New York has declared war on men sitting on the subway with their legs spread wide, limiting space to others. Women get in the way of this habit. Men react aggressively to comments.
Why should some men sit wide-legged on subways, buses and other public transportation, taking up more space, cramping other passengers, or in the worst case forcing them to stand at all? Who dares to say something about this selfish behavior?
Maybe there are some anatomical reasons that force the "stronger sex" to spread their legs wide, or medical, or other health considerations? Or maybe this is a manifestation of testosterone-driven territory-grabbing and domination behavior that does not seem to have succumbed to many millennia of male evolutionary history? These questions are asked not only by women who feel burdened by a counterpart with vulgarly spread legs, but many generally see this as sexual harassment.
New York-based transport company MTA has at least recognized the problem of the behavior of such ill-mannered passengers by dedicating a large-scale advertising campaign for friendly behavior to the topic. Under the slogan “Politeness pays off. Good behavior makes the trip more enjoyable”it is not just about polite interaction in the midst of the daily stress of commuting to work and home. Since the new year, people in charge must hang signs in the subway, buses and suburban transport with the saying "Dude, move your legs" in order to draw the attention of passengers to the problem of "the man's manner of driving in a row."
Men expose themselves to the public
"Manspreading" is a remake made up of the words "Man" (man) and "Spreading" (spreading), for which there is no adequate translation yet (and I did not bother choosing "in spreading" - svonb), and this term is briefly can be explained as "while sitting, men should not spread their legs wide, capturing the surrounding space." The aim of the action is to encourage men to stick to a more closed and imposing V-position when sitting.
“It pisses me off when a man with his legs wide apart sits in front of me on the subway,” Kelly Rae O'Connell expresses his annoyance. The New York actress has been battling this inappropriate behavior for years by sending snaps of the worst ignorant on Twitter. And she not only considers herself sexually abused. "When I urge them to clench their legs to make room for others, I am also scolded."
O'Donnell can only welcome this "anti-rash" action by MTA, while she is not the only one who is outraged by such a bad habit. On the social network Tumblr, there is a blog in which pictures of men with wide-apart legs are exposed to the public. Another blog went even further. Using Photoshop, he places large objects like the Death Star from Star Wars between the legs of the notorious intruders to further emphasize the range of the legs apart.
Men react aggressively
Transport workers from MTA, nevertheless, pursued their action not so much to stigmatize men as to free up more seats for passengers. After the crime on the New York subway decreased, making the city one of the safest metropolitan areas in the country, the hands came to the question of comfort in the outdated subway.
It is not an easy task at all, because more and more people get to work with this transport every day. According to statistics, in 2014, the New York subway system was used daily by 6, 1 million passengers, two years ago there were a million fewer. The city has grown to the current 8, 4 million inhabitants. And if you add the whole suburb, from which many commute to work in Manhattan, then you need to add a few more million.
"Good behavior for a more enjoyable trip" is a slogan too defensive of a certain position. And the target audience is not yet influencing. Many men react aggressively when asked not to keep their legs so wide apart. “I don’t put them one on top of the other, like women,” one swears. "I sit as I want." Another generally thinks the ad campaign is stupid. "That's funny. I hope someone will paint some graffiti on these signs. " The third believes that sitting with legs apart is simply "very comfortable" and will not allow anyone to forbid such a manner.
Health issues
New York Good Conduct Preachers are wholly in favor of this action. “I’m just speechless about the fact that men generally sit on the subway with their legs wide apart,” Peter Post, author of The Most Important Rules of Conduct for Men, says in an interview with The New York Times. "A man should keep his legs parallel and not in a V-position." His colleague Olaf Hansson goes even further: “A real gentleman does not sit on the subway at all. It costs". Thus, freeing up space for women.
It remains only to find out from urologists whether sitting with legs wide apart is urgently needed? Or should men sit upright to “air the eggs,” as the anti-campaign claims Canadian Toronto intends to follow New York's lead? Let's put it bluntly: can the legs brought together limit or even disrupt the reproductive capacity of men?
Dr. Mark Goldstein of New York Presbyterian Hospital is reassuring. "There is no cause for concern." Half an hour of sitting on the subway, crossing your legs, really slightly raise the temperature between your legs and, accordingly, testicles. "However, this time is not enough for the really harmful consequences."
So, everything is within acceptable limits. New York can safely keep its feet together. However, and Philadelphia too, this city in Pennsylvania was the second in America to follow this example. Under the motto: "Dude, this is impolite … Two seats - why?".
