If you’re not familiar with the term “manspread,” then you’ve likely never ridden a NYC subway or bus. So here’s how we define it: the rude and self-indulgent act of spreading one’s legs far wider than necessary to accommodate anything that might exist between them, even among the most blessed men, while seated in a communal row, thereby encroaching on everyone else’s right to some personal space and/or a seat.
You may think we’re joking, but this is a thing and it has reached epidemic proportions. So much so that the MTA, the governing body of the New York City Subway System, has launched an anti-manspreading campaign, while those in favor of a guy’s right to “manspread” as wide as he chooses have launched a petition declaring such campaigns as “sexist.” PS – This particular petition was started by… yep, you guessed it… a men’s rights activist (MRA) group. More specifically, the Canadian Association for Equality, whose goal is to prevent the same anti-manspreading campaign from launching in Toronto.
“Intrigued by this faux outrage,” Policy Mic’s Senior Editor, Liz Plank “decided to put the logic of these MRAs to test and find out if men really were being unfairly targeted. Do men take up more space just because they can? What happens when women act the same way?”
Her conclusion, “As it turns out, people respond very differently to a woman taking up tons of space on the subway. It involves a lot more staring, glaring and photo-sharing. When men do it? Not so much.”
Watch…