At work the other day, we had a discussion about “manspreading.” This describes the way guys tend to sit with their legs spread wide apart, whereas women tend to sit with their legs crossed or closer together. 

The discussion at work revolved around how men tend to take up more room on the bus because of this tendency (we all commute by bus). We also talked about how women tended to pull in when someone sat next to them, while men stayed spread. My co-workers attributed this to unconscious male privilege playing out in body language.

The next couple days I got a good view of this very thing in action.

If I took a picture every day, I’d get almost this exact same shot.

What the heck? Do guys really unconsciously take up more physical room than women? What about gay guys and lesbian women? Is this about gender identity, or guys having more parts down there to make room for, something else? Does it have more to do with men having greater self-confidence than women?

Now I want to know more. I wonder if anyone has done research on this.

Meanwhile, I’ll just keep sitting taking up the least amount of room I can when I ride the bus.