the audacity to pawn it off as though you're being original." ______, father, ________, teacher, I'm not here to tell you how to live your life, I am simply ________ you to be brave enough to author your own life, to come up with your own definitions, and to think for yourself. He came up to me after the talk, and he gave me a really awkward hug, and he said, "Thank you," and I ______ at him, and I said, "For what?" And he said, "No one has ever asked me to think for myself. I want to thank you for the invitation." Now, I have a thousand stories of adventures, being the only girl in the locker room. I have stories that would make you laugh, and make you cry, and they would make you cringe, and they would break your heart. But more than anything else, they would leave you hopeful. You see, I was put on the ______ to empower women. I was made known of that at a really young age, but it wasn't until I _____ in a room full of alpha _____ that I realized that I'd been missing the point, only preaching to half the sky. That violence against women is not a women's issue, although we are __________ capable creatures. ________ against women is a human issue, and it requires all of us _____________. And the truth is, the majority of these young men feel that they have never been invited to sit at our table. And because I'm not Santa, and I can't fly to every single school - although Lord knows I have tried, I have spent 220 days a year on the road for the past three years. So, we _______ the first ever ProtectHer program, that can be integrated into college locker _____, to invite young men to broaden their definition of manhood. Because we believe that in order to protect the dorm rooms, that we have to activate the hearts and the minds of the locker rooms. A few things that I have learned being in the trenches with these guys is first and foremost, we have to make them aware of their programming. We have to get the most distracted generation in history to pause long enough to be introspective, to ask the hard questions: "Says who?" We know that they consume ten _____ of _____ a day. Media that _________ violence against women, that's __________ disrespectful, that's hyper sexualizing and objectifying. We know that they consume 3,000 brand images every day, spoon-feeding them a definition of _______ that's been hijacked by a cheap cologne-wearing Ken doll, lacking a moral constitution, self-respect, and authentic confidence. We know that the majority of these young men learn about sex through porn. So, maybe we can stop being so shocked because they're doing exactly what we, as a society, are programming them to do, and they're doing it very well. So maybe, as a society, we can better educate them on sex and healthy relationships. We need to have a conversation about identity. We have to broaden their definition of manhood because the consensus in the locker room, right now, is very easy and pretty achievable. It's be as rich as you can, be as famous as you can, and bang as many girls as you can. Now, it's interesting, because my husband had a _________ idea, he said, "What we have to do" - and my husband is here, he is a 6'9" poster boy of feminism - (Laughter) (Applause) And his brilliant __________ was, "We have to get these young men to stop viewing women just as sexual objects, but to remind them that women are human ______, too." He said, "So honestly, if I were you, I would just pull pictures of their girlfriends, and sisters, and moms from social media. I'd put it in your presentation." That's my husband voice, by the way. (Laughter) It was this brilliant idea. So, for the first talk that I ever gave for _____ Eleven, I pulled pictures of all the women that they love, and I put up a _____, and it says, "One in four girls will be sexually assaulted on a college ______." And of course, their eyes glazed over, like,

Solution

hours
players
dudes
specific
respecting
importance
starting
inherently
chicks
locker
house
college
helped
brilliant
division
dilfer
athlete
violence
professional
mother
football
media
laughter
telling
protecther
glorifies
looked
mindset
manhood
suggestion
prioritize
awkward
worked
inviting
stood
participating
preacher
disclaimers
incident
punched
rooms
conversations
created
ground
involved
humanity
scout
campus
absolutely
incredibly
million
interesting
women
imagine
suddenly
conversation
velvet
speaking
kidding
elite
beings
planet
slide
girls

