Madrid Would Like Men To Stop Manspreading On Public Transportation

Madrid is the newest city to ask men to stop with the dreaded manspread. 

The Spanish capital city will incorporate anti-manspreading signage into its public transportation system. The signs will be similar to those in New York City and Japan .

“The Municipal Transportation Company (EMT) will incorporate the informational signs...specifically for avoiding ‘manspreading’ (an English term that refers to the posture of men who excessively open their legs when they sit occupying the seats alongside theirs),” EMT said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The mission of this new icon is to remember the need to maintain civic behavior and to respect the space of everyone on board the bus.” 

The city developed the campaign with its equality council and the feminist group Microcorrelatos Feministas, whose petition to get the government to address the issue of manspreading had more than 11,000 signatures. 

“It is not difficult to see women with their legs closed and very uncomfortable because there is a man next to her who is invading her space with his legs,” the petition reads. “Placing some posters can be the starting point to raise awareness and to begin to respect our space.”

H/T Guardian