Chair designed to "prevent manspreading", your thoughts?

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www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/manspreading-chair-design-laila-laurel-award-brighton-university-a9008746.html

So a student designed a chair for men, it goes inward at the edges and has raised edges to force anyone sitting on it to sit with their legs closed otherwise it would be uncomfortable to sit on. She got an award for it and it's been posted all over the media as some groundbreaking idea.

I do however, wonder just how practical this is. If it's installed in public areas or public transport how can you ensure only men sit on it? What if for example the only seat left on a train is one of them and the last passenger to get on is a woman who then has to choose between standing or sitting on an uncomfortable chair? And of course any seats reserved for "men only" mean less seats for women.

btw if you were to flip the chair around and sit on it back-to-front, then you can sit any way you want.

It's just another version of a scold's bridle, is it not? A mechanical device that tries to solve what communication and reciprocity could deal with far more effectively.

Surely the point would be that this style of seat would be the only seat?

Interesting to hear that other cities have put signs up.

The graduate says that her design is not to be taken too seriously but admits that the chairs do give a “physicality to an issue women face in quite a fun yet literal way”.

5th paragraph down if you care to read that far.

It was just an art project, meant to be a bit of fun. Not taken seriously

Very amusing.

Do you actually believe this is serious Dolores? It makes a good point though. Sitting next to a manspreader is incredibly annoying.

The photos are fascinating. Both for my own first reaction (that the man is sitting 'like a woman', which somehow looks more wrong than the woman sitting 'like a man') and the fact that both women are sitting with their hands between their legs (suggesting to me that they feel uncomfortably exposed). It shows just how deeply entrenched stereotypes and prejudices are.

It's just another version of a scold's bridle, is it not? A mechanical device that tries to solve what communication and reciprocity could deal with far more effectively.

Tbh this was my first thought and it made me uncomfortable for that reason although I do realise it was meant to be a talking point rather than a serious design.

I've seen a few signs like this on the tube. It's genuinely pathetic that we have to put up actual signs and (even jokingly) design special chairs to get men to show basic courtesy/ social competency.

Not just a feminist issue. I love planes that have a solid wall between seats. Stops all the arseholes moaning about fat people.

I'd feel more comfortable about it if it was just about making sure people of all kinds stay in their area. I can't say, over the course of my lifetime using a bus system, that I've found this to be a particular fault of men. All kinds of people take up more room than they are supposed to.

It's difficult for larger people in general to keep to a very narrow seat. In some places, like airplanes, the seats are the problem, not the people.

Not just a feminist issue. I love planes that have a solid wall between seats. Stops all the arseholes moaning about fat people

I'm sure it must be terrible for "fat people" who can't fit in aeroplane seats, but it's not great to have to balance on part of your seat for hours because someone else is on part of it, particularly for older people who may be more vulnerable to damage and people with spine and other joint problems, for whom it can cause significant pain and longer term difficulties.

The chairs look pretty darn uncomfortable, light hearted or not.

I think it’s really interesting and like Jelly I found the photos fascinating.

I didn’t find it made me uncomfortable but perhaps because as a woman I’m used to sitting like the chair wants me to sit. And it’s clear she’s making a point rather than suggesting her design is rolled out across the UK.

To the people immediately jumping to the conclusion that this chair must be like a scolds bridle, here's some information on it:

In some cases, a spike was attached to the bridle-bit, so that the movement of the tongue would cause wounds, additionally discouraging the victim from even attempting to speak.

This form of punishment also included public humiliation, as the woman would be led on a leash, in most cases by her husband, through the town to attract attention. The passing audience would most commonly insult the woman put on display or spit on her. Violence towards the victim was not discouraged.

www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/15/scolds-bridle/

So an instrument of humiliation and torture, which sanctioned violence towards the women wearing it, versus a joke chair that might cause a man some minor inconvenience if he sat in it, because he couldn't get his legs far enough apart. Of course those two things are the same. If you're worried about the poor menz that is.

It doesn't take too much imagination to think about what a woman might be "scolding" or gossiping about, that would upset men enough to punish her and torture her. I'm sure the people who brought the device up on this could furnish us with some ideas.

We're all gossips and scolds here. Back in the day, men would have been torturing us. Now we're just TERFs to get punched or die in a fire.

Looks to me like it's making things unnecessarily comfortable. Solid straight sides would do the job just fine.

It seems to me a missed opportunity to design a chair that would be both comfortable for men and ensure they stay in their own space.

Seats on public transport are not well designed for numerous reasons. They don't accommodate the male frame either in terms of their tendency to man spread when relaxed or their broader shoulders. Nor do they accommodate longer legs. Nor do they work for women, with shapes that often dig into your back if you are of shorter stature/torso length.

It cannot be beyond the wit of man to design something that works, but this isn't it.

I remember the US airforce running a project to create the perfect pilot seat.

By using the average dimensions of the human frame they created a seat that was equally uncomfortable for everyone.

Every day we write here about the difference between male and female bodies.

There isn’t a solution that can accommodate men and women, fat and thin, short and tall.

It might help us people took their damn coats off. Apart from everything else, they stink.

Fascinating project. Well done to the designer. Intellectually i find it interesting how design can influence behaviour.

Neither of them look very comfortable.

I could not sit in the anti-man-spreading chair.

I'm a fat woman (a couple of stone too much for a 5'8" frame), but, even when I was not fat, I found 'ladylike' sitting with my knees together unnatural and uncomfortable. There was stuff in the way. Now it is impossible - there is too much stuff in the way. The only way to sit with knees together would be either to perch on the edge of the chair (so that thigh flesh can hang down, rather than spread out) or in high heels (so that thighs are lifted from the chair, again so that thigh flesh can hang down, rather than spread out). Deeply uncomfortable.

So I can understand why men sit with their legs apart. But sitting with legs comfortably apart is not the same as spreading them wide. And is not the same as deliberately invading someone else's personal space and refusing to adjust your posture.

These chairs are certainly not a solution, but they make an excellent statement.

Neither of them look very comfortable.

Probably upholstery was beyond the student's skill set. It's a concept using fairly simple woodwork techniques, isn't it.

Great project! Funny, well done that woman.

I wonder if her next project will be how to design pavements to stop men expecting women to step aside for them,
Maybe a man's lane and a woman's lane...

Maybe seatbelts designed for women or something...

I found 'ladylike' sitting with my knees together unnatural and uncomfortable. There was stuff in the way. Now it is impossible - there is too much stuff in the way.

And this is the issue us men face too. It's not comfortable having your package squished upwards so it rests atop your thighs.

Fair enough, BjornAgain81. As I said, I can see why you do it. But, that doesn't explain this: