DEAR SOCIETY, PLEASE CHANGE

Jennifer Egbebike in The Feminist Wire:

Dear Guy-on-the-Subway,

Are you familiar with the term manspreading?*

While I struggle to keep my legs crossed and take up as little space as possible as a common courtesy to the other passengers on this train, it’s a wonder that you’re so comfortable taking up as much space as you possibly can. I bet you don’t even notice. You must just have some sort of subconscious entitlement to space that persuades you to mark your territory and display your “dominance.” We have been taught to act in opposites. I’ve tried to sit like you once before, and was quickly scolded to close my legs and behave more “lady-like.”

Why do we teach women to take up as little space as possible while we teach men the opposite?

More here.