In one of LinusK’s interminable anti-women threads, another poster (whom I won’t name; you can look it up if you really want) cited the following as “feminist bullshit”:
Apart from the drooling idiocy of the logic there ("manspreading is okay because hur hur handbags), it’s also bullshit in itself.
Cards on the table: I’m a man. I’m a man who frequently takes public transport and I do indeed see plenty of men - almost all relatively young - taking up not only their seat space but half a seat on either side of them for no fucking apparent reason other than to impress on a trainload of complete strangers how massive their junk is and how impossible it is for them to sit like a normal civilized human being. Strangely, I’ve never personally felt the overwhelming need to advertising my own virility thusly but here these people are, potentially overcompensating.
On the occasions I’m forced to sit next to one of these inconsiderate asswipes I tend to just firmly push their leg back into their space with my leg. I do this firstly because, as I said, I’m a man and can get away with it, unlike the passive-aggressive crap I’ve seen women who try this have to deal with. I also do this because the alternative is to give in to my first, very strong instinct, which is to stand up and powerfully drive my heel into the center of that open goal, and then stand over the pathetic dweeb curled into a fetal position shouting “HEY! I GUESS YOU CAN CLOSE YOUR LEGS AFTER ALL!” before giving the offender a few extra kicks for good measure. As I said, I haven’t done this. Yet. But it still could happen.
So if you happen to be a manspreader: please think twice. Because having your testicles crushed often offends.
I have a simple rule: if the subway car is almost empty, you can take up as much space as you want. Put your bag on the next seat, spread your big manly knees, whatever. As more passengers board, shift to a more compact position to allow them room.
Those threads are so much bullshit. I keep my purse on my lap at all times. I take my fucking backpack off when I am on the subway and hold it in my lap. Will you stop your manspreading now?
Besides one person’s bad behavior does not excuse anyone else’s.
Oh wait, we’re in the Pit! So let’s be frank - all of those threads of LinusK are bullshit. He doesn’t want to listen to anyone but the people he chooses, and women are only representative as far as they agree with him.
(I am definitely not going to put my purse under the seat on the subway - how gross. People pee on there all the time.)
I agree re: bag etiquette and taking up space - if there’s plenty of room, spread outif you want. If someone needs to sit down, put your bag on your lap and budge up. There’s no excuse for taking up more than one seat in a crowded train or bus.
I also agree that LinusK’s threads are ludicrous, but he’s already being pitted in them and mostly I just wanted to complain about assholes on my train.
Manspreading, while annoying, doesn’t bother me as much as the loud cellphone talkers. I swear to god I want to shove the cellphone up their ass. I don’t even like loud talkers, must you talk constantly for two hours? Can’t you just sit quietly and play on your phone, or at least talk softly? Hell, my SO and I travel together and talk and I KNOW we are quiet.
And that doesn’t bother me as much as the screaming children. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I’ve read often that the sound of a screaming baby flips our “fixit” switches and so we want to do something to make it stop, and I get that babies cry, but omg it’s still annoying.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
But there’s also manspreading in the workplace, any other women experience this?
I can walk into a cube and the guy is at his computer, working away, I can’t see his legs, and don’t care.
But when I announce my presence, as in, “Hey Ken, can I ask you something about this?”–he turns around and makes a point of spreadin’ em as wide as he can, even to point to hoisting one leg up on a short file cabinet or guest chair.
Or at a conference table–push chair wayyyyyyyyy back and spread 'em. Or lean chair back and spread 'em.
Are these guys just all wearing too tighty whiteys or badly fitting pants or what? 'Cause it makes me gag. Seriously, is it a ploy to see if we glance at their package so they can go home and rub one out thinking about it? Yech.
It’s your logic that’s droolingly idiotic. Manspreading is ostensibly a problem because it takes up space on public transport that could otherwise be used by other passengers. It’s called Manspreading because it’s a form of selfishness that’s mostly unique to men. However, the problem itself is space invasion, not space invasion by men.
Feminists (or, perhaps more accurately, entitled assholes on twitter and Jezebel that call themselves feminists) love to make a huge deal about Manspreading. However, there is a similarly ubiquitous form of space invasion practised mostly by women: Shebagging. That is to say, deciding that your handbag is so fucking important that it deserves its own seat.
