When on a trip, have you been a victim to what has been referred to as manspreading? A term said to be used by “Third-Wave Feminists” and other gender specific sojourners who fall prey to the practice “whereby a man, especially one traveling on public transportation, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats.”

Or, as the urban dictionary explains, “Men who spread their legs…to make room for their genitalia.”

One of my FaceBook friends explained in detail how this affliction affected her on a recent flight, along with her solution to the problem at hand, er, well, on hand.

This FB buddy, a woman, said that her seatmate had packed too much in his carry-on, meaning it did not fit in the overhead compartment available to him.

She stated, “He tried to jam [this carry-on into] the foot area [which was] closer to my side because he ‘needed room for his feet’ (wow, right!?) but that left limited space for me to put my small backpack–or my left foot. The flight attendant made him scoot his bag to his side….and then the manspread [began].

This social media member vented that she was “…getting situated and didn’t have room underneath for [her] neck pillow.”

At that point, she “momentarily hung [her neck pillow] on [her] left thigh/knee. Lo and behold: the neck pillow forced him to stay in his lane!”

Wow! A breakthrough.

This clever female finished her lengthy comment, asserting with glee, “Every time he started up again, he hit the pillow … Eventually it created a good buffer between both of us, and then he finally closed his legs! Ha! Neck pillow, for the win!”

So there’s that. And it was a win for this woman who needed some spread while up in the air, too.

Now that manspreading has been dissed, it’s only fair to bring up shebagging, a more obscure term that happens when a woman takes up additional seat space with her bag and legs (see image below).

Given seat constraints, this is a tough position to be in while flying but configuring your body this way is completely annoying to someone who is standing while you/she are/is taking up that extra space on a bus or a subway or a train. Us female travelers need to admit this and acquiesce.

a woman sitting on a bus

OK, enough said on this topic. So which annoys you more, travelers: Manspreading or shebagging? Oh, don’t be shy. Speak up here and whenever you’re on a trip, but play nice. We have to show some decorum, right? Right?

Featured image courtesy Wikipedia/Peter Isotalo Creative Commons.