Spread 'em

Madrid is the latest city to take a wide stance against ‘El manspreading’ on the subway

June is Manspreading Awareness Month.

For those of you who may not know, manspreading is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as:

manspreading
man·spread·ing/?man?sprediNG/
informal
The practice whereby a man, especially one traveling on public transportation, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats.

We define it as when a dude takes up too much space on the subway or the bus or a park bench by splaying his legs wide open in order to accommodate what we can only assume are his massively large balls, like so:

Now, the city of Madrid is joining other cities, including NYC and Seattle, in trying to combat the epidemic.

Public transportation officials are officially requesting male passengers keep their knees together while riding on the metro.

The Municipal Transport Company tweeted this image of a little red guy with his legs spread wide open, taking up two seats, along with a slash mark, the universal symbol for “NO!”

The tweet is captioned:

Starting today you will see new panels in the interior of the buses intended to a civic and respectful use of the space, what do you think?

The company also issued a statement saying:

El Manspreading is an English term that describes the position of men who open their legs excessively when they sit, occupying the seats next to his, among other situations. The mission of this new pictographic icon is to be a reminder of the need to maintain civic behavior and to respect the space of everyone on board the bus.

Scroll down for pics of guys manspreading. And, fellas, the next time you decide to take a wide stance on the subway, please consider the people around you…

Epic #manspreading. Dude, get a clue. It's rush hour You're being a dumbass. #MTA

A post shared by @speakler on

some serious level of #manspreading going on here #banmanspreading #mybigballs #closeyourlegs #publictransport

A post shared by Carmen Valino (@carmenvalino) on

If you don't like manspreading then you a dyke and that's facts #manspreading #feminist #feminism #lesbian

A post shared by Uma Kompton (@umakompton88) on

#manspreading is just so fucking #rude. #nyc

A post shared by Sharon Maori (@nwnb) on

Ugh #manspreading

A post shared by Sheena (@ferocious_she) on

#Berlin #manspreading ???

A post shared by Marina Reyes Franco (@marinaorangina) on

Related: PHOTOS: Yummy Guys Show Off Their Tasty “Manspreads” Just In Time For Thanksgiving

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