'Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train'

Submitted by Mastodon on Sun, 2013-09-15 02:24

Article here. Excerpt:

'We've probably all ended up sitting next to that guy on the train. You know, the man who insists on resting his elbow basically on your body, or takes up one-and-a-half seats in order to keep his legs spread or stands unnecessarily close to you even when the car is mostly empty.

That's why the "Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Subway" Tumblr is so great. It shows photographs of what the curator calls "a classic among public assertions of privilege" -- men taking up much more space than their size calls for.

Of course, the men photographed in this Tumblr aren't doing anything malicious, but it's an interesting visual representation of the way that men feel totally empowered to take up a lot of public space -- and women often do not.'

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http://news.mensactivism.org/node/19179

*sigh*

Wonder why there's no articles about women inflicting their multiple perfume scents on everyone.

No peeing standing up, limit your body size to the width of your average bus/train/plane seat (incl. elbows), and if you get drafted, don't complain.

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Submitted by Matt on Sun, 2013-09-15 03:18

As far as charging people based on size, I'm not really sure where I stand on this. I've dated some big men, who are healthy weights, but too big for any coach airline seat. I'm also from Hawaii, and well, Samoans are naturally big people. Charging by size might be a gender issue, as statistically men are bigger than women, but it also may be a race issue as Asians are smaller than blacks, Samoans tend to be wide, but not tall, etc

I remember reading about an airline that was charging by weight of the passenger plus the weights of his/her bags (an airline in Fiji, I think). So if the plane was transporting a 150 pound person plus 50 pounds in baggage, His/her ticket would be whatever the cost per pound for 200 pounds.

Of course this means Asian people will generally travel cheaper than black people. Pregnant women will have to pay more for weighing more and so on.

What if a public bus or other transportation vehicle makes seats the size for average Asian women, but not the average of ALL people, and everyone else is forced to pay more.

I run into this issue with my boys as they are big for their age. I'm 5'10" and their dad is 6'8". There have been times when establishments try and deny them the kids rate based on their size.

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Submitted by Kris on Sun, 2013-09-15 07:31

The op article is more about common courtesy than it is about charging bigger people more. The article seems to single out men, and it is hard to make a judgement without seeing the whole context. For example in some pictures it is difficult to see how crowded the subway is, and if seats are available, then who cares if a person sits comfortably.

When it comes to public transportation, often the government is more concerned with getting people to ride than it is about charging based on space or time spent on vehicle. Often it is usage that is the benefit to the community and exact fairness based on occupied space and time on the vehicle is not relevant or conducive to encouraging usage or cost effective to manage. For example, in my area bikes are free on buses, even though bikes take up more space and seats have been removed for bikeracks. The goal is to get cars off the road.

perhaps instead of bitching and taking sneaky photos, the concerned people should talk to officials about implementing ways to communicate common courtesies about ridership. Signs could be placed reminding people that when bus is crowded, baggage should be placed on lap or floor, they should try to fit into a single seat and feet should be placed on the ground.

As long as people are as respectful as they can be to people around them, you will not likley get public transportation to charge larger people more for their space. However, I am sure women are just as guilty at needing extra space, especially while pregnant or traveling with children with strollers.

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Submitted by Kris on Sun, 2013-09-15 06:03