ManFriday, thank you! Yesterday I.....

[LightofaSilveryMoon]

I walked in straight lines instead of moving over for men as I walked through town. It was interesting.

I disagreed with two men whom I know, twice, on political matters. They seemed a bit stunned, and changed the conversation.

Not huge, but a certain amount of personal growth and confidence in identifying as a Chap on a Friday!

If MN had a like button I'd be liking your post right now.

LightofaSilveryMoon

I've started doing that don't swerve for a man thing. I hadn't even noticed it before it was brought up on here < feminism fail >

I'm doing it quite a lot now and it's both amusing and liberating.

On a personal level whenever my DC or DH asks 'where's my ... ?' I sit resolutely silent. I'm not your fecking mum, PA, or memory - sort it out yourselves. I'm finding it quite hard not to slip into default mode of being everyone's brain and memory. Any tips?

LightofaSilveryMoon well done old chap

For no reason I have ever been able to figure out a friend of mine always responded to a "where is" question with the statement that "if it were up your butt you would know it."
Rude crude but effective.

Brilliant. I’m trying hard not to answer the “where is my...” questions. Apparently because I tidy up more I should know where stuff is.

We could take a lesson or two from the Iceland women's national strike

timeline.com/iceland-womens-strike-1975-d3fc44a116cf

Thanks for that link floorplan, I enjoyed the read.

No one would ever ask me where anything was. I'm famously chaotic. Undiagnosed, but by my reading I'm dyspraxic.

But I do that walking in straight lines thing all the time, though now I'm second guessing myself, so will check when I walk into town later.

I use the below when asked where stuff is

Be me and look for it

I've started walking towards men in straight lines too, whenever I remember I can't believe how automatic and entrenched the swerve manoeuvre is.

It can be a good way to get knocked flying, though.

What do two men do when they meet on a path, is it like a staredown?

Missing items - if I do know where it is then a mild 'have you looked on your desk?' otherwise 'do you want help looking for that? Where might you have last had it?' (It's still not My Problem but I'm being helpful and getting them to engage their brain). Or sometimes (this one is probably better for kids TBH) 'I'll come and look but if I find it somewhere obvious where you should have looked I will be very cross' (nearly always resulted in child scuttling off and finding item... I didn't have to use it very often)

I've been a conscious walker... duck and dive if it's crowded but otherwise stride purposefully.

What a great thread!

I'm also the untidy one in my house. Nobody would even dream of asking me the location of anything.

But I'm going to stop swerving for men from today onwards!

What do two men do when they meet on a path, is it like a staredown?

Maybe they unconsciously tend to pass on the left (in the U.K.)? I hadn't realised till I lived in the US and found myself facing people in corridors more often that there does seem to be some tendency to walk on the same side as you'd drive. I needed to switch to the right.

So I'd recommend picking the left side of the pavement for your unswerving walks.

Juells yes there is a risk of being knocked over, but I've found that, because I'm braced for it and the bloke isn't because he's assuming I'll move at the last moment, we tend to more bounce off each other rather than me fall over, and I'm quite a small woman.

This also reminds me of my years of travelling on the Tube, when I used to womanspread whenever I was sat next to a manspreader, and often ended up in a situation where both of us had our legs firmly braced in position against each other's as neither were willing to cede the territory - some men, though, would move, often with some muttering and huffing. I made sure never to cross the boundary of my territory and I was always ready to point that out if challenged, but no man ever challenged me directly even though I was young and quite girly in appearance then.

If you’re left handed your natural inclination is to go left, if you’re right handed you tend to go right, it’s nothing to do with being a man or a woman

@overnightangel

it’s nothing to do with being a man or a woman

Of course not

[Makes mental note not to swerve out of the way for men today]

Thought you lot might be amused by something that happened to me yesterday. In a busy shop wanting to try on some clothes. DD and I had seen the queue for the female changing rooms and had already discussed whether it would be worth trying to self identify as male and walking straight in to the men's- decided since it was not Friday we wouldn't. A man with a pile of clothes in his hands got to the start of the queue at exactly the same time as us. We looked at each other for a second then he sort of puffed out his shoulders/stood with his feet apart (presumably to make it clear he was bigger) and said quite aggressively 'sorry, I am in the queue' to let me know that he should go before us. DD and I exchanged a knowing look and silently agreed not to interfere with his right to wait in the wrong queue. It was about 15 minutes before a member of staff told him that he didn't need to queue if he wanted the male changing room.

thatoneagain

If you’re left handed your natural inclination is to go left, if you’re right handed you tend to go right, it’s nothing to do with being a man or a woman

Certainly nothing to do with sex, but the correlation I've observed over the years is with driving side. This may be less apparent in more culturally diverse places, of course.

I use the below when asked where stuff is

Be me and look for it

I’m definitely stealing that.

Our standard family response if someone is asking where the remote control is is “up yer bum!” because nine times out if ten they are actually sitting on it. If we have polite guests “are you sitting on it?” is used instead.

I've always been a bit gobby - not backward in coming forward - but this week in particular, I have done what men do in meetings, and stopped other colleagues in mid flow when I have a point to make, rather than politely waiting.

It was hilarious to see their faces when they had to stop talking. I am in a new close team of male boss and two male colleagues. I just grinned back at them. They obviously can't say anything as they know they do it too.