An example of manspreading. Photo from Wikimedia.
The reputation given to Feminists by society as a whole has often been associated with extremist ideas. One of the many ideas brought up by feminists that has been viewed as extreme is the idea of Manspreading.
Yes, you read it right, manspreading. According to Wikipedia manspreading is “the practice of men sitting in public transportation with legs wide apart, thereby covering more than one seat”.
Although it has always been happening around the world in all different types of public locations, in recent years the action was given a name and became recognized as a sort of oppression by several women (or as some men would refer to them, angry feminists).
What qualifies as manspreading has even evolved. Although the definition states that it is an action where a man has his “legs wide apart,” spreading their arms beyond the realms of their seat too has come to be considered as a sort of manspreading.
Now, this is a term applied to men because women widely do not feel comfortable taking up space , or behaving as though the whole public sitting area is owned by them by installing themselves on the seat anyway they wish to.
Several men claim that what is referred to as ‘manspreading’ is simply a comfortable way for them to sit in a wide stance with their arms wide open.
But is this sort of comfortability overfelt by some men tied to feelings of ownership over certain public spaces?
There are wide selection of videos uploaded on Youtube where women are seen sitting uncomfortably as a result of manspreading. Some which feature women ‘standing up’ to the oppression they felt brought onto them by different men who took up space while limiting theirs.
A controversial video of a Russian woman spilling bleach on the crotch area of several men who she felt were violating the public space, really shook the public. There is a wide debate over the internet to whether the video is real at all, but many believe that it only makes the situation worse and discredits issues with manspreading.
Now, whether this response to manspreading helps the male gender understand the uncomfortability of sitting next to someone who gives them no personal space is debatable. But it is certainly not the only way that a conversation can get going over the issue.
People on Youtube and social media overall created social experiments where the script is flipped and woman make as much of an effort to mimic manspreading ways.
Alternatives to getting a conversation going would be to simply address the issue on the spot and express the unreasonability in having them sit with their legs wide open while you sit with your legs squeezed shut. Although it would be great for some men to just realize the egoisticity in not considering someone else’s sense of space and comfort, we live in a time period where mantagony is realer than ever and some men just do not simply know what is wrong with certain actions.
