Manspreading!?!

Men often don't move their legs to let someone else sit comfortably though - that's the point. It is more comfortable for everyone to sit with their legs at least slightly open rather than forced together, not just men. It is very common, though, to see a woman sat with her legs together hardly taking up any room, whilst a man has his legs splayed out. On a usual train or subway car, for example, you would be far more likely to see men with their legs spread than women, this woman only did it for the video, but the man clearly said that he was 'rude' on the subway in general.

It's supposed to reflect the fact that men are usually far more comfortable than women are, for various reasons, with taking up space in general. We teach women to shrink themselves, they should sit with their legs together, cover up, be quiet, follow others, be deferential, nurturing, never show anger etc. whereas we encourage or accept the opposite traits in men. Plus, there's the fact of sexual violence, cat calling and so on that make it even less comfortable for women being in public space, because for many, these are daily occurrences to different levels of severity.

So the campaign is designed to get you to think about these sorts of things - the different ways that men and women experience public space, and how this can literally reflect in the different ways we therefore tend to take up space, or move around it.

This is about a month or so old now, but I recently came across it, and I've seen it emerging in the local news: "Manspreading"

[video="youtube;oo6D4MXrJ5c"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo6D4MXrJ5c[/video]

Is it just me, or is this the dumbest public campaign yet? Apparently men are sitting with our legs apart on public transit to 'sexually dominate' the female passengers and to make ourselves feel more confident. It's all part of our way of opressing women, you see. It's not because of, I don't know, testicles. Ya'know, those things hanging between our legs that itch and chafe like hell if they're squashed together. Has it not crossed these morons' minds that we sit this way because it happens to be comfortable?

You're just 'fighting' sexism with more sexism. Can't see that being too effective.

How on earth can 'sexism' against men exist in a patriarchy, get real.

This is about a month or so old now, but I recently came across it, and I've seen it emerging in the local news: "Manspreading"

[video="youtube;oo6D4MXrJ5c"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo6D4MXrJ5c[/video]

Is it just me, or is this the dumbest public campaign yet? Apparently men are sitting with our legs apart on public transit to 'sexually dominate' the female passengers and to make ourselves feel more confident. It's all part of our way of opressing women, you see. It's not because of, I don't know, testicles. Ya'know, those things hanging between our legs that itch and chafe like hell if they're squashed together. Has it not crossed these morons' minds that we sit this way because it happens to be comfortable?

I also find it remarkable that their footage was supposed to show how men get away with 'manspreading' whereas a woman wouldn't, but the exact freakin' opposite happens. Did they even watch this footage before making their asinine film? And did you see the ridiculously exaggerated way they had them sitting? Is this peace of garbage serious? It made it onto national news and The Daily Show, for Christ's sake.

Okay, okay, maybe I'm overreacting. Look, ladies, if my legs are in the way, I'll move them. That's what I usually do out of common courtesy. However, before I happily oblige, how about you move your bulky purses and bags onto your laps where they belong, Eh? Where are the awareness campaigns about that, huh?

How on earth can 'sexism' against men exist in a patriarchy, get real.

That's an excellent point, and I completely agree. Sexism against men demonstrably does exist, and so it does prove what I've always suspected: That patriarchy doesn't exist.

Men often don't move their legs to let someone else sit comfortably though - that's the point. It is more comfortable for everyone to sit with their legs at least slightly open rather than forced together, not just men. It is very common, though, to see a woman sat with her legs together hardly taking up any room, whilst a man has his legs splayed out. On a usual train or subway car, for example, you would be far more likely to see men with their legs spread than women, this woman only did it for the video, but the man clearly said that he was 'rude' on the subway in general.

It's supposed to reflect the fact that men are usually far more comfortable than women are, for various reasons, with taking up space in general. We teach women to shrink themselves, they should sit with their legs together, cover up, be quiet, follow others, be deferential, nurturing, never show anger etc. whereas we encourage or accept the opposite traits in men. Plus, there's the fact of sexual violence, cat calling and so on that make it even less comfortable for women being in public space, because for many, these are daily occurrences to different levels of severity.

So the campaign is designed to get you to think about these sorts of things - the different ways that men and women experience public space, and how this can literally reflect in the different ways we therefore tend to take up space, or move around it.

Just grow up, please. This isn't Saudi Arabia, you're not going to be subject to "sexual violence" on the Circle Line on the morning commute.

For one thing, women do not spread their legs because it's a sexual signal. Similarly, if we get a hard-on on the train into work, we'll do our best to hide it.

But even with that out of the way, when it comes to taking up little space, shrinking away and being deferential, well I am naturally like that too, and was brought up to be that way. Guess what, I fought to overcome it as best I could, and didn't blame the extroverted for it. There are extroverted and introverted men and women, so stop with your lazy generalisations.

Is this a serious post?

It's not an uncommon view, I'm afraid.

You're totally wrong, look through here and there are loads of stories about women being sexually assaulted on trains/metros/the underground, as well as on the street in broad daylight - http://everydaysexism.com/

Most of these submissions are from women in Europe or America.

Men wanking on them, feeling them up etc. You have absolutely no idea what women go through on a daily basis, these are not unusual occurrences. The women are there telling you exactly what they have experienced, and you just go 'grow up, that doesn't happen'. Only an idiot ignores the evidence just because it contradicts their narrow view of the world. You are male, you have no idea what happens to women so stop acting as if you have a clue. If you think all these problems only exist in Saudi Arabia you need to pull your head out of the sand and start listening to the people who actually experience it.

You have pulled the link to extroversion out of nowhere, there is nothing to say that extroversion/introversion is a factor. We are talking about gender, so stay on topic.