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Have You Experienced ‘Manslamming’ on the Streets?
The idea of men taking up a lot of space is far from unfamiliar. The Internet is filled with snapshots of women’s manspreading encounters on subways, buses, trains, planes, benches, and movie theaters around the globe. Now there’s another concept that needs to be brought to light; it’s called “manslamming.”
It’s not a new phenomenon. Jessica Ray of New York Magazine dubbed the term “manslamming” in 2015, claiming it the cousin of manspreading. Ray goes on to say, “…arguably, both are symptoms of a culture that teaches men to self-assuredly occupy any and all space available to them, regardless of who’s nearby.”
Manslamming is a man’s obliviousness to the amount of space he is consuming on sidewalks, and as such, either expects someone to yield for him or he’ll — as the term refers — slam into the person walking towards him.
As a woman, accustomed to being a polite and considerate individual, I’ve always been the one to slide out of the way of the person walking towards me — occasionally encountering the awkward shuffle until we manage to pass one another.
However, those days are gone. Sure, I’m still polite and slide out of the way in many…
