Manspreading: A highly debated, much meme’d topic that is defined as: “the practice of men sitting in public transport with legs wide apart, thereby covering more than one seat.”
This slang became such a common occurrence that Oxford Dictionary even added the term in 2015. After seeing the memes and hearing the debates on the UConn Buy and Sell Facebook page, I was curious to see if this condition was actually present on our very own UConn Campus. So I decided to conduct a little experiment, and see what I found. For a whole week, I would do my morning commute as a “man-spreader,” and see what types of reaction I got. This meant not only manspreading on public transportation, but also when walking about campus from class to class. Committed to my experiment, I was willing to take whatever shoulder-checking, bumps, bruises and dirty looks that came my way. Here is how it went:
Monday
I decided to start out strong, fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) UConn decided to start the week with a cold rainstorm. So that mean taking the bus…a classic manspreading trap, set and executed by millions lies in wait, and I was determined to give it my best. I got one the bus, and it was mostly empty thank goodness. I sat on one end, immediately spreading out and claiming my territory. Somebody two stops after mine decides to sit next to me, as the bus is now crowded. She glares and has to squeeze herself in to the seat next to mine, as I frantically avoid eye contact and pretend that nothing is wrong. It takes everything in me not to move.
Tuesday
Thankfully the weather cleared, and it seemed a good enough day to try walking. So I went about my merry way, in the back of my mind attempting to remind myself to take up as much space as possible. It was surprisingly harder than I thought. All was going well until I walked past the library, and crossed paths with two big guys. The first one thankfully moved, the second not so much. We slammed shoulders and he continued on his way, making sure to shoot a dirty look at me. I, still nursing the pain in my arm from his six foot frame and twenty pound backpack, was starting to have second thoughts. This was tough.
Wednesday
Because Wednesday started off with nice weather and ended with rain, I got the chance to try manspread while walking to class, and while using the bus system. This was also the first day I attempted this experiment in front of my friend. We were walking on our way to class, and came upon another group of people about to cross our path. Perhaps unconsciously, my friend turned to the side and kept walking, nearly putting herself in the road. I stayed put and kept on my course. As a result, my hair got caught in one person’s umbrella. As we stopped to fix it, he did not once apologize, yet my friend could not stop apologizing to this guy on my behalf.
Thursday
Got knocked into two men, and collided with a guy on a skateboard WHO REFUSED TO MOVE EVEN THOUGH HE WAS SKATEBOARDING DOWN THE MIDDLE OF FAIRFIELD WAY…..ended with scraped up knees and that is all I have to say about Thursday.
Friday
The last day of my little experiment, and to be honest, I was ready for it to be done. I was sick of the dirty looks. Even so, I was determined to end on a good note…that meant back to the bus. Sigh. As I boarded the bus that morning, I stepped on a promptly spread out, taking as much as space as possible. A few stops later, more people got on. A guy came and sat down next to me, and a girl I knew vaguely from lecture sat across from us. My seat neighbor was incredibly confused, and was trying to manspread right next to me, but I wasn’t making it easy. I refused to move. After a good ten minutes of him trying to wiggle and adjust so he could my space that he apparently thought he deserved, he attempted to physically move my knee. At that moment, the girl sitting across from us stood up, and with a huge smile on her face, planted herself right down on his other side and promptly “manspread” herself out too….we had him trapped. We both smiled at each other over his head. I suppose you could say I ended on a good note.
Conclusion
As my week of manspreading has come to a close, I look back at my bruises, scrapes and dirty looks, and would honestly say that it could have been a lot worse. What I’ve learned from this social experiment, is that we ladies need to stop saying sorry for taking up the space that we rightfully deserve. Not everyone will move aside for you, and sometimes it’s okay to get a dirty look or two, as long as you don’t ever stop going in your own direction.