Men DO NOT have right of way!

I think manners aren't used as much generally in society. People seem to just he out for themselves and I think this is just a symptom of it.

Carry a hot cup of coffee around with you, and don't be afraid to spill it on them.

Never experienced this. In fact they often move out of my way or give me way. Weird

This has always happened to me as long as I can remember and im only 30, I point blank refuse to move, I've had multiple men bump in to me that I solve by barging into them harder so they get knocked out the way and when a group do it I walk down the middle of them 🤣 I've had a few blokes who I've been walking with (my dad, friends, partners) question why I didn't move and I say "well why should I move for them?" I'm only 5"2 but very muscular 🤣

I've never had it happen to me but they try with my youngest boy who's 9 but looks far younger. He just says "excuse YOU how rude" 🤣🤣🤣🤣

there's an old woman on a mobility scooter at our school who tries to barge past everyone....no manners whatsoever.. but I just walk slower - i will not yield to a bully.

Same to the guy on a bike on the FOOTpath every morning dinging his bell at me and my son. Get f**d and wait. (Not nice when something slower holds you up is it Mr cyclist)
I have no tolerance for idiots any more the older I get.

I just don’t understand it.

two people walking towards each other, one person has to move. If you walk straight your just as much a knob as the other one.

i find the complete opposite anyway. Usually I move and so does the other person resulting in an awkwardness

I work in a hospital and deliver chemotherapy drugs to another department every day. I encounter so many couples and groups of people walking towards me filling the whole corridor- hospital corridors are wide for a reason. None of them ever seem to consider it necessary to move over even slightly so that we can pass safely. There are still the covid keep left stickers on the floor but obviously it doesn't apply to them. I'm in uniform BTW so clearly working.
If people are distressed I'll obviously move.

This isn't AT ALL what many women on here have encountered and explained.

Yes, I'm afraid once we get past the juicy, young, voluptuous part of our lives, we fade away into middle age. We become invisible to many men, particularly the older blokes who once used to call us 'birds', or similar.

As a mobility-disabled 65-year-old lady, I'm completely blanked by such old boys! Or they distract and handle my assistance dog, ignoring me! They're not worth worrying about. They're too set in their ways to even consider change! Barge through them!

Sounds like all the people who have decided there is a thing called chicken going on are all playing chicken with each other and are all feeling aggrieved at the effrontery of everyone who’s doing the same back to them as they’re doing.

A vicious circle of irritability and chippiness.

Personally I haven’t experienced this. I’m polite to people and they’re polite back.

Have experienced this a lot, very rarely with young men, and when it has been it's because they're not looking or turned away. Older men blatantly march towards me and grumble when I wait for them to move.

This happened to me even in my early twenties when I was super fierce (fuming feminist) and would laugh at them 😂. Nowadays I just smile and look at my phone until they move - I won't call them the Pr word any more but I still ain't moving!

In my experience this isn't a male/female thing, it's a town/city thing. People in cities - in my experience - tend to be more selfish, self absorbed, and in a rush to get where they're going with no regard for anyone else.

I'm normally very polite and considerate, but when I travel to and around London the other commuters/travellers drive me insane with how rude they are. What I do is pick an object in the distance as farrrrrr away as I can possibly see and stare at it intently, and people just magically move out of my way. Give it a try, I've heard that it's because people subconsciously notice where your gaze is fixed and act accordingly.

Had this happen to me often but usually with other women!

Plenty of men move aside - as witnessed by that polite British 'dance' when you both move the same way!

@Newbutoldfather

That’s why you often get that weird bobble dance where both people move the same way to avoid the other. At this point, normally both people stop and smile and it is easily resolved.

Easily avoided in the first place if people followed the "keep left" rule when walking as they do when driving/cycling on roads. There'd be carnage if roads, shipping lanes, aircraft corridors didn't have specific keep left/right and overtaking rules that everyone knew and followed.

I haven't noticed this while walking on a footpath but I have noticed that at nursery dads always seem to try to barge into the nursery behind you at pick up time (we have been clearly told not to let anyone into the nursery behind us). Women never seem to do this ahd often respectfully wait at a distance till the door has closed behind you which it so much less awkward.

For me it's usually groups of young people standing around and chatting who don't make space to let you pass even after you have said excuse me but I try to think it's because they are engrossed in their conversation.

I have noticed recently though young men, even in groups, making way or waiting for you, which i think is really nice maybe because it surprises me. I have a lot of hope for the younger generation.

I had this happen recently, a barge from my rear left, then the little t@$$er tried to pass in front of me. I merely kept walking and was very satisfied when my shoe made hard contact with his ankle! A hard stare from me and he slunk off!

OMG patriarchy chicken… having experienced it many times how I'm I just hearing this phrase now.

in the past I’ve made them acknowledge me and then said ‘you go… age before beauty’ given I’m not massively beautiful but def younger than them it amuses me.

As regards the posters struggling to understand the difference between patronising chivalry with its sexist history and good manners acknowledging the superior strength & size of males…

I think the below is useful.

It’s not unreasonably for me to ask male pedestrians to be aware of my proportionate physical vulnerability so I can navigate public spaces in an equitable way.

I’d say that the different between this and chivalry could be best exemplified by another image in which the girl is given her two boxes on which to stand… but those two boxes are also painted pink / draped with Walter Raleigh’s cloak etc.

In other words, if equity is a practical acknowledgment of occasional need, chivalry is a presumption of additional gendered stereotypes that, cumulatively, become more disadvantageous than equitable.

The "ladies first" rule died out years ago. Now most men treat women the same way as they treat other men (in this regard at least). First one to blink moves over.

Nothing to do with "patriarchy chicken".

To those who don’t see it, I think it’s much, much clearer if you live in a large city.

If you think about the number of people you need to navigate at a transport hub at rush hour, versus a wander down your average market town street - bearing in mind that the density of the crowd at the hub means 10? 20? 100? more such close encounters every few minutes - the proportions become much clearer, much more quickly.

If I don’t play chicken, my trajectory between two platforms / adjacent bus stops etc. is best described as drunken mosquito evading fly swat. And, frankly, that’s how I’m often made to feel, expected to dodge to one side, & effectively ignore or virtually elbowed out of the way by the sheer size, power & pace of, yes, largely, men.

Honestly, it’s just nonsense!

Everyone tries to avoid walking into people (except, maybe, for a few women playing patriarchy chicken). There have been studies done on this which show that. That’s why you often get that weird bobble dance where both people move the same way to avoid the other. At this point, normally both people stop and smile and it is easily resolved.

And who brings boys up to stride without looking or girls to step aside? Again, it is just a weird assumption backed up by no evidence. If anything, most parents and schools teach boys to be deferential and girls to be feisty.

I think the main culprits for bumping into people are people staring at their phones.

But if you want to look for men to deliberately bump into, I guess it is a hobby, albeit a strange one.

I'm mid 40s now but have always experienced this. I'm short, female, have always been taken for younger so I used to wonder if this made me a bit more susceptible to arsehole men in the wild. But I haven't actually polled female friends and acquaintances on the matter so it's just a guess.

I particularly like it when the menz put their hands out in front of them as if about to physically move me out of the way. Bonus points for any tutting and eye-rolling to accompany their frustration at the temerity of a XX unit not immediately scurrying out of the way the instant they appear on the horizon.

Though it probably happens less now with age, since my face has settled into its permanently Resting Murder Face™ expression. <happy sigh>

Well said. If anything it's the opposite. I was born in the 80s and was always taught "ladies first". This is still largely what I experience. I can't relate to all the patriarchy chicken chat at all.