Nope. Nope. Nope.

The garbage that we were forced to hear this past weekend from the mouths of some of our politicians is not simple locker-room talk.

My own 21-year old son said he's never, ever -

in all his years in male locker rooms -

heard the kind of lewd statements we heard in the last few days.

This is not a statement about who I am voting for or not voting for.

That is irrelevant here.

What I am saying is it is time we all start to stand up against this kind of demeaning dehumanization of women.

And I am especially challenging my Christian brothers and sisters on this one.

I remember when my girls were little.

When they started grade school both of them (and therefore I) started to learn that young boys felt that they had the right to say things to my girls about their bodies ...

Rude things.

Mean things.

Judgmental things.

One time, at a skating party, I chased a boy who had rudely spoken to my daughter about her body, and whispered in his ear that if he did that again he'd have to deal with me. I think I scared him real good.

However, I knew I wouldn't always be around when this occurred.

So, I worked to give my daughters power.

I told them (don't e-mail me about this) that they had my permission, even if they got in trouble, to say one of a few statements back to the boys who felt free to comment on their bodies.

These were statements I helped the girls develop that were in line with the kinds of comments the boys were making about my girls' bodies ... but they were specific to the male gender.

You catch my drift?

This appeared to empower my daughters.

They didn't feel so helpless in the face of this kind of junk talk.

They believed they did not have to take it.

They believed that boys (and really, no one) had the right to judge, belittle or cheapen their strong, beautiful, growing bodies.

Their bodies were theirs.

Now, I know, I know ... 

Love our enemies, right?

In this case, though ... perhaps this was loving their enemies.

Perhaps each of these young boys began to think twice before speaking their minds to other young girls about their developing bodies.

Perhaps they grew up to be men who knew, deep in their souls, that barking out gross things to girls or women, or believing they had the right to do so, was simply wrong. 

Perhaps they grew up to be men who knew that thinking they could touch girls or women without their consent was simply wrong.

Deeply wrong.

I sure hope that is what happened.

I will be silent about many things in this election.

But, not this. Not this.

Just nope.