Original Text

That's a long walk. I feel like we have to practice with that. So, first off, what an honor, what a privilege to be on this stage, getting to have this conversation with you all. The truth is that I've spent the past three years in college locker rooms, having conversations with young men about the importance of respecting women. I was recently invited to a major university, and as I was being "debriefed" on the way in, they were telling me what was going on specific to their locker room. I was informed that there was one player who had punched his baby mama; that there were four other players that were facing rape allegations with four separate women; that there were another two players who had filmed and watched one of the rapes of an unconscious girl; and knowing all of this, one of the head coaches came in the day after the election, and he started the chant, "We can grab women by the pussy because this is America." Well, that is not the America that I know, and the truth is that sexual assault is but a symptom of the problem. The problem is the mindset of how these young men are being programmed to think about, to talk about, and to treat women. Before I dive into the whole talk, I feel like I have to preface a few disclaimers. Number one: I'm going to mess up. I just accepted that that's going to happen. I'm probably going to blank out at some point, so please be gentle with me. On top of it, there are brilliant people who have dedicated their entire lives to this conversation, and institutions who have paved the way, so I am but offering my humble two cents. Number two: ProtectHer is but a starting place for us. We recognize that men are also sexually assaulted, one in 16. We know that the LGBT community is also assaulted, and while those communities absolutely deserve our attention, for the sake of this conversation, I am going to be speaking about "her," because violence against women is a house on fire, and I will be speaking in heterosexual stereotypes. Number three: ProtectHer is not implying that women are weak and that we can't protect ourselves, so we need men to come and help protect us. ProtectHer is an invitation for all of humanity to better prioritize the women and girls. Now, what's interesting is that some schools call me because, you know, at the end of the day, they care about what's going on in their locker rooms. But before I ever started in locker rooms, I worked in girl empowerment for a decade. When I was 19 years old, I founded a nonprofit called I AM THAT GIRL. We're basically a bad-ass version of scout girls for college girls. (Laughter) We have about a million girls involved now, and we just opened up a chapter in our 20th country. So the truth is - thank you, man ! I dig that! (Applause) So, the truth is that I have a name, and a face, and a story for every time someone talks about girls in statistic form. And it wasn't until three years ago that Yogi Roth and Trent Dilfer called me, and they asked me to come and give a talk to the top 18 high school quarterbacks for a TV show called "Elite Eleven." What I didn't realize was that when it aired on ESPN, a week later, everything with Ray Rice would come out. And suddenly, I was that girl in the locker room, having tough love conversations with men about the importance of respecting women. It probably helped that I worked at FOX Sports and ESPN, and that I grew up in Texas where football is a religion, that I grew up with four older brothers. My father's the very best man that I know, my husband was a professional athlete for nine years. What's interesting is all of a sudden being hired by division one schools all over the country, that I was invited behind the velvet curtain to better understand what was going on with them. Like I said, some schools were hiring me because they had an incident going on in their locker rooms, and other schools were just legitimately concerned, and I had one head coach call me, and he said he was worried because he had a daughter, and the way in which these young men were talking about women, that was so disrespectful. Sure enough, I fly out and I am sitting there, and halfway through my talk - we're sitting in a circle in the locker, you can imagine, the only girl - and halfway through my talk, one of the guys raises his hand and he says: "You know, I get it, it's important to 'respect' chicks, but it's cool to fuck chicks." You can imagine, the coach is like, "You gotta be kidding me." (Laughter) He is sitting there, shaking his head, looking down at the ground. And so, I look up at this kid, and I said, "Okay, says who?" There is this long pause, and immediately he is looking at his boys left and right who are equally mortified, staring down at the ground like, "You gotta be kidding me. We're for sure running sprints now." (Laughter) And so, after a minute of awkward silence goes by, I look up and I say, "Here is the thing, I am not necessarily disagreeing, I'm just saying you made a really opinionated statement, you said, 'It's cool to fuck girls,' I'm just saying, 'Says who?'" And finally, he looks up at me and he says, "I don't know." And I said, "Yeah, that's the problem: you're on autopilot and you've been programmed to think that way; you were handed a script; someone gave you a definition of cool that's not even yours, and you have the audacity to pawn it off as though you're being original." Mother, father, preacher, teacher, I'm not here to tell you how to live your life, I am simply inviting you to be brave enough to author your own life, to come up with your own definitions, and to think for yourself. He came up to me after the talk, and he gave me a really awkward hug, and he said, "Thank you," and I looked at him, and I said, "For what?" And he said, "No one has ever asked me to think for myself. I want to thank you for the invitation." Now, I have a thousand stories of adventures, being the only girl in the locker room. I have stories that would make you laugh, and make you cry, and they would make you cringe, and they would break your heart. But more than anything else, they would leave you hopeful. You see, I was put on the planet to empower women. I was made known of that at a really young age, but it wasn't until I stood in a room full of alpha dudes that I realized that I'd been missing the point, only preaching to half the sky. That violence against women is not a women's issue, although we are incredibly capable creatures. Violence against women is a human issue, and it requires all of us participating. And the truth is, the majority of these young men feel that they have never been invited to sit at our table. And because I'm not Santa, and I can't fly to every single school - although Lord knows I have tried, I have spent 220 days a year on the road for the past three years. So, we created the first ever ProtectHer program, that can be integrated into college locker rooms, to invite young men to broaden their definition of manhood. Because we believe that in order to protect the dorm rooms, that we have to activate the hearts and the minds of the locker rooms. A few things that I have learned being in the trenches with these guys is first and foremost, we have to make them aware of their programming. We have to get the most distracted generation in history to pause long enough to be introspective, to ask the hard questions: "Says who?" We know that they consume ten hours of media a day. Media that glorifies violence against women, that's inherently disrespectful, that's hyper sexualizing and objectifying. We know that they consume 3,000 brand images every day, spoon-feeding them a definition of manhood that's been hijacked by a cheap cologne-wearing Ken doll, lacking a moral constitution, self-respect, and authentic confidence. We know that the majority of these young men learn about sex through porn. So, maybe we can stop being so shocked because they're doing exactly what we, as a society, are programming them to do, and they're doing it very well. So maybe, as a society, we can better educate them on sex and healthy relationships. We need to have a conversation about identity. We have to broaden their definition of manhood because the consensus in the locker room, right now, is very easy and pretty achievable. It's be as rich as you can, be as famous as you can, and bang as many girls as you can. Now, it's interesting, because my husband had a brilliant idea, he said, "What we have to do" - and my husband is here, he is a 6'9" poster boy of feminism - (Laughter) (Applause) And his brilliant suggestion was, "We have to get these young men to stop viewing women just as sexual objects, but to remind them that women are human beings, too." He said, "So honestly, if I were you, I would just pull pictures of their girlfriends, and sisters, and moms from social media. I'd put it in your presentation." That's my husband voice, by the way. (Laughter) It was this brilliant idea. So, for the first talk that I ever gave for Elite Eleven, I pulled pictures of all the women that they love, and I put up a slide, and it says, "One in four girls will be sexually assaulted on a college campus." And of course, their eyes glazed over, like,

