Ugh, we've all been there.

Growing up I was a very small child, kind of like Thumbelina but only if the fairytale character had displayed more of a tendency towards eye-rolling and overly dramatic sighs. I quickly learned how to fall limp like a sack of wet sand so as to discourage the other schoolchildren who would come towards me arms outstretched enthusiastically exclaiming, “Let me pick you up!” Another annoying part of being pint-sized was that when three children had to fit in the backseat of a car, I would inevitably be assigned the cramped middle seat. Off we’d drive with me sadly squashed in between the other passengers and with no car window to daydream out of.

As I grew up, I looked forward to no longer having my personal space encroached upon. Foolish miniature me... Little was I aware that my past experience was mere training for the future irritations of public transport.

Most of us would be familiar with those who have been dubbed the ‘man spreaders’, guys who on the train or bus feel the need to sit legs akimbo so their fellow passengers are forced to shrink into themselves to make way for the overspill. Blogs such as 'Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train' and the wonderfully titled 'Your Balls Are Not That Big' chronicle the most egregious examples of seat hogging and demonstrate that the problem is a global phenomenon. And the Tumblr 'Saving Room For Cats' has come up with a tongue-in-cheek hypothesis as to why exactly men need to take up so much more than their allotted seat space.

The Tumblr 'Saving Room For Cats' has an idea why guys need so much leg room.

While some online claim the need for ‘man spread’ is a gender-based anatomical issue (something about testicles being like tiny furnaces?), it would seem the many men clearly visible on public transport who are capable of sitting with their thighs running parallel should put that argument to rest. And it doesn’t seem a coincidence that these man spreaders seem to be much happier letting it all hang loose when they are seated next to a female, rather than a male.


The Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week revealed to AM New York that they would be instituting a new subway awareness campaign to teach passengers to sit properly without impinging on the space of their fellow travellers. Hurrah! Wouldn’t it be glorious if something similar was put in place in Australia so we weren’t forced to sit thigh-to-thigh squashed up against some random man taking up the majority of the seat space? (And please note, any criticisms are not against people who happen to be bigger – it’s the passengers who feel the need to puff themselves up like a peacock when they could very comfortably sit within the confines of a single seat that are the targets of my ire.)

It’s not just on public transport that women seem to be expected to minimise the amount of personal space they take up. Driving past Enmore Theatre this weekend seeing a predominantly female crowd lining up to take in Jimmy Eat World, I was reminded of my own gig-going days (does anything make you feel older than realising you don’t want to go see a live show as the head-pounding, ear-ringing and backache the next day don’t seem worth it anymore?). I’d line up for hours to get the front row position for whatever fey indie band I was into. But as soon as the first guitar strums filled the air, I would be roughly elbowed out of the way and forced to spend the rest of the set staring at some dude’s nasty sweat-soaked back.

If catcalling is about men feeling they are entitled to women’s time and attention, this quite often literally pushy behaviour is about men feeling entitled to women’s space also. One illustrated suggestion is that we all need to get ‘thigh bumpers’ to protect our seat on the train. But public transport users shouldn’t have to defend to the death their allocated space; instead it would be nice if these selfish travellers learned that it isn’t acceptable to assume your right to comfort trumps someone else’s. It’s just a shame it takes a public awareness campaign to drive that home, rather than a simple sense of equity.