Manspreading

Manspreading or man-sitting is the practice of some men sitting in public transport with legs wide apart, thereby covering more than one seat.[1][2] The public debate began when an anti-manspreading campaign started on the social media website Tumblr in 2013; the term appeared a year later.[3] The journalist Babara Ellen described it in 2013 as "essentially anger at the space these men feel entitled to take up".[4] OxfordDictionaries.com added the word "manspreading" in August 2015.[5][6] Manspreading is considered a form of Microaggression against women because it is a way of disrespect to their personal space.[7] Lyndsay Kirkham, a professor of English at Humber College, called man spreading a metaphor for men being given permission to take up more space in society.[8]

An example of "manspreading" on the Stockholm metro

Transit authority responses
Campaign encouraging respectful posture by Madrid Municipal Transport Company in 2017.

In 2014 the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in the New York metropolitan area and Sound Transit of Seattle instituted poster campaigns encouraging respectful posture when other passengers have to stand due to crowding on buses and trains. The MTA campaign, which criticized many behaviors such as leaning on poles and applying make-up, used the slogan "Dude, stop the spread please!"[9] . Transport officials in Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington D.C. have not noted complaints against manspreading in particular although the Philadelphia Transportation Authority at that time had an etiquete campaign with the slogan “Dude It’s Rude... Two Seats — Really?” aimed at people who occupied seats with bags.[1] Despite social media pressure and public debate to extend the campaign to the Canadian city of Toronto[10][11] a representative of the Toronto Transit Commission stated “We’re not commenting on the manspreading campaign", and she reminded the users to be courteous to each other, allowing someone else to take an empty seat beside them.[8] Since 2017 taking more than one seat is forbidden by Madrid Municipal Transport Company.[12] In some cases, people who find manspreading offensive have taken to photographing manspreading, and posting those images on the Internet.[1]

Controversy

Both this posture and the use of the neologism "manspreading" have occasioned some internet criticism and debates in the US, UK, Turkey, and Canada.[13][14]

The criticism and campaigns against manspreading have been counter-criticized for not addressing similar behavior by women, such as taking up adjacent seats with bags, or "she-bagging." The controversy surrounding manspreading has been described by equity feminist Cathy Young as "pseudo feminism – preoccupied with male misbehavior, no matter how trivial."[2] The practice of posting pictures of manspreading taken on subways, buses, and other modes of transportation online has been described as a form of public shaming.[15] As an example, in New York, actor Tom Hanks was photographed on the subway, taking up two seats and criticized for it. He responded on a talk show, "Hey Internet, you idiot! The train was half empty! It was scattered – there was plenty of room!"[16]

The Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE), a Canadian men's rights group, has been critical of campaigns against manspreading by transit authorities. The CAFE has argued that it is "physically painful for men to close their legs" and that campaigns against manspreading is comparable to "[forcing] women to stop breast feeding on buses or trains...".[17] Commentators in media have made similar arguments regarding the need for men to spread their legs to properly accommodate their testicles,[18] although there is no medical reason to justify this claim.[1] It has also been argued that judging by the number of men who manage to sit without spreading their legs, that there is no physical impediment.[4] Peter Post, the author of the book “Essential Manners for Men” has been cited as saying that the proper way for men to sit is with their legs parallel rather than in a V-shape.[1]

In 2016, the word appeared on Lake Superior State University's list of "banished" words and phrases.[19]

In 2019, two women received criticism for a "womanspreading" banner that they displayed on a feminist march in Pakistan.[20]

Social signalling

Sitting more expansively may signal dominance and sexual attractiveness for males. Tanya Vacharkulksemsuk, a UC Berkeley post-doctorate researcher recently published studies that found spreading out legs and arms is more sexually attractive when males do it. Using photographs, she found that images of men spreading out got 87% of interest among female viewers. Expansive poses were not as effective for women, who appeared "vulnerable" and "starfish-like" according to other researchers.[21] On the other hand, some analysts have found that women sitting cross-legged may be perceived positively as an expression of femininity.[22] The opposite seating posture to manspreading, leg-crossing, is often viewed as effeminate.[23]

See also

References
  1. Fitzsimmons, Emma G. (20 December 2014). "A Scourge Is Spreading. M.T.A.'s Cure? Dude, Close Your Legs". The New York Times.
  2. Cathy Young, "'Manspreading'? But women hog subway space, too", Newsday, 5 January 2015.
  3. Katherine Connor Martin (2015). "Manspreading: how New York City's MTA popularized a word without actually saying it". Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  4. "Ellen, Barbara. The real reason men should keep their legs together. The Guardian, Sept 22, 213".
  5. "Manspreading, hangry, Grexit join Oxford online dictionary". Reuters. 27 August 2015.
  6. "New words in oxforddictionaries". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  7. https://thewaywomenwork.com/2019/04/5-examples-of-microaggressions-in-the-workplace/. "Rania H. Anderson, 5 Examples of Microaggressions in the Workplace. Retrieved April 14, 2020".
  8. Yuen, Jenny (5 December 2015). "Anti-'manspreading' campaign called sexist". The Toronto Sun. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  9. Tahseen, Ismat (23 December 2014). "Mumbai's got its own 'man-spreaders'". The Times of India.
  10. "Movement to ban 'man-spreading' on transit picks up speed in Toronto, CTV Toronto Published Monday, December 22, 2014".
  11. "Jesse Tahirali, 'Man-spreading' debate spreads to Toronto. CTV News. Published Monday, December 29, 2014".
  12. Julia Jones. "'Manspreading' is now a no-no on Madrid's public buses". CNN. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  13. Radhika Sanghani, "'Ban manspreading': Londoners want men to sit with their legs together on the Tube", The Telegraph, 23 December 2014.
  14. Johnson, Eric M. (16 January 2015). "One body, one seat: Seattle's campaign against the 'manspreading' scourge". Reuters.
  15. Devon, Natasha (16 January 2015). "The rise of stranger shaming: How humiliating others became acceptable". The Independent.
  16. Friedman, Megan. "Tom Hanks Defends His "Manspreading" Subway Habit". Elle.com. Hearst Publishing. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  17. Otis, Daniel (28 December 2014). "Man-spreading, a transit controversy with legs". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  18. May, Gareth (30 January 2015). "Is the 'manspreading' campaign just prejudice against big guys?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  19. Hauser, Christine (31 December 2015). "'Manspreading', 'Vape' and 'So': Hated words for 2016". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  20. Ebrahim, Ammar (6 April 2019). "The 'womanspreading' placard that caused fury in Pakistan". BBC News. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  21. Khazan, Olga (29 March 2016). "Does Manspreading Work?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  22. Burns‐Ardolino, Wendy A. (2003). "Reading woman: Displacing the foundations of femininity." Hypatia 18.3 (2003): 42–59.
  23. Barlow, David H., E. Joyce Reynolds, and W. Stewart Agras. "Gender identity change in a transsexual." Archives of General Psychiatry 28.4 (1973): 569–76.
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