Why do females, young to old, bring one leg up on the couch and basically sit on their foot and ankle?
Because it’s sometimes more comfortable than crossing your leg over the other leg, which seems like it should be obvious. What sort of explanation were your expecting?
Since I suspect there have been few if any peer-reviewed studies on this question, let’s move this over to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
It’s not “females”, it’s “some people”.
My mother doesn’t do it. My sisters in law don’t do it. My female cousins don’t do it. My aunts by blood or marriage don’t do it.
I do it, and one time that I did it at my grandmother’s we thought she was about to have a heart attack: “OH! OH! Ohmygod! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” “What? What’s wrong?”
“She sits like Ignacio!”
We’re all reasonably sure my grandpa wasn’t female.
Yeah, I do it, because on my couch it’s more comfortable. For one thing, I sit slightly higher, and the sofa has high arms. I’m male, if there was any question.
Another guy who does that. I’m very skinny, and when sitting on hard surfaces, I have the choice of sitting on my bony butt on the concrete/bench/whatever, or sitting on the side of my foot.
Its more comfortable than having my feet hanging off the floor. I also like to sit on the floor at home, sometimes I do the cross legged thing, sometimes I sit with my knees in front of me and my legs splayed outside of my hips. The first time hubs saw me doing that, he was worried that I was hurt.
No, I’m just sitting how its comfortable for me.
I’ve never seen a guy do it. So it seems to me like something females or more inclined to do.
The ladies here at my work do it all the time. They’ll slip their shoes off under their desk and under the tush that one foot goes. I think it helps them lean forward more easily to.
Yeah. I sit like this all the time because I find it more comfortable for my hips (my hip and shoulder joints are really loose, so my arms/legs can just slide around and partially dislocate really easily).
But another reason is that it’s super handy when you’re short, especially if the seat/chair/couch is deep. If I sit fully back with both legs in front of me, most of the time my legs won’t be long enough for my feet to be squarely planted on the floor (and it’s not uncommon for my feet to not even reach the floor if I sit fully back). The tucked-under leg helps push me forward and up when I want to stand.
I’m old and male. I have never even heard of/remember seeing this.
I tried my interpretation of what is being discussed.
OUCH!
I’m guessing this is a young person’s trick.
I suspect that it has to do with being short, and women tend to be shorter than men so they are more likely to do it. If your feet don’t touch the ground when you’re sitting in the chair, sometimes it feels more natural to fold your body up when you’re sitting. I’m 4’11" and male, and I do it frequently.
Um…I’m 6’3". 
I don’t care about sitting “taller”, but I think I may tend to sit straighter when I’m doing it.
Too late to edit.
More data points - I’m 48, and I’ve been doing it as long as I can remember. I only do it on my left leg/foot; I just thought of doing it on my right and it just seems…wrong. I don’t care to try it. I’m very right-handed, though I don’t suppose that has much to do with it.
I frequently sit with both feet and legs tucked up under the tusch (sitting “indian style”). As I get older and my bad knee is less and less cooperative that leg doesn’t always want to but tucked up as much, so I’m sitting one leg tucked and one un-tucked more often these days.
Yes, it’s more a young person thing, but that’s because older folks frequently become less flexible. I’ve retained a lot of mine, so I still do it.
All this time I assumed people who sat like that were circus folks.
Another male who does it frequently. It’s just more comfortable.
Mark me down as another who sees it commonly among women but I have never seen a guy do it. I thought it was like the standing pose with legs straight, one leg over the other, with both feet flat on the ground that I have only ever seen women do.
- Male. Sit like this all the time. No idea why it’s just more comfortable for some reason. I’m more comfortable with my left leg up but I make an effort to switch to right leg up from time to time.
I’ve never done it as far as I can remember. At work, I sat on my chair with both feet on the floor. In fact, unless I’m in a recliner, both feet are on the floor.
47, female, not that short (5’6") and don’t care about being taller… and I’ve done this my whole life. It’s just more comfortable. My legs begin to feel restless if they are just flat on the floor and I never really got into the habit of crossing my legs; only time I do that is when I’m wearing a skirt. I usually tuck the right foot up, but I’ll switch if it’s getting crampy.
Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen many guys do it either. I wonder, in the informative stages, is it not considered manly?