Some argued that manspreading is simply a non-issue, that they are simply a part of the general indecency of humanity. Others argued that men must sit with their legs open due to physical discomforts with sitting closed legged. Yet another person argued that a woman should not sit on a man for fear of physical violence, and that one should pick one's battles and not risk their safety over such triviality.
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All of these arguments are valid in some ways. Yet they all point to the fundamental issue of privilege and consciousness. What is privilege? Privilege is some sort of characteristic that gives one group of people more resources and power over another group. It can be skin color, race, religion, sexual preference, gender, wealth, athletic abilities, among others. What is consciousness? Consciousness is the awareness of oneself as a part of something greater, and the realization that we are all innately equal and deserving of kindness regardless of our physical form and privileges.
Every culture has its own groups of privileged and underprivileged people, with resources divided unequally among them. Even though if we all shared, the world's privileged and underprivileged would be much more balanced, and global sustainability be achieved, we somehow manage to prefer the division of resources based on privilege. Whoever has more resources already wins in the global campaign for power. Each privileged class ignores the needs of another underprivileged class.
This happens everyday all around us, in social constructs that we are barely beginning to challenge. A hundred years ago, women did not have the right to vote, because voting was a man's privilege. A person of color could not ride in the front part of the bus, because they had to give up their seats to white passengers. Colonial countries had to send all their natural raw materials to imperialist countries in order to enrich another nation. And so on.
Due to the bravery of some, these social constructs began to be challenged, because some people said it is wrong to allot more resources to those with privilege. Women demanded for the right to vote. Rosa Parks decided not to move to the back of the bus. Ghandi organized the people of India to drive out the British. These small actions lead to big changes in the way we view certain privileges, until they ceased to be a privilege and were distributed equally to others.
Currently, our problems of equality takes the form of college students who are struggling under massive student debt, people who cannot afford health care due to their professions and income level, racial profiling by the police, and manspreading. Why is manspreading on this list among seemingly larger and more important issues? Because it points to larger preconceived notions of gender and public space that needs to be challenged.
Is manspreading a gender issue? It is if the men who sit with their legs spread open are doing so unconsciously or consciously because of their cultural and gender upbringing. Some men in this culture prefer to sit with their legs crossed all the time, but are mocked for their seeming femininity. Other men sit that way because that's just how men are supposed to sit as prescribed by our culture. And other men sit that way because they are physically larger and need or want more space. In any case, these reasons all lead to the usage of more resources due to privilege. A man's privilege to more space than a woman, who may have been taught to take up less space with her body, even though she may be the same physical size as the man.
If manspreading is a gender issue, then addressing it brings more consciousness to the forefront, and challenges people's preconceived notions of gender and privilege. Dismissing this as a nonissue is yet another way to ignore larger problems related to gender, and to once again assert entitlement and privilege. If someone complains of a problem, instead of listening, we jump in and dismiss their problems because we ourselves have never experienced it, we are just adding to their misery. The same goes for other modern problems like student debt, health care, and racial profiling. It's easy for someone who doesn't experience these as problems to dismiss them, but it doesn't take away from the difficulties of someone who is dealing with these issues.
This is why I feel sad whenever men criticism feminism, either to say it is sexist or that certain issues are not considered feminist. Feminism is the advocating of women's social, economical and political rights. Someone who is a feminist is someone who advocates for these rights. It's no different than someone who is a LGBT activist, or a civil rights activist. A person can also be an advocate of rights for many subcategories. It's all an advancement of equality for everyone in an effort to erase privilege and entitlement. Therefore, if someone in an underprivileged category feels that something is an issue, it is worth addressing, even if it doesn't seem like an issue to another person. In this case, manspreading.
However, all issues are relative to everyone. A person who doesn't have to worry about his next meal may worry more about global warming and the potential threat to human food supplies in the next hundred years. A person who hasn't eaten in three days will care more about his next meal than global warming. Is the worries of the hungry person less important than the worries of the environmental person? Not really. But neither is vice versa. Each person's problem is more important to themselves than to others. The only solution is to come to a mutual understanding and acknowledgement of each person's problems, and the willingness to help each other out to the best of their own abilities. All it takes it that change in mental attitude for the world's problems to be solved. Are we willing to do so and to open our minds to the possibilities of seeing the world from another person's perspective? I certainly hope so...
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