Subway Brawl Turns Into Debate Over Manspreading

Article here. Excerpt:

'Last week, a fight broke out on a 5 train in the Bronx when a woman allegedly cursed & spit in a man's face during a verbal argument, and the man in turn pummeled the woman's boyfriend. The incident, which was captured on video, played out like a lot of other anonymous, violent, more-sad-than-anything-else subway fights. But a week later, both parties are talking about how a bare minimum of subway etiquette could have prevented the fisticuffs—because the fight, it turns out, was allegedly sparked by manspreading.

The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. last Wednesday on a northbound 5 train. Queen Muhammad, the woman who has been portrayed as initiating the fight, told the Newsthat she never spit on alleged attacker Patrick Crow. "This manspread thing is getting out of control," she told tabloid. "I was embarrassed but now I'm quite happy that this video came out and I hope that men are willing to respect women on the subway and buses more."

Crow counters that Muhammad was rude from the moment she got onto the train at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue, announcing that everyone should "respect the Queen" and cramming beside him on the seat: "She just dropped down on my leg," he said. "She started to nudge me over with her elbow," which the Daily News says made him decide to "spread his legs to prevent the takeover of his space."'