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
young men	9
locker room	3
sexual assault	3
college locker	2
respecting women	2
locker rooms	2
professional athlete	2
social media	2

Important Words

absolutely
accepted
achievable
activate
adventures
age
aired
allegations
alpha
america
applause
asked
assault
assaulted
athlete
attention
audacity
authentic
author
autopilot
aware
awkward
baby
bang
basically
beings
blank
boy
boys
brand
brave
break
brilliant
broaden
brothers
call
called
campus
capable
care
cents
chant
chapter
cheap
chicks
circle
coach
coaches
college
communities
community
concerned
confidence
consensus
constitution
consume
conversation
conversations
cool
country
created
creatures
cringe
cry
curtain
daughter
day
days
decade
dedicated
definition
definitions
deserve
dig
dilfer
disagreeing
disclaimers
disrespectful
distracted
dive
division
doll
dorm
dudes
easy
educate
election
eleven
elite
empower
empowerment
entire
equally
espn
eyes
face
facing
famous
father
feel
feminism
filmed
finally
fire
fly
football
foremost
form
founded
fox
fuck
full
gave
generation
gentle
girl
girlfriends
girls
give
glazed
glorifies
gotta
grab
grew
ground
guys
halfway
hand
handed
happen
hard
head
healthy
heart
hearts
helped
heterosexual
high
hijacked
hired
hiring
history
honestly
honor
hopeful
hours
house
hug
human
humanity
humble
husband
hyper
idea
identity
images
imagine
immediately
implying
importance
important
incident
incredibly
informed
inherently
institutions
integrated
interesting
introspective
invitation
invite
invited
inviting
involved
issue
ken
kid
kidding
knowing
lacking
laugh
laughter
learn
learned
leave
left
legitimately
lgbt
life
live
lives
locker
long
looked
lord
love
major
majority
man
manhood
media
men
mess
million
minds
mindset
minute
missing
moms
moral
mortified
mother
necessarily
nonprofit
number
objectifying
objects
offering
older
opened
opinionated
order
original
participating
pause
paved
pawn
people
pictures
place
planet
player
players
point
porn
poster
practice
preacher
preaching
preface
presentation
pretty
prioritize
privilege
problem
professional
program
programmed
programming
protect
protecther
pull
pulled
punched
pussy
put
quarterbacks
raises
rape
rapes
ray
realize
realized
recognize
relationships
religion
remind
requires
respecting
rice
rich
road
room
rooms
roth
running
sake
santa
school
schools
scout
separate
sex
sexual
sexualizing
sexually
shaking
shocked
show
silence
simply
single
sisters
sit
sitting
sky
slide
social
society
speaking
specific
spent
sports
sprints
stage
staring
started
starting
statement
statistic
stereotypes
stood
stop
stories
story
sudden
suddenly
suggestion
symptom
table
talk
talking
talks
teacher
telling
ten
texas
thousand
time
top
tough
treat
trenches
trent
truth
tv
unconscious
understand
university
velvet
version
viewing
violence
voice
walk
watched
weak
week
women
worked
worried
year
years
yogi
young