Has it really been that long? According to our archives, it was May 2015 when New York City police officers, under the direction of former presidential candidate Bill De Blasio, began making arrests for the misdemeanor offense of “manspreading,” or sitting with your knees too far apart on the subway.
Law enforcement stepped in following a $76,000 public relations campaign asking men to “stop the spread.” Unfortunately, there was no equal attention given to “she-bagging” in which a woman takes up an extra seat for her purse.
Mashable seems pretty impressed with a project by artist and designer Laila Laurel of the U.K. that won’t forever fix manspreading, but will at least “keep the conversation going” — which is another way of saying, “accomplish nothing.” Mashable first posted this story forever ago but thought it was worth re-upping:
This anti-manspreading chair is absolutely brilliant pic.twitter.com/pjgWoA7cq9
— Mashable (@mashable) January 13, 2020
It’s absolutely brilliant.
The speed with which I whip that bad boy around and sit backwards on this thing will amaze you https://t.co/hrwXSQp2BN
— Aelfred The Great (@aelfred_D) November 5, 2019
Lol. You people are crazy
— Rob Eno (@Robeno) November 5, 2019
This seems unnecessary
— Tom P (@tp546) November 2, 2019
And weird
— Rachel Wallis (@weaverwebs) November 2, 2019
— ? (@Itzdatboix) November 2, 2019
Men have narrower hips but a higher center of mass than women in relation to their body. Meaning their area for sitting and balancing their upper body is smaller. Men instinctively offset that disadvantage by spreading their legs, increasing the area they can use to balance. pic.twitter.com/MwfSVS0uje
— Alongside the way (@Alongsidetheway) January 16, 2020
Disclaimer: The following comment is not intended to be sexist.
Men are not anatomically designed to sit in that way. Not just because of their family jewels, but due to the shape of their hips.
— Richard White (@RW_DarkAgency) January 13, 2020
Problems:
1. Keeping knees closed is physically uncomfortable or painful for many men.
2. The chair can injure fat men.
3. Women in the spreading chair will be exposed if they are wearing skirts
4. People might just switch which chair they sit on.— Hypno Changer (@ChangerHypnosis) January 17, 2020
"Hey, world! Look at my vagina!!!"
Nowhere does it mention how they intend to stop people from sitting in the wrong chairs, or where intersex people sit.
— SyronJAG (Jimmy Gish) (@SyronJAG) January 17, 2020
They found a way to do hostile architecture while masquerading as woke, which is fairly impressive.
— aran (@arancaytar) January 13, 2020
You need to accept that this will never be a thing. https://t.co/6ablhBI7Cx
— Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) November 5, 2019
Okay, but I'm just gonna sit in the other chair.
— Well Redneck (@WellRedneck) November 4, 2019
Give me 1 reason why I shouldn't go to IKEA instead and buy a chair that was designed to be actually comfortable instead of genital shaming turned furniture.
— Itsuki (@ItsukiSword) November 4, 2019
Amazing. The Church Of The Perpetually Offended has managed to produce technology based on vacuous outrage AND achieved sitting segregation in one single step. So progressive.
— Problematic Pleb (@ProblematicPleb) November 4, 2019
Modern-day feminism is embarrassing and a slap in the face to those who fight real oppression in countries where they're not privileged enough to spend their time creating anti-man furniture. https://t.co/YLUhVbmeoD
— Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) November 5, 2019
Just more proof that modern-day feminism has zero to do with equality and everything to do with punishing men. https://t.co/iA98na0zIe pic.twitter.com/pA025zOAKl
— Jessica Fletcher (@heckyessica) November 5, 2019
As a feminist, this shit makes me wanna move to the moon. "Manspreading" isn't a horrific issue, yall are so dumb, god bless https://t.co/uddPdlByrE
— Laura, Nightwing's publicist (@NIGHTWlNGS_) November 2, 2019
Creating a solution to a non-existent problem does not make you an engineer.
Radical sexist feminism should not be catered to. It ruins the face of true feminism. https://t.co/mHbSldxZzI— Jinji 「仁慈」 (@CorgiJinji) November 4, 2019
Mashable thinks this is "brilliant."
— Larry Sanger (@lsanger) November 5, 2019
It is? Both chairs completely fail at the design and function of a chair. It's actually a faulty design based on a really REALLY bad personality disorder.
— Sai-fon (@LastSnowLeopard) January 16, 2020
This is so stupid.
— That Jedi Guy (@force_ghost_guy) January 16, 2020
"I don't get why you don't take feminists/ liberals seriously!" https://t.co/9yzpmQ2Oe5
— ???????????? (@Pommesfreund) November 4, 2019
The chick chair admits that people will spread their legs if there's something there. For gals, a block of wood. For dudes, their guy bits. They aren't subconsciously establishing dominance. https://t.co/jqHPhtWlWk
— Renna Two Scoopz (@RennaW) November 4, 2019
"Everything men do is problematic!"
"Why can't I find a good man?"
Same cat ladieshttps://t.co/456VmUNkwh
— JimDelRageAgainstTheCokeMachine (@JimDelRey) November 5, 2019
Women don’t have balls though. We don’t need to “take up more space” to avoid crushing our nuts. https://t.co/GTy78YxuhT
— Cassandra Fairbanks ? (@CassandraRules) November 5, 2019
Did social justice warriors run out of real battles to fight? https://t.co/u8J19dvofF
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 4, 2019
Personally, I'm just going to sit in the nice, wide chair. ?♂️
— InTheRightColumn (@TheRightColumn) January 16, 2020
— 2Zippos (@2Zippos) January 16, 2020
Lord I am ready to go. I have seen enough pic.twitter.com/4aRsiQ2DUK
— Key-Kuga? (@ViranAcademia) November 4, 2019
How do I know this is the best time in history to be alive? Because this is a 'problem' that needed to be solved.
— UberSteve (@UberSteve) January 17, 2020
Mashable is beyond parody.
— Antonio Martinez (@djtechchicago) November 5, 2019
This is the 87th time you've shared this. Stop
— ??RoonKolos?️? ‽ #ShantaeForSmashDLC (@RoonKolos) January 15, 2020
me seeing this in my timeline for the 90th time pic.twitter.com/0EeIqwfmOc
— ??Cbobs?? (@CaydenMisc) January 16, 2020
It's just as dumb as it was a year ago.
— ?️Ѡąƨƙɛƪωɛɛ?Ɯѧßβiȶ ?️(pronoun-Hare Highness) (@WaskelweeWabbit) January 17, 2020
Guess they were desperate for clicks…
This is why I like prostitutes because they're honest about their whoring, y'know?
— Seekerfall products house of Art and Nonsense. (@Dd4rri3nd) January 16, 2020
— Glasses Gleyber (@GlassesGleyber) January 14, 2020
— The Gentleman Aspie (@tga_aspie) January 16, 2020
Sorry my balls are not Mashable…..
— Brandon Beer (@blbeer22) January 16, 2020
The Daily Mail reports that Laurel, who created the chairs while a college student, “won an award for emerging talent in the design industry called the Belmond Award,” with judges agreeing that her design “was ‘a bold, purpose-driven design that explores the important role of design in informing space, a person’s behavior and society issues of today.'”
Related:
California joins New York in crackdown on manspreading, easing of rules against public urination https://t.co/3Lx2CDpw5B
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 21, 2016
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