Now, if these clickbait whiners were really so concerned about Manspreading on the basis that it takes up space, they should be equally put out by Shebagging. But they aren’t. Why is that? Well, the simplest answer is that they’re more interested in bashing men than actually tackling the problem that Manspreading is supposed to represent. So fuck 'em.
Either Manspreading and Shebagging are both ok, or neither of them are. Simple as that. It follows, therefore, that if the women complaining about Manspreading don’t have anything to say about Shebagging, then they really don’t care all that much about space invasion. If they did, they’d criticise both equally.
The poster you quoted is simply saying that if the people who never shut the fuck up about Manspreading really aren’t that concerned with space invasion, there’s no reason why he should be either.
I take public transport a lot as well. On the London Underground there are actually signs (illustrated, tellingly, with a picture of a woman) asking people to keep their bags off the seats. Does it make a difference? Does it bollocks. Fucking things might as well be written in Chinese.
P.S. - Shebagging in action. Ten million more examples available on request.
I think those girls are jerks, and I am a feminist. Does that make it better?
I also see men putting their briefcases on the seat next to them. I think this is also jerkish.
Mostly I don’t even understand why it is being equated. You do your part. You can’t control everyone else. All you can do is try to be polite yourself. But instead you take other people’s rudeness as permission to be rude yourself.
So this means because Girl X put her bag on her seat next to her, you will now proceed to manspread next to Girl Y, who didn’t do anything at all, and is sitting with her purse on her lap.
That doesn’t make you justified. That makes you an asshole. And I think that’s the very problem - people just keep on being assholes because they saw someone else being an asshole.
I’m just working my way down to your level. At 3 posts a day, 5 days a week, I should be there in about six months.
I know that. What I’m talking about (and what I believe the poster Gyrate quoted is talking about, although I could be wrong) is moral authority. As in, people who bitch and moan about Manspreading while saying nothing about Shebagging don’t have the moral authority to bitch and moan about Manspreading.
It’s not like I see a woman putting her bag on the seat and think “Oh goody! Now I can flaunt my balls.” I don’t do that. I sit properly. But if I were a Manspreader, I’d resent being told to sit properly by a woman who thinks nothing about taking up a whole seat with her bloody shopping, or, at least, thinks nothing of those women who do.
In a perfect world, there wouldn’t be manspreaders or shebaggers. There’d just be normal people, and inconsiderate assholes.
Rudeness on your part doesn’t exclude rudeness on mine, but people who chide me while ignoring you even though we’re being rude in exactly the same way aren’t worth listening to.
In my experience, placing bags on the seat next to you is an equal opportunity offense. I see just as many men as women doing it. On my commute home last night, the one available seat was occupied by a large Amazon box belonging to the guy sitting next to it. To his credit, he put the box on his lap when he saw me looking for a place to sit.
OTOH, manspreading is an entirely male activity.
Both activities are rude, and both should be discouraged.
Let’s go with a far simpler, less evil explanation. You know, Occam’s Razor.
Americans enjoy their personal space. By taking up more space, they’re trying to ensure that they won’t have Mr. Stinky siding up and sitting cheek to jowl with them.
IMO, the whole term “manspreading” is just stupid. Why does it have to be about whether men or women are worse offenders of being jerks in taking up space in public spaces? Take up all the space you want, I don’t care, but as it gets crowded, be conscious about the space you’re using, especially if potentially preventing someone from sitting.
I’m taller than average and I’m a gym rat, so I’m broader than the majority of men, but somehow I can still fit just fine in most seats just fine. Further, even with my big legs, I actually find that position quite uncomfortable, and I’ve little doubt that almost everyone that does it to get attention. And that’s exactly why I think this “manspreading” thing is stupid, because all it does is reinforce that this behavior “pisses off the feminists” so it just encourages them to keep doing it.
This is the first I’ve heard about manspreading so maybe you guys are talking about some extreme behavior I’ve never seen, but when I sit down my junk falls between my legs. I’m not showing it off, it’s hidden by the crotch of my pants. I have to sit with my knees open at maybe a 40 degree angle because there is something physically there. Is that what you guys are talking about?
I figure any argument using terms like “manspreading” or “shebagging” is one I can safely ignore. Feels like legislation where they seemed more worried about the too-cute name than the actual contents.