Manspreading

"Manspreading" or "man-sitting" is a neologism referring to the practice of some men sitting in public transport with legs wide apart, thereby covering more than one seat. A public debate began when an anti-manspreading campaign started on the social media website Tumblr in 2013; the term appeared a year later. These campaigns have been heavily criticised as public shaming campaigns, as the subjects are often clearly identifiable, and the associated practice of taking non-consensual photos of men with emphasis on their crotch has been compared to creepshots or revenge porn. The usage of the term has received substantial criticism from both feminists and antifeminists. In the United States, law enforcement regarding manspreading has unduly targeted Latino men. Lexico added the word "manspreading" in August 2015. Lyndsay Kirkham, an English professor at Humber College in Toronto, said the practice was a metaphor for the permission men were given to take up a disproportionate share of space in society.