PREVIEW: “let it be known that change should be made with confidence – with the decision to remain where you are instead of assuming you should move. Space, after all, is not a limited resource reserved for a select few; it is something shared, and participating fully in that shared space is not an act of entitlement but an expression of self-worth…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I watched a short film earlier today called Manspread, created for \u201cwomen afraid to take up space,\u201d and what struck me most was not the twist at the end or even the message itself, but the clarity it forced on something I\u2019d only briefly thought of before. The film is simple: a man stands on a train, squeezed awkwardly against the railing as a woman spreads out beside him; in a diner he is ignored while another customer (a woman, of course) is prioritised; on the pavement two women bump past him and his glasses fall to the ground. As they fall, the screen fractures into a sharp sequence of flashbacks – the train, the diner, the street – every moment where the man was pushed aside <\/em><\/strong>for a woman replayed with a jarring, mechanical hum in the background. Only when he picks up his glasses do we realise it was a woman all along, and the film resets to its familiar reality: a man enters the train and spreads into the seat, pushing the women beside him aside without hesitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be easy to treat the short film as a straightforward piece of social commentary about gendered space, and in one sense it is exactly and simply that. Manspread demonstrates something most women recognise instinctively: that public and professional spaces often arrange themselves around men, while women are expected to adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The word \u201cmanspread\u201d itself is relatively new, but its cultural weight has grown quickly over the past decade. First appearing in the early 2010s and entering mainstream usage around 2014, the term gained traction through social media discussions and public transport campaigns in cities like New York, where posters encouraged commuters to \u201cstop the spread\u201d and be more considerate of shared space. What began as a mildly humorous internet label for an irritating habit – men sitting with their legs too wide apart on trains – quickly developed into something more symbolic. Linguists and cultural commentators noted that the term spread so rapidly because it captured a behaviour people recognised instantly but had never quite named before: the assumption that one person\u2019s comfort could take priority over another\u2019s space. Over time, \u201cmanspread\u201d moved beyond posture and became shorthand for a large scale dynamic, one that girlfriends joke about when nudging their boyfriends to move over on the sofa, commuters use to describe crowded trains, and journalists reference when discussing everyday gendered behaviour. It now functions less as an accusation and more as a metaphor, pointing to the ways space is negotiated – or not negotiated – in ordinary life. The film draws on this evolution deliberately, using a word that feels familiar and slightly humorous in order to introduce a much more serious reflection on who feels entitled to occupy space and who learns to make room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What interested me most, however, was my own reaction while watching it. Seeing the man ignored, squeezed, and pushed aside felt strangely unsettling, and i dont think thats just because it was unfair but because it felt unnatural<\/em>. There was an instinctive sense that something was wrong with the world being presented. Yet when the film revealed that the experience belonged to a woman, the discomfort subsided for me shifted into recognition. This is what makes the film effective: it does not rely on anger or accusation but on recognition. It exposes the almost invisible ways in which social space is distributed and asks the viewer to consider how easily those patterns are accepted. The issue is not simply that men push women aside, because in many cases there is no deliberate intention behind it. Rather, it is that social habits quietly position men at the centre of public and professional life while women are encouraged, often unconsciously, to be accommodating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have noticed this dynamic in situations that seem trivial at first but reveal something on reflection. At the gym once, I was using the smith machine for rehabilitation exercises because it worked better for me than the machine designed for that movement. A man approached me and explained that he needed the machine and that there was another one meant for what I was doing. His tone was not necessarily aggressive, but the implication was clear: I was occupying something I should probably give up. My immediate reaction was guilt. I felt as though I was inconveniencing him, as though my presence required justification, and for a moment I even considered moving. It took a conscious effort to remind myself that I was not doing anything unreasonable. We both paid the same membership, and I was using the equipment in the way that suited my needs. And that exact guilt came from an ingrained instinct to step aside when someone else wanted the space more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A similar pattern appeared in a more professional context when my mum was dealing with an issue for the business she runs with my dad. She handled the communication, organised the details, and contacted the relevant people directly, yet the response came back addressed to my dad instead. There was no overt hostility in this decision, only an automatic assumption about who should be taken seriously. It could be easily dismissed, but it reflected the same underlying habit wherby authority and credibility are often unconsciously associated with men, even when the woman is the one doing the work. Like the scenes in Manspread, it wasn\u2019t dramatic or confrontational; it was simply another example of someone being repositioned to the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What connects these moments – the train in the film, the gym, the business email – is the idea of space as a form of legitimacy. Taking up space is not just about physical presence – it is about being recognised as someone who belongs <\/em>where they are. When people apologise for using equipment, hesitate before speaking, or redirect authority to someone else, they are not just moving physically but symbolically stepping out of the centre. Over time, this creates a subtle but powerful imbalance in which some people feel entitled to occupy space fully while others feel they must justify their presence within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The word \u201cmanspread\u201d captures this imbalance in a way that is both accessible and revealing. It raises questions about who feels comfortable sitting, speaking, leading, or simply existing without apology. I suppose my aim here is not to criticise men as individuals but to recognise the habits that shape everyday interactions and to question whether those habits should continue unquestioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where I find the film becomes inspiring rather than accusatory. By showing the reversed scenario and then returning to reality, it invites women not to respond with resentment but with awareness. Recognising the pattern is the first step towards changing it. Taking up space does not mean being confrontational or dismissive of others; it means understanding that one\u2019s presence is valid and does not require constant negotiation. Using the machine at the gym, speaking in a meeting, walking down a pavement without automatically stepping aside, or expecting to be addressed in professional communication are not acts of defiance. They are just ordinary expressions of belonging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the change must happen. But not through confrontation. Instead, to anyone reading this, let it be known that change should be made with confidence – with the decision to remain where you are instead of assuming you should move. Space, after all, is not a limited resource reserved for a select few; it is something shared, and participating fully in that shared space is not an act of entitlement but an expression of self-worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What the film ultimately offers is a reminder that belonging is not something that needs to be earned through silence or self-reduction. The world does not become more balanced when one group shrinks; it becomes more balanced when everyone is allowed to stand, sit, speak, and exist without quietly stepping aside. In that sense, the message of Manspread is this: you are allowed to be here, to take your time, to use your space, and to trust that your presence is as legitimate as anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Giulia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PREVIEW: “let it be known that change should be made with confidence – with the decision to remain where you are instead of assuming you should move. Space, after all, is not a limited resource reserved for a select few; it is something shared, and participating fully in that shared space is not an act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8987"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9042,"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8987\/revisions\/9042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordswomenmyths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
(It was a really strange feeling, I hadn\u2019t even realised how uncomfortable it felt until it swapped – go watch it and see for yourself). The situation was still unjust, but it no longer felt surprising. That response is difficult to admit, but perhaps it reveals something important about how expectations are formed; repetition creates normality. When certain patterns occur often enough, they stop feeling shocking and start feeling inevitable, even when we consciously disagree with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n