Manspreading
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"Manspreading" or "man-sitting" is a pejorative neologism referring to the practice of men sitting in public transport with legs wide apart, thereby covering more than one seat.[1][2]
A public debate began when an anti-manspreading campaign started on the social media website Tumblr in 2013; the term appeared a year later.[3] These campaigns have been heavily criticised as public shaming campaigns, as the subjects are often clearly identifiable,[4] and the associated practice of taking non-consensual photos of men with emphasis on their crotch has been compared to creepshots or revenge porn.[4][2][5][6]
The usage of the term has received substantial criticism from both feminists and antifeminists.[7] Law enforcement regarding manspreading has unduly targeted Latino men,[8][9][10][11] including a case where a Latino teenager was allegedly charged for having a backpack next to him on the train.[12]
OxfordDictionaries.com added the word "manspreading" in August 2015.[13][14] Lyndsay Kirkham, an English professor at Humber College, Toronto, said the practice was a metaphor for the permission men were given to take up a disproportionate share of space in society.[6]
Manspreading is a term used by feminists and others to shame men. It is claimed that men take up a disproportionately large space when when seated, particularly on public transport. Anti-feminists have pointed out that women often use disproportionate amounts of space when sitting with a handbag and often other bags as well, a practice called shebagging.
The term may have originated on a blog called Men Take Up Too Much Space On The Train which went offline between 20 January 2015 & 27 September 2018.[1][2]
See Also
External Links
- Archive of the original manspreading page
- Know Your Meme
- War on men - first arrests for manspreading on New York subway
- The Huffington Post
- Manspreading Shebagging
- Oxford University Press