Manspreading - biology or entitlement?

[Undercoverbanana]

They are doing it everywhere. At the cinema, on the tube, at the tennis, in the dentists' waiting room. It's not just the legs - it's the arms too.

I am a smallish woman and I understand that a bigger person takes up more room than me, and that men are mostly larger than me. Is it all that junk between their legs that makes them do it? Is it the broader chest that says "I need to spread my elbows over both the arms of this chair and invade your space". Do large breasted women do it too? (I've not noticed - 30E cup here, so wouldn't understand.)

Or is it "I AM A MAN AND SOOOOOO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD"?

So AIBU to think that they could be a bit less entitled?

OP you need to be careful. The weather outside is a little warmer than usual at this time of year so I wouldn’t want you to melt.

Never had this issue, but then I would say ' move up please, I am using this seat'.

Goes with ' put your handbag on the floor please'.

Men are bad ... grrrrrr. Boooo.

Bastards the lot of 'em!

[happy now OP?]

Yeah elephunk how dare us little women think we have a right to say anything negative about the big important menz....

Imagine the outcry if a random woman was photo'd on the tube and put here for ridicule.

splinterz, his face isn't even in the picture, so what's the problem? There are plenty of websites where men post pictures of random women for judgement by the way, if you want to go off and challenge them...

@AngelsSins

Some of you do little else. I was just trying to join in ... it seems so fulfilling.

Why do 'women' on here use the term "menz"? I don't understand. Care to explain?

@Splinterz

That's different for reasons.

Some of you do little else.

There's so much of it to do.

elephunk I don't know, it's weird isn't it? A bit like when men call women, "wimmin"....

@AngelsSins

Never seen "wimmin" written anywhere. That wasn't an explanation. I'm genuinely interested if you can help.

@LaContessaDiPlump

Most of us don't feel there is.

Entitled people do all sorts of similar things. They tend to walk in a straight line because it wouldn’t occur to them that anyone would be in their way. I tried walking down a street in a straight line once and had to swerve to avoid walking into people multiple times.

On a friend's Facebook page once a discussion arose. I had had a long journey that day squashed into a seat with my back twisted because the manspreader beside me was too strong for me to be able to hold my ground against him. I was properly in pain by the time I got off. One of her male friends insisted that it was uncomfortable to sit with his legs together. I told him of my journey and that it wasn't just uncomfortable for me, but actually painful. His response 'sorry that women twist into awkward shapes but that doesn't trump my right to sit comfortably'. When asked if he spread out like that next to a man, he said no, because he understands how uncomfortable it is to sit with your legs together. But he was adamant that his right to spread out trumps any woman's right to not end up with a sore back.

So it came down to men's comfort is more important than women's. Entitlement through and through.

elephunk sure, if you can explain why you're so deeply upset about women daring to say anything negative about men, even when it's relatively lighthearted? Do you not think women have the right to discuss these things?

I think it's more a lack of consciousness about good behaviour. Unfortunately a lot of schools and parents don't seem to think that children need to be taught how to sit without looking like an idiot. That said girls are usually taught how to sit at least with their legs closed and spreading your arms while keeping your knees together is counter intuitive.

I would be interested to see how rich extremely self confident women sit on the tube. I imagine a version of man spreading- heavy shopping bags in your personal space, immediate loud phone call and a general waft of their presence.

To be honest, I don’t get the angst here.

If a bloke is taking up more room, just do the same back? If someone is totally cramping me into my space, I will pull my legs up and sit cross legged, either they will get he message and stop, or they won’t get the message and I can sit comfy.

I'm horizontal, somewhere over the Atlantic. I'm half-watching a film and feeling extremely relaxed. "Deeply upset"? Give over!

I feel embarrassed that so many thread on MN make us look like arseholes. At little despondent that those men who do see women as second class citizens assume that threads like this reflect all women's views.

My hobbies tend to be mostly men and I work and socialise with mostly men. They don't bitch and moan about "wimmin". They don't call us "wimmin".

Now I'd really love an answer as to the "menz" use. I've answered you honestly and didn't even get sucked in by your accusations of "deeply upset" (hysterical?).

I just evicted my male dog off the sofa for manspreading and squashing both me and my little girl cat. It’s entitlement.

elephunk Why should you feel embarrassed about calling men out on their crap behaviour? You clearly have no problem calling women out, so what's the difference? Why so keen to please men but not women?

You may not have personally witnessed any bad male behaviour but Jesus Christ let's not pretend that there isn't plenty of it around huh? Let's not stop women from having a voice when they are often taking the brunt of it.

"Poor menz" is often used as a sarcastic term to make fun of men who will come into conversations about rape or domestic violence etc to stop women talking about female victims and remind everyone (and refocus their attention) that men are victims too...as if upset that men are not the main focus of attention.

Manspreading is entitlement, and be thankful they're clothed not naked 😳 wtf they imagine we want to see their covered genitals beats me
Arrogant and ignorant.

Definitely entitlement. I had to sit next to a man the other day whose legs were nearly at 180 degrees, there’s no way he could have been comfy. Neither was I.

ye men do this and women do it too, just in a different way.(eg putting bag on seat)

If someone is annoying you, ask them to move...it's simple.

Ttbb.. Right on. It's more a lack of awareness than an overt act. Kinda like the supermarket aisle faffers. They don't mean to be rude , but it is.

I've no doubt that it's entitlement. My exP used to take up twice as much space in bed as I did,despite being much slimmer than me. Some nights I would end up balanced on the edge of the bed,thanks to his splayed arms and legs on my side. Trying to make him move over when he was asleep was impossible. How can someone so light be such a dead weight?!