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That annoying habit some men have of spreading their legs on buses and trains, encroaching on seats next to them, has become so universal that one word crosses language barriers to describe it.
Now, commuters in Madrid are the latest global denizens to fight “El Manspreading,” that scourge of crowded buses and trains.
This month, public transportation officials in the Spanish capital are telling passengers to, literally, keep their knees together instead of letting them drift apart. In doing so, they joining cities from New York to Seattle, and countries from Japan to Australia, in trying to battle the impulse that, let’s face it, mostly men have perpetuated.
The new campaign in Madrid employs an image of a little red figure with legs splayed, taking up two seats, with a slash mark across it, the universal symbol for “don’t do this.”
The campaign was inspired by an online petition promoted by a women’s rights collective, Microrrelatos Feministas, that had garnered more than 13,000 signatures as of Monday.
“It is not difficult to spot women with their legs closed and very uncomfortable because there is a man next to her who is invading her space,” it said. “It is not a question of bad education, but just as women have been taught to sit with our legs close together (as if we had to hold something between our knees) men have conveyed hierarchy and territoriality, as if the space belonged to them.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/world/europe/manspreading-madrid.html [FAILING NEW YORK TIMES]
Would you support a nationwide ban of Manspreading in the United States?
Now, commuters in Madrid are the latest global denizens to fight “El Manspreading,” that scourge of crowded buses and trains.
This month, public transportation officials in the Spanish capital are telling passengers to, literally, keep their knees together instead of letting them drift apart. In doing so, they joining cities from New York to Seattle, and countries from Japan to Australia, in trying to battle the impulse that, let’s face it, mostly men have perpetuated.
The new campaign in Madrid employs an image of a little red figure with legs splayed, taking up two seats, with a slash mark across it, the universal symbol for “don’t do this.”
The campaign was inspired by an online petition promoted by a women’s rights collective, Microrrelatos Feministas, that had garnered more than 13,000 signatures as of Monday.
“It is not difficult to spot women with their legs closed and very uncomfortable because there is a man next to her who is invading her space,” it said. “It is not a question of bad education, but just as women have been taught to sit with our legs close together (as if we had to hold something between our knees) men have conveyed hierarchy and territoriality, as if the space belonged to them.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/world/europe/manspreading-madrid.html [FAILING NEW YORK TIMES]
Would you support a nationwide ban of Manspreading in the United States?
