Madrid buses ban ‘manspreading’ practice

MADRID: If you are taking a bus in the Spanish capital, be sure to keep your legs to yourself. Madrid authorities on Monday started putting up signs banning the practice of “manspreading” — opening one’s legs so wide you invade other’s seating space — on city buses as part of their new etiquette guidelines. EMT municipal transportation company said the sign is designed to discourage physical postures that bother people. The sign features an illustration of a man with splayed legs with a red ‘X’ above. The text beneath urges passengers to “respect the space of others.” There are no sanctions or fines for those indulging in the practice. The bus company incorporated the ban following an Internet signature campaign by a woman’s group, Mujeres en Lucha (Fighting Women). “It’s not difficult to see women with their legs closed and very uncomfortable because there’s a man beside them who’s invading their space with their legs,” the campaign said. The group said women were taught to sit with their legs together whereas men are ingrained with “the idea of territorial hierarchy, as if the space belongs to them.”

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