As a woman who often finds herself pinned in a subway seat against her will, flanked on either side by the legs of men who seem to need a ballroom’s worth of ball-room as it were, I enjoyed Maud’s link to a story on the topic (Who's Got The Biggest Ball's Of Them All?) --and her own tales of run-ins with the scrotal-space brigade. I second Maud’s note to the unfamiliar with the phenomenon: we are not exaggerating about this, trust us. It’s like a freaking epidemic, men straining to stretch their legs open as far as they can, breaking both rules of decorum and personal privacy. If it weren’t such sad commentary on how powerless some men feel, poor, sad, little men who need to exert their physical being into another person’s space in order to force that person to acknowledge they exist, it’d actually be pretty damn funny.
Posted by Antigeist at December 10, 2003 04:53 PMThis reminds me of the scene in the Breakfast Club, when Clare is asked if she would date a man with elephantis of the nuts (if he had a cool car), realizing that she would have to ride in the backseat because his nuts would be riding shotgun. There must be SOME quick, *shriveling* comment along those lines that could be made to these men. Unlike most "overtake of space" situations, which can be handled by shoving back, shoving back in this case (which would mean pushing your leg against his) might encourage a further freeing of the little birdie, which nobody wants. Eww.
Posted by: anne at December 12, 2003 05:06 AMThis is why I used to use a hatpin as a bookmark.
Oh, gosh, are you bleeding? Your leg must have touched my bookbag - which is clearly on my lap, way over here. Best be careful. Feck.