• stankmut
    link
    fedilink
    English
    54 days ago

    What I picture in my head when I hear the term manspreading is the guy on every bus or subway who is sitting in a middle seat with legs spread wide. It could also be arms around the backs of the surrounding chairs.

    • Banana
      link
      fedilink
      English
      54 days ago

      Yeah pretty much the jist of it.

      Tbf I see teenagers do it a lot too but their brains aren’t fully developed yet.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      7
      edit-2
      4 days ago

      You know men tend to be larger than women?

      I had a live-in partner complain that all the clothes in the laundry basket were mine, implying she was doing most of the laundry. I looked. We wore the same amount of clothes, mine were just bigger, taking a larger volume.

      • stankmut
        link
        fedilink
        English
        4
        edit-2
        4 days ago

        Size doesn’t make you spread your legs, blocking two other seats or make you wrap your arms around the back of the other seats. I’ve seen plenty of men who can keep their hands and knees in front of themselves.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          7
          edit-2
          4 days ago

          But … it does? If you’re tall, your arms and legs are longer, so they stick out further. As I found out on an 11 hour flight where the people to my left and right decided they both needed both arm rests, it’s painful to sit with your knees and elbows touching each other.

          Wrapping my arm around a seatback would have been a godsend.

          • stankmut
            link
            fedilink
            English
            44 days ago

            Alright, I see the problem. I’m describing how some men literally spread their arms across the back of multiple seats and how some men literally spread their legs out so that each knee is blocking access to each seat beside the and you are interpreting that as people complaining about guys being allowed to use their armrests. No one is complaining that you take up physical space. They are complaining that you are spread out in a way that blocks access to the space around you that you don’t need. If you don’t sit down and spread your knees wide enough to block access to the seats next to you, then the term manspreading doesn’t apply to you.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              94 days ago

              So taking up unnecessary public space is something particular to men? Do all men do this, or just only men?

              Or are we gendering bad behavior to win internet points?

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                44 days ago

                Trans woman who pays a bit more attention to mannerisms than most people, both in men and women.

                1. Yes, it’s a real thing
                2. It’s at least 90% men, and I’m being generous
                3. It’s not most men that do it (especially in the sillier ways)
                4. Size matters not

                Picture a teenager in black sweatpants and a hoodie, on his own in a bus. That’s the most common I think. It’s generally men who try to project an image of strong masculinity or coolness. They don’t really do it with other people because it’s silly. It might be an unconscious thing, idk. It still looks stupid. It’s mostly men because it’s a masculinity thing.

                It’s great if you don’t do it, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you didn’t. But there very much is a type of guy who does it. And there is no common type of woman for that specific behavior.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  24 days ago

                  Doesn’t match my experience but I appreciate you sharing your perspective.

                  Sadly, my experience is that post-covid everyone is always rude and selfish and oblivious to others. People seem to love standing three-across on sidewalks or in doorways for a LONG time.

                  I just came from Costco where EVERYONE leaves their carts perpendicular across aisles regardless of their genital configuration or gender presentation.

                  I’m beginning to enjoy ramming them out of the way.