Are Men Really Urban Monsters?

Article here. Excerpt:

'Last month The New York Times ran a story with photos of men caught “manspreading.” Manspreading is defined as man who sits on a public bus, subway or park bench with his legs splayed open. Some men who do this take two seats on crowded public transportation. The Times said, “It is the bane of many female subway riders. It is a scourge tracked on blogs and on Twitter.”
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Hmm, are the people coining and using these new words tacitly agreeing to the premise that some large percentage of men are guilty of talking down to women, shoving women out of the way on sidewalks, demeaning women by calling them “bossy” and refusing to give women space on crowded public transportation? Might this same logic then lead people to surmise that, by comparison, women much less often spread out over two seats on a bus or subway (or put their bags on the seat next to them), talk down to men (don’t these new words talk down to men?) and commit other microaggressive acts?

I’ve worked in Manhattan and business and pleasure still often takes me onto its busy sidewalks and into its offices. I usually ride Metro-North trains in. In my anecdotal experience women take over two seats just as often as men do. Also, though I have witnessed my share of rudeness and people moving in New York minutes, I haven’t noticed men shoving women out of the way on sidewalks or mansplaining. No doubt there are a few sexist individuals running all over women’s sensibilities, but I have mostly seen considerate behavior among men and women in offices. Actually, in the offices I’ve worked in Manhattan, mansplaining or calling a female coworker “bossy” would silence a room and lead to the perpetrator being set straight behind a closed door—perhaps even let go.